We've just found a small wasp nest in our allotment shed, the nest is about the size of a golf ball.
Is there anything that we can do to get rid of it now or do we need till the winter.
I think some of the very small ones are solitary wasps... if it starts growing, hit it with a rake & run!
If you really want to get rid of it, now's the time before it gets any bigger. A squirt of wasp nest killer up the hole underneath will do it. That being said, I've shared my shed with wasps several times, and haven't felt threatened once.
If you don't want/need to get rid of it, it will be a bit of a nuisance, but its one I would be happy to live with. There will be quite a few of the little sods flirting around, but at this time of year they do so much good killing bugs. If you don't trouble them, they won't trouble you, they'll be far too busy feeding the larvae.
Trust me, at this time of year they do more good than harm. ;D
valmarg
:) I also have a wasps nest in my shed and I'm thrilled, as already said they are
one of the good guys/ shades x
I had them in the roof of one of my hives, and that's the one place I won't have them as they'll be all through the hive. I would have transferred them to an empty hive once the nest got going, but the queen disappeared tafter the first time I took the lid off with the nest attached.
I have wasps building a nest in a cupboard in my shed. The fly in and out about leg level. If they can live with me, I can live with them. I think I have a solitary wasp nest in a bin that has a whole in the rubber lid. It is a thing of beuty and come season end, I am going to find a way of preserving it.
Oh, I also have a bumble bee nest in my muck heap so all my squash are going to have to live on compost this year.
Everyday for the last few days I've seen a large wasp (queen?) on my wood pile gathering material to make his/her nest. I think they chew the wood to make the papery concoction but don't quote me. ;) Now, I'm allergic to wasp stings but this sort of activity is what I expect from a wildlife friendly garden and as others have said they are a useful addition to the garden at this time of year. Just one question if I may. How far from the wood pile is the nest likely to be?
G x
It can be quite a distance.
A few years ago, we noticed, while we were sitting in the garden, a scratching noise. On closer inspection it was wasps scrunching at the fencing.
OH accidentally 'found' the nest when he was doing some pruning, and unfortunately knocked the wasps nest out of the shrub it had been built in..
It is the most fantastic construction. The cells, the shape. As old as I am, I never cease to wonder at nature. I can still look at life throgh the goggle eyes of a child.
valmarg
Quote from: valmarg on May 21, 2010, 21:46:59
It can be quite a distance.
are we talking (in old money) inches, feet, yards or miles?
G x
Quote from: valmarg on May 21, 2010, 21:46:59I can still look at life throgh the goggle eyes of a child.
valmarg
That is something I can so relate to. :)
Quote from: Georgie on May 21, 2010, 21:17:23
How far from the wood pile is the nest likely to be?
Once the nest is built & the workers take over collecting food & building materials they typically gather things from within a 400 metre radius of the nest so presumably the queen would travel a similar distance when gathering materials to build the nest in the first place.
Quote from: redclanger on May 22, 2010, 02:17:18
Quote from: valmarg on May 21, 2010, 21:46:59I can still look at life throgh the goggle eyes of a child.
valmarg
That is something I can so relate to. :)
Me too. As a child I got over 20 stings at the same time, helping my dad move his hives... and have been fairly cautious about flying things that sting ever since!
Quote from: Baccy Man on May 22, 2010, 15:58:16
Quote from: Georgie on May 21, 2010, 21:17:23
How far from the wood pile is the nest likely to be?
Once the nest is built & the workers take over collecting food & building materials they typically gather things from within a 400 metre radius of the nest so presumably the queen would travel a similar distance when gathering materials to build the nest in the first place.
Thanks very much for the info.
G x
Quote from: Georgie on May 21, 2010, 21:53:25
Quote from: valmarg on May 21, 2010, 21:46:59
It can be quite a distance.
are we talking (in old money) inches, feet, yards or miles?
G x
Sorry, Georgie, I didn't elaborate. In our case it was yards, from the fencing in the back garden to the shrubs in the front, which OH reckons is about 40 yards. For an insect the size of a wasp it's 'quite a distance'. ;D
I can understand , being allergic to wasp stings you are a bit wary, but they do do more good than harm at this time of year.
valmarg
I can not believe that so many of you lotties are kind to wasps, I thought I was the only person in the world that was, they are beneficial insects, a bit dangerous if you disturb a nest. I was told by a wasp hater that they had no purpose on this earth. Any comments would be welcomed.
