Wasps

[Bones]

I have a glass bell shaped bottle with a dome in the bottom, there's a hole in the top of the dome and a cork bung in the neck of the bottle. You pour fruit juice in the ring around the dome and hang the bottle up by the neck. Wasps find their way in but mostly can't find their way out and eventually they fall in the fruit juice and drown.

 

I bought a small brightly coloured one from a DIY store the other week for a couple of quid.

 

A jam jar with a few pencil sized holes in the lid works almost as well.

 

I've found that wasps are mostly attracted to two things in my garden, one is apples I put out for the blackbirds and the other is my shed which they chew up to make their nest out of, usually in the shed.

 

Ric.

 

 

Partially fill a clear plastic bag with water. Tie off the top and hang it up outside your entrance door. Wasps and flies when entering see a huge wasp or fly; their own reflection. They are then scared and fly off.

 

Have you ever noticed in Spain the partially water filled plastic bags outside doorways? The above is why the bags are there. The spanish will tell you it works, so who are we to disbelieve?

 

 

Now we are talking! Thanks Folks - I will try that and report back! Excellent. I just hope my neighbour doesn't think it funny to catapult a pea at the bag and split it when I am standing under it! I might try the jam jar first!

[Hairy-Neil]

Waterways author David Blagrove had an answer in his book 'The Quiet Waters By'. ......apparently the wasps were causing a nuisance one day at Mapledurham lock on the Thames where he was working as relief lock keeper...... He put a notice on the office door stating "No Wasps beyond this point by order" and signed it. The wasps were never any more problem.....

[Chris J W]

Anybody else getting pestered by these bloody mega-wasps (about an inch long) that seem to have appeared recently? Little buggers take a lot of beating with a rolled up newspaper.

 

Had a quick read through here about deterent ... can't say I like the plastic bag idea as I just know I'd keep walking into it, or, worse, one would come in through a window or vent and never leave again! The bottle idea sounds good.

 

Just stopping the little sods getting within, oh, five feet of the boat would be even better!

[Keeping Up]

Anybody else getting pestered by these bloody mega-wasps (about an inch long) that seem to have appeared recently? Little buggers take a lot of beating with a rolled up newspaper.

 

Had a quick read through here about deterent ... can't say I like the plastic bag idea as I just know I'd keep walking into it, or, worse, one would come in through a window or vent and never leave again! The bottle idea sounds good.

 

Just stopping the little sods getting within, oh, five feet of the boat would be even better!

Heard a thing on the radio last week, this guy has started selling a painted balloon that looks like a wasps nest that belongs to a really really big powerful vicious wasp. You just blow it up and hang it somewhere, any other wasps take one look at and and flee. Wish I could remember what it was called (Wasp-Away or something like that I think).

[Greybeard]

Heard a thing on the radio last week, this guy has started selling a painted balloon that looks like a wasps nest that belongs to a really really big powerful vicious wasp. You just blow it up and hang it somewhere, any other wasps take one look at and and flee. Wish I could remember what it was called (Wasp-Away or something like that I think).

 

 

It's called a waspinator - someone told me about it and I thought they were taking the urine. http://www.wasp-away.co.uk/?gclid=CNmz_4nZoZMCFRMXQgodCCTAng

 

It'd look naff hanging round your neck so try some of this 'Care Plus Wasp Repellent'

 

Shop around for it or you'll get stung for 20 quid instead of about 7 quid.

 

No deet and suitable for use on children..........

 

I use a natural mossie repelllent that smells of sage and it's very good and also free from deet.

[Malarky]

A washing up bowl with about 2" of sugar water on the roof will drown a fair few.

[Amduck]

and the clouds of noxious diesel fumes blown all over your boat by the amazingly smoky bukh engine contained therein whenever the poor unfortunate who lives in it tries to charge their batteries!! (I live in a viking afloat boat!)

 

 

So do I (don't have a smoky bukh engine though). And it's bad enough having the bright yellow colour scheme, without the rest of you using us as wasp fascinators, thank you very much - deal with your own wasps

[moggyjo]

A washing up bowl with about 2" of sugar water on the roof will drown a fair few.

 

The trouble with putting things like jam, sugar water etc to kill them, is the fact that it attracts them to it.

 

As far as I know, they are good for pollonating plants.

 

I could not believe that I actually got stung by one this year, in the middle of March I just put some vinegar on the sting and it hardly hurt. I don't believe in killing them though.

[Malarky]

The trouble with putting things like jam, sugar water etc to kill them, is the fact that it attracts them to it.

 

As far as I know, they are good for pollonating plants.

 

I could not believe that I actually got stung by one this year, in the middle of March I just put some vinegar on the sting and it hardly hurt. I don't believe in killing them though.

 

I agree it does seem like genocide once you've got a few hundred, so it is best to operate this tecnique with a large population, where, I feel you don,t effect the diversity too much as the Queen tends to survive.

