Wasps nest

[noviceveggrower]

Hi,

I have discovered I have got a wasps nest in my compost bit. It was put where it is and filled with rubbish and plant waste by previous tenant. Its a wooden one made with wooden pieces but not pallets.

My main problem is where the bin is situated its along a hedge of fruit trees and bushes. I have got plums, damsons and blackberries so far.

My concern is once this fruit ripens the wasps will be all over it and any fallen ones they will be all over then as well. Also because of the kids I don't want them being put off going down.

So how do I get them to move out nicely. I'd rather they move sooner rather than later.

Thanks

[Jay-ell]

If you have a hose you could try poking the hose into the middle of the pile and trying to flood it to drive the wasps out.

[mothhawk]

If you have a hose you could try poking the hose into the middle of the pile and trying to flood it to drive the wasps out.

Sorry, but I really don't think this is good advice Jay. If the wasps are disturbed they will flood out to defend and protect their nest, and at this time of year the nest is as big as it's going to get, maybe 6,000 wasps, each one capable of stinging as many times as it takes to drive away or kill whatever is disturbing them.

They won't move out, NVG, they have babies to protect, new queens they are raising. When those new queens emerge over the coming month or so, they will disperse to grow fat and hibernate, which is when the worker wasps become a nuisance. They no longer have larvae to feed or pupae to protect, and are cut off from their supply of sweetness, which the larvae produced for them. So they turn to your fruit, until the autumn cold kills them off. They are going to die anyway, so protect your fruit with wasp traps.

[nickdub]

"So how do I get them to move out nicely. "

You don't - Mothhawk is right about the wasps life cycle - you either kill them all, or leave them to it.

PS You can modify their behaviour slightly - if their entrance is near a pathway, a piece of fine netting or similar suspend on a rope in front of the entrance will cause them to fly around or over it - this also works for honey-bee flight paths.

[noviceveggrower]

Thanks for the advice Think I will try some wasp traps

[DannyK]

Take care! I disturbed a nest by accident last year. Not very painful but hand itched for ages. Luckily I was looking away from nest so they got back of head. Couldn't spot the entrance hole so gave wide berth and left winter to kill them off. Otherwise I would have used killer powder.

You need to keep your eyes open for wasps. Some seem to nest in the ground.

[ESBkevin]

I had a similar situation (wasps in the compost heap) last year.
I left them most of the summer to help pollinate and then killed them. The method I used (and have several times successfully), is to wait until almost night fall and apply ant powder to the nest entrance in decent quantities, retire quickly without breathing the dust. Make sure you can get away from the nest easily before you 'treat' the entrance, you don't want to stumble and become a target although late evening they are not very active at all.

Any wasps going into or already in the nest will succumbe quickly and by the end of the next day (in fact by the end of that evening) you no longer have a wasps nest. I recommend leaving it a couple of weeks or more before digging through the compost heap so all the eggs and lavi die without the mature wasps attending to them.

A tube/container of ant dust will treat 3-4 nests if you get tham back next year. simple and cheap.

[keat63]

If your'e brave enough to keep disturbing and destroying the nest, they will eventually go away, but this could take a week.

Alternatively if you want to kill them, then use Ant Powder.

A good few puffs of ant powder around the entrance.
The wasps coming and going will take the powder deep in to the nest.
Give it another blast a few days later to kill off the stragglers.

[veggiechicken]

I like wasps - they do a lot of good in the garden and I leave them to get on with it. I've blocked off paths to stop the dogs getting to close to a nest but I wouldn't kill a wasp colony just because it was there.

A good article at Features: Wasps: friend or foe?

[no_akira]

Wasps in my Melon / Cucumber / Butternut Squash Station 1...

Every night pour water into nest (from a distance).

I noticed the soldier wasp were only the small drone sized ones, which makes me thinks am reducing the size of the nest by nightly flooding.

Hopefully they will go away soon

[lottieguy]

Hi Ya, I have respect for wasps and if they go for you then it's only in defense. I have witnessed a wasp catch a caterpillar and take it away to the nest so in my book welcome. I would not try to destroy them as there is a place for all in the big scheme. Try to pick fruit in the evening when they are less active and if possible stay away from the area. The article that VG put the link to is very good and I had a read and learn't from it. I have lived with a nest in the hedge at the back of the shed and so far, fingers crossed, I haven't upset them yet. Any way good what ever you decide.

[keat63]

Killing them depends where they are.

We kept finding wasps in the bedroom window trying to get out.
It turned out that were nesting in the cavity, they were getting in through an air brick.
For this colony, the only solution was to irradicate them.

My dad had one in his small garden.
For this solution, i just kept disturbing the nest with a stick.
You have to be brave, i did get stung, but that's all part of the excitement.
From a distance, spray it down with a jet from a hose (unless you have a hosepipe ban of course).

They'll get the message and move elsewhere.


Probably someones cavity wall :-)

[Bluenowhere]

For all the good they do in VC link I can’t stand wasps.

Unfortunately the they won’t sting unless disturbed or in defence isn’t my experience. I’ve been stung several times when sitting still well away from any potential of a nest or food source when no flapping/swatting or the like has been done in direction of said wasps. One was while helming a yacht where it literally came and sat on my hand and stung me with no provocation - I assumed rather stupidly as it was to turn out that it was just resting and would fly off again - it was an ex wasp very shortly after as it was hanging about and clearly was untrustworthy.

I would have no compunction to getting the ant powder out (that’s something I never knew before now) if I had a nest in my garden or allotment.

[keat63]

Try getting one inside a crash helmet at 60mph and staying calm.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Hi Ya, I have respect for wasps and if they go for you then it's only in defense.

Sorry, I don't go along with that. Wasps will sting you for the hell of it especially later in the season. I do agree they can be useful in the garden but in my plot I take no prisoners.