wasp nest

[caroline7758]

My soil was so rock-hard today that I decided to give up digging and try to sort out my compost heap which is inundated with bindweed etc. After a few minutes I disturbed a wasp's nest, resulting in several stings and a quick change of plan! I'm just wondering how soon will the wasps be dying out ( or don't they any more with milder winters?). It was quite a performance getting the council to deal with the last nest so maybe I could just leave it at this time of year.

[caroline7758]

[tonybloke]

the wasps round here are still hunting meat, so still raising young. the first frost usually signals the start of the demise, hold on if you can?
sorry to hear of the stings, and I can empathise.

Vinegar for Vasp stings, and Bicarb for Bee stings, but I'm sure that you remembered that? ( it does help to negate the pain of the stings (put vinegar on cotton wool, attatch to sting area with tape)
hope you not in too much pain.
rgds, Tony

[caroline7758]

Thanks, Tony. The stings were on my ankle and knuckle so not much flesh to get into. Just a lingering twinge.

My compost heap could do with moving anyway- it's under a tree- so maybe I'll start a new one and wait for the frost before I transfer any of the old stuff.

[ipt8]

The frost kills the wasps, except for the queen, but I dont know what she does, overwinters somewhere.
Time will sort it out.

[daxzen]

i dont view wasps as pests

unless you keep bees

they are still doing an important job

there was an item on autumn watch last week

the males will be leaving about now

the queens will move out soon too

the remainder will be killed off by the frosts although they have a relative heat source from your compost

i'd leave them be until midwinter

sorry about the stings

dax

[Toadspawn]

All the wasps (queen, workers, males) in the nest will die over the next few weeks as it gets colder EXCEPT the new queen wasps produced over the past month or so. They will mate and then eventually leave the nest to find a place to hibernate until the spring. They will then emerge to begin the whole cycle again. They will not use the old nest again.

[caroline7758]

Thanks for your replies. My foot swelled up quite a bit the day after and itched like mad but is just about back to normal now. Guess I should have treated it straight away rather than carrying on working. Vinegar certainly soothed it-thanks for the tip, Tony.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Wasps don't have to be a pest if you keep bees. I have mine with permanently reduced entrances, which are easy to guard, and mesh bottoms. The latter are only accessible from the rear. Wasps usually go round the back, and those that do find the entrance are easily dealt with by the guard bees.

They become such a pest because people will use hives with entrances the full width of the hive. They're far bigger than the bees need, and only the strongest colony can guard them adequately.