Wasp invasion...

[w33blegurl]

Just as the title says really we have a wasp invasion in our garden. I cannot find a nest (that does not mean it's not in our garden or it may be in the neighbours garden of course) but they are all over our plum tree and are now helping themselves to any ripe raspberries and blackberries. We think the plum tree wasps may be due to aphids as under the tree is a lot of sticky stuff being dropped. Apart from the fruit spoilage, they are making the bottom half of the garden rather unpleasant to be in! I'm fine with having a few of them around and about, I get that they do good, but there are loads of them and with little people playing in the garden, this is causing quite a few restrictions on where they can play!

So...after that ramble....what's the best way to deter/kill etc? I am not in favour of indiscriminate insect killers so was thinking of trying some kind of wasp trap. Has anyone tried either the waspinator or waspbane traps? Any good? I have tried those glass ones before with the hole in the bottom that you put something sweet in and it just seemed to attract more wasps to the area (although did kill a fair few of them!!) so not very keen on those any more.

Help!!!

[Guest]

Remove the fruit and either process or dispose of I find plums are the biggest attraction for them in my garden.

[w33blegurl]

Sadly its not even close to being ripe yet so that's not an option!

[KevinM67]

Jumping on the back of this thread....

I've got an area on my plot that's been covered for some time as I intend to plant more rasberries in it during late Autumn.

There's a small hole in the covering that many wasps have been going in and out of for the last few weeks - so obviously there must be a nest below it, but apart from a few stings, it's not causing too many problems at the moment.

I was wanting to start preparing the soil in a couple of weeks though, so....

Should I just go 'Hari Kari' and lift the covering to expose the nest to the elements to get rid of it, or

Leave it alone until they venture off at their own will (although I've no idea how long that will take).

Your advice is much appreciated.

[Guest]

Jumping on the back of this thread....

I've got an area on my plot that's been covered for some time as I intend to plant more rasberries in it during late Autumn.

There's a small hole in the covering that many wasps have been going in and out of for the last few weeks - so obviously there must be a nest below it, but apart from a few stings, it's not causing too many problems at the moment.

I was wanting to start preparing the soil in a couple of weeks though, so....

Should I just go 'Hari Kari' and lift the covering to expose the nest to the elements to get rid of it, or

Leave it alone until they venture off at their own will (although I've no idea how long that will take).

Your advice is much appreciated.

Leave it alone. They only tend to use the nest for a year. The wasps die off in the winter and the queen will go off into hibernation to start all over again next year.

[KevinM67]

Leave it alone. They only tend to use the nest for a year. The wasps die off in the winter and the queen will go off into hibernation to start all over again next year.

Cheers NG - although I was hoping to start making raised beds and a path between them, not to mention preparing the soil for some raspberries to be planted in Nov/Dec.

[Guest]

If you destroy the nest kill the queen or they will return (wanting revenge) - the choice is yours

[roitelet]

You can deter them by making a false wasp nest. Did it once and it worked.

[KevinM67]

You can deter them by making a false wasp nest. Did it once and it worked.

I've just been on google images looking at wasp's nests



How the furgle do you make a false one of those ?

[vixylix]

You can buy them online - they're supposed to be very effective! Apparantly a wasp wont come within 100 yards (or something?!) of another 'nest'. Worth a try - I think they're just paper / cardboard

[roitelet]

How the furgle do you make a false one of those ?

Ingredients - ordinary round balloon, newspaper uncoloured, PVA glue, a short piece of twine.

Method - Blow up the balloon to about 8 inches diameter or so
Tie off the neck and attach the piece of cord in a loop for hanging.
Tear the newspaper into strips about 1 inch wide.
Cover the balloon with PVA and lay the first layer of paper strips on to cover it.
Cover again with glue and more paper and so on until you have 6 to 8 layers.
Finish with a layer of glue and rub in some wood ash or sawdust for a more realistic look.
Hang to dry. It should last several years.









Spend the next few hours getting the glue and news print off your hands, but it will be worth it!!!!!

[Nicos]

Brill idea roitelet!

bit like Blue Peter making pape mache plates

[roitelet]

Brill idea roitelet!

bit like Blue Peter making pape mache plates

Exactly! You see we did learn something from the television in the early days.

[KevinM67]

Thanks roitelet !!!

We used to make paper-mache heads in primary school using the same method.

My 7 year old will love making that.

[mothhawk]

A large brown paper bag puffed up and tied at the neck will work too. But these only deter wasps from starting a nest in spring, as they will not build in territory they think is already occupied by wasps, (the brown bag is simulating a wasp nest).

The only purpose of the nest is to raise workers who will then raise new queens. By this time of year the old queen will have about stopped laying, the new queens will have reached maturity and be dispersing to feed themselves up ready for hibernation, and the workers have nothing to do except hang around being a nuisance until the cold weather kills them off.

Once they stop hunting caterpillars and the like, and start after sweet fruit and your jam sandwiches, you may be sure their working life is over and they are basically loitering around until they die, so I wouldn't fret too much about killing them off now.