Topic: Wasp / Bees nest in ground HELP!

[Jitterbug]

Hi there

I wonder if anyone on the board will be able to give me some advice.  I got my lottie about six weeks ago and have just discovered a Wasp /Bee nest in the ground near my fruit trees.  My husband, me and our dog all got stung when DH put the one foot of the wheelbarrow on their hole. 

What can I do to get rid of them ? Is the Allotment / Council responsible for getting rid of them or am I?  Please help.  I know we wanted to be organic but this is ridiculous.

Kind regards

Jitterbug

[Robert_Brenchley]

It won't be honeybees, as they don't nest in the ground. What you've got is either wasps or bumblebees. These nests are (normally) annual, though there have been a few reports of wasp nests overwintering in the last couple of years. Leave it a few weeks and it should be gone, though Dorset is sufficiently far south for there to be slight questionmark over that if it's wasps. I'm quite surprised it's still functioning, but then it's been a wierd year all round. Meanwhile, if you don't disturb them by treading on it, they won't disturb you. You've been there six weeks without noticing them, after all.

[Jitterbug]

Hello Robert

Thanks for the reply.  I don't think that they are bumble bees because I know that bumblebees are bigger and really fat (and beautiful).  Alto I did see little pollen sacks on the back legs.  Do wasps have these little pollen sacks as well?   They do not look like the wasps my Aunt has down the road though.

Also my friend who has also seen them says that they are wasps? 

[teresa]

On our lottie a large amount of cow manure was put on the carpark bit, and I could not believe it when wasps moved in  loads of them.
Some lottie holders did get stung but they will move on or they say they will. Forgot to have a look yesterday. Like Robert said just give them a wide berth.

[Robert_Brenchley]

If they've really got pollen baskets then they can't be wasps; are you sure they have them? We seem to be running out of possibilities here. There are solitary bees that nest in large aggregates but they wouldn't normally sting. If they're not fat like bumbles, then my guess would be wasps.

[Si]

If they are wasps, I would corner that area off so that other people cant get stung... They can come out in droves as I know from experience  :'(
I have a colony of mining bees on my lottie and one by our patio that make an appearance as early as February. I am quite pleased to have them.

[ipt8]

Hi
You can get a wasp powder from your hardware store, just squirt it around the entrance, very effective. BUT wasps die in the winter, they are killed by frosts, but the queen lives on. I dont know whether she stays where she is or moves on, but I should imagine the cold spell now means you will no longer be bothered untill next year.

[ipt8]

Bye the way, if its bees find a local bee keeper, they are usually happy to take them away, I presume to put in a hive.

[Robert_Brenchley]

A queen wasp doesn't live on; she stops laying, and then the nest collapses. Young queens live through the winter to found new nests next spring.

[triffid]

Jitterbug: can you take a picture (without endangering yourself of course)?

If you can post it here, we'll have a much, much better chance of getting an ID, which will then mean you get the right info on what to do about your problem nest.

[Jitterbug]

Thanks for all the replies and ideas, especially Robert.  I am off to the lottie tomorrow so will be going armed with my camera.  I will post a picture (if I find a live wasp) and post it on this thread tomorrow night or Sunday.

But hopefully the cold snap we had today and yesterday would have put paid to them.  I spoke to a chap who is a professional gardener and he says that it would be best once they are dead to actually dig out the nest!  Now taking into account that young queen waps stick around I'm wondering whether this would be a good idea?  Any ideas??

Jitterbug

[Robert_Brenchley]

I should just leave them. Queens won't be interested in stinging anyone, and they certainly won't be flying in the current weather, so it would be perfectly safe. But they do a great deal of good, killing pests to feed the larvae, and they only sting when disturbed. I share my allotment with them every year, and I've never been stung yet.