 

I've seen a wasp catch a blue bottle in mid air, bite it's head off and start eating it, all in mid flight! Monsters!

[bag 'o' bones]

Not sure about dealing with wasps on boats, but if you want to keep wasps away from your garden/house the best wasp deterent is.............a wasp nest in your garden!

 

Seriously, if you find wasps have set up home in your garden leave them alone (not always possible I agree) if the nest is not in a position to cause a problem. As long as there is wasp nest in your garden other wasps won't invade and for some unexplained reason your home wasps won't forage within your garden or enter your house. Even if you leave sugery things out in the garden like coke. Great when you have a garden party!

 

Over the years we have had nests in the eaves of our bird avery, my wooden air compressor housing, a bird box and just under the roof of the house. Never had any problems, its almost if the wasps become used to your comings and goings to the point that you can get very close to the nest and they don't worry - its actually quite interesting watching the wasps for the while arriving and leaving the nest, they have very specific 'flight paths' in and out of the garden.

 

So next time the wasps set up home iny our garden, ignore them, don't mess with them and they will leave you alone - just let them get on with it.

 

Bones

[Chris J W]

It's called a waspinator - someone told me about it and I thought they were taking the urine. http://www.wasp-away.co.uk/?gclid=CNmz_4nZoZMCFRMXQgodCCTAng

 

A black painted bit of paper-mache? Suppose could trying making one and dangling it off the cratch-board!

 

I use a natural mossie repelllent that smells of sage and it's very good and also free from deet.

 

That actually rings a bell (but can't find anything) - something about how old walled gardens were designed with the right plants to attract/disperse insects as required.

[stickleback]

Bones, if they are the BIG wasps then try to kill them - they are the queens which have overwintered and are looking for a place to start a nest. I get several at this time of year in my workshop - they seem to ovewrwinter in the roof space and drop down into the workshop on warm days so I zap them if possible. Can't stand the little sods!

If they are nesting in the bank and you can se the nest clearly, you can get white powder which can be sprinkled in the hole they go in and out of when they settle down for the night. That will kill the entire nest.

Stickleback

[Brummage]

I blame Noah.

 

He had the perfect opportunity to rid the world of all wasps for ever, when there were only two of the buggers, but he blew it!

[BlueStringPudding]

Anybody else getting pestered by these bloody mega-wasps (about an inch long) that seem to have appeared recently? Little buggers take a lot of beating with a rolled up newspaper.

 

Had a quick read through here about deterent ... can't say I like the plastic bag idea as I just know I'd keep walking into it, or, worse, one would come in through a window or vent and never leave again! The bottle idea sounds good.

 

Just stopping the little sods getting within, oh, five feet of the boat would be even better!

 

Queen wasps looking to build a nest - had them in the roof of our neighbour's house once and the bastards came crawling through the airing cupboard and into our house. Loads of 'em. Huge, like flying liquorice comforts. Hideous. As mentioned above, they're looking for a place to nest so splat 'em.

 

I'm about to look up the Waspinator! (Is that a new Gladiator?)

[Sir Nibble]

Bones, if they are the BIG wasps then try to kill them - they are the queens which have overwintered and are looking for a place to start a nest. I get several at this time of year in my workshop - they seem to ovewrwinter in the roof space and drop down into the workshop on warm days so I zap them if possible. Can't stand the little sods!

If they are nesting in the bank and you can se the nest clearly, you can get white powder which can be sprinkled in the hole they go in and out of when they settle down for the night. That will kill the entire nest.

Stickleback

I keep seeing these massive wasps the size and sound of Dornier bombers, they can't all be queens surely? Look out when trying to splat them 'cos if it gets that rolled up magazine off've you, it will batter you to a pulp!

[AlanH]

There are lots of wasps around the area at the moment and I was wondering how moat people deal with them? I have embarked upon removing them when they fly in, but there are too many to keep doing it.

 

A friend's next door neighbour drove a mooring pin into a wasps nest and suffered anaphylactic shock from the multitude of stings. He was in a remote spot and the emergency services took some time to get to him. He ended up in a coma and eventually died. Be careful.

[PaulG]

I keep seeing these massive wasps the size and sound of Dornier bombers, they can't all be queens surely? Look out when trying to splat them 'cos if it gets that rolled up magazine off've you, it will batter you to a pulp!

Yes, I've seen quite a few of these, too, and I thought it was a bit late in the year to see this number of queens around. But, from the bit of information that I have been able to find, there are only a couple of possibilities if you see a "big wasp". It's either a queen wasp (black/yellow), or it's a hornet, (brown/yellow).

 

If you've seen them round your boat, it's probably a good idea to check it over for nests, especially in places like gas heater flues and pigeon boxes. At this time of year any nests will be not much bigger than a walnut, and relatively easy to get rid of.

 

I wonder if the cold and wet start to the year kept the queens in hibernation longer?