Regards Queenbee
They kill aphids and caterpillars - nuff said. :)
They're extremely useful 99.9% of the time. The exceptions are where they get into beehives, they start raiding kitchens and picnics because the nest is collapsing and they're desperate for anything sweet, and when there's a collapsing nest in the roof space and wandering wasps are getting into the house. The last two only happen at the end of the season.
I can remember a friend in the village saying he witnessed a wasp, catching a cabbage white butterfly, taking its wings off, and taking the body away to the nest. Now if that's not a good guy, what is. ;D The less cabbage whites in this world the better.
valmarg
Quote from: OllieC on May 22, 2010, 16:49:44
Quote from: redclanger on May 22, 2010, 02:17:18
Quote from: valmarg on May 21, 2010, 21:46:59I can still look at life throgh the goggle eyes of a child.
valmarg
That is something I can so relate to. :)
Me too. As a child I got over 20 stings at the same time, helping my dad move his hives... and have been fairly cautious about flying things that sting ever since!
Well yes, it would leave an indelible impression. I've only been stung by a wasp once, but that was enough. ;D ;D
valmarg
Wasps in the loft? Fine -- most years our roofspace hosts one or two monster nests.
Wasps in the garden/ on our lottie plot? Welcome, please take all the caterpillars you want. ;D
Wasps nesting in the lottie shed? Sorry, not possible. I'm highly sensitive to wasp stings (hospital last time) so it's just not worth the risk. Queen wasps get put out of the shed (caught in a jar and carried to the far end of the site) till I lose patience; if they won't give up on the idea of nest-building in the shed, I do kill them.
few years back i slipped my shoes on at work before i was about to leave after wearing wellys.and got a shocker...
HORNET INSIDE..
stung my little toe,and the beast was as big as my thumb ;D
Quote from: valmarg on May 23, 2010, 18:00:44
I can remember a friend in the village saying he witnessed a wasp, catching a cabbage white butterfly, taking its wings off, and taking the body away to the nest. Now if that's not a good guy, what is. ;D The less cabbage whites in this world the better.
valmarg
I have watched (and my children were with me watching) a single common wasp demolish about 20 cabbage white caterpillars on a nasturtium. It stung them all then made repeated visits to cut them all in half and carry them back to where the nest was.
Quote from: valmarg on May 23, 2010, 18:00:44
I can remember a friend in the village saying he witnessed a wasp, catching a cabbage white butterfly, taking its wings off, and taking the body away to the nest. Now if that's not a good guy, what is. ;D The less cabbage whites in this world the better.
valmarg
I've watched them doing this to bees. Mostly they bite off the abdomen ant fly off with that while the rest is still wandering about wondering what's happened. Occasionally they bite off the legs and wings and fly off with the whole thing, which is bigger than the wasp.
Natures cruel R_B, and a predator only sees food, not whether it's one of our 'good guys'.
Sorry to go off at a bit of a tangent, but the most upsetting thing I have seen recently is a sparrowhawk catch a blackbird. Fine. But it was plucking is before it was dead. It took all my self control not to go out and shoo it off, but I knew if I did the blackbird would probably not survive, and the sparrowhawk would only have to catch something else.
valmarg
back on target!!
check this out for a wasp nest!!
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/8191662.Massive_wasp_nest_in_city_pub/
I've heard of nests occasionally surviving the winter, and this is probably a case in point. It was round a pub chimney so it would have been warm, though I do wonder what they fed on in the cold weather. There's a massive nest in the University Museum in Oxford; if I remember right, they collected two nests, put them together, and they amalgamated. This could have begun as multiple nests, so I wonder how many queens it had laying away in there.
Whoaahhh...now that would make me swallow few times and scratch my head too if I would get a call for one of those... ::) Biggest I have had to deal with was size of the football...and that is tiny compairing to that...
I think if I would have come across nest that size I would refuced to kill it....what is a chance to see one of those again?....shame...