Wasps 23 July 2020 at 1:20PM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 9 replies 181 views

Black_Cat2

Found out the hard way that wasps can get mad when disturbed.  Tbh wasn't sure if they were wasps popping out of a hole in my garden border until I got too close and was stung!  Anyone have a non toxic way of helping me move these critters along? 🐝

Apodemus

If you can see the nest, just keep spraying it with water.  The paper nest will absorb the water and rot away.  The wasps will hang about for a bit, but then disappear.  In the meantime, they will be too busy trying to rebuild the nest to bother anyone.

Black_Cat2

Great advice, I will try that, thank you

Grenage

If it's a classic underground nest then you could just leave it be - it will die out once cooler weather arrives.  The wasps we have had nest in our garden weren't bothered unless we poked around the entrance.

goldfinches

Grenage said:

If it's a classic underground nest then you could just leave it be - it will die out once cooler weather arrives.  The wasps we have had nest in our garden weren't bothered unless we poked around the entrance.

I think this is sensible advice. I remember having a wasps nest in a bank in the garden many years ago and my parents deciding to boil a kettle full of water and pour it into the hole. The end result was an emergency visit from a pest controller who was visibly scornful, both parents had to visit the local gp for stings and we children were confined indoors for at least a day. That must have been both painful and expensive and I still remember witnessing some of the results half a century later!

Black_Cat2

I had every intention of pouring water in the hole but chickened out.  Whilst I don't have too much of a problem with them there and being stung once, I am more concerned how large the nest will get underground. Googling it was a bit worrying. The nest is in amongst my planting where I would like to plant a couple things in the future.  Do they return to the nest each year? 

Emmia

Could you lay a hose and turn it on from a distance with a trickle of cold water, thereby discouraging them but not angering them?

greenbee

They only use the nest for a year, and then move on elsewhere, so if you can avoid disturbing them this year, then it should be fine next year. I had them nesting in old mole/vole runs for a couple of years (one of which was slightly inconvenient, but we worked round it), but they're now in the roof, so less of a problem. You should be able to work out their flight path by observation (a good excuse to sit in a garden chair with a drink on a sunny day for ages...) and see whether they are likely to present a problem. If not, then leave them. 

Davesnave

There are about 7 different species of wasp in this country and some give very little bother at all. When I had a nest in the lawn at a previous house I could mow over it and the wasps would get bothered, but they never came after me. Most ground-dwelling wasps seem to be careful not to attract attention, so maybe you were just unlucky. All the ones I've had at my present property seem to take over old mouse burrows, and as they are so unobtrusive, they're hard to spot. They never return to the same nest and I don't usually find them till autumn, when they get drunk on rotting apples and a little less predictable.

I'd say bide your time and see if the aggression repeats, or if it was a one-off.

Black_Cat2

Thanks all yes I'm going to leave that part of the garden alone and hope this is a one off 🐝