Kitchen Garden Forum

Intrigued by the loud buzzing coming from my living willow tunnel & igloo I investigated further and discovered the structure was ALIVE with wasps.
What should I do???!?
It's nearly right outside the kitchen door. I have no idea what they're doing on there. There were quite a lot of aphids on the shoots and hoverflies were making a good meal of them, so I left it be. I was going to trim it back this weekend. NOW what do I do?

Dear Jenny, how about leaving it for now.

Good idea except for the fact that I might find my kitchen invaded by them.
And I want to know what on earth they're doing on my willow and not my plum tree.

We had wasps on the allotment one year and the Pest Control at the council came out and dealt with them.
Worth a phone call I would think if you are really worried.

Beryl.

Dear Jenny, earlier on in the year there were wasps all over a conifer hedge, i thought they were after aphids that were on the conifer, but i was informed by a pest control person that they were there for the hoverflies. I wasn't sure if he was right, but maybe he was after hearing your story.
Are they just all over your Willow, or is there a nest in there Jenny.

Last year we had lots of wasps in the bedroom, they came in through the vent in the wall,I sprayed wasp powder into the vent and closed it, that was the end of them till a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon I went into the room and the curtains was alive with them, I managed to catch them and throw them out of the window, sprayed the vent again and haven't seen any since.
Bren

jenny batton down the hatches!
could you lure them away to a diff part of the garden with, say beer?

Thanks for your suggestions guys. I suppose if they're eating the hoverflies I could just wait until they've exhausted the supply and go away. The tunnel is a bit overgrown so I'm not sure I'll be able to see inside enough to see whether there's a nest in there. I beat a hasty retreat as soon as I realised what was going on yesterday teatime, and Conrad's ill so I haven't had a chance to have another look.
I think I'll give the council a ring today and see what they have to say.

Dear Jenny, i hope Conrads soon feeling a whole lot better.
And i think the council will say, thats £50 please.

Thanks Herby.
What happened with the wasps on the conifer hedge. Did the pest control man do anything or did they go away of their own accord?
Does anyone know if wasp nests survive over winter?

hi jenny, wasp nests die off completely in early winter, except for a crop of new queens, which fly off and find individual hiding places to hibernate over winter . they each then establish a new nest in spring. any queen you find and splat over winter/ early spring is one less nest full for the following summer. hopefully this year those daft enough to nest in the ground will have drowned last month

Dear Jenny, the pest control man advised the people whos hedge it was, that the wasps would move on in a couple of weeks, and in about ten days there were very few about.

He did say there was nothing he could do as they were not in one area.

Many thanks to both of you. I'll sit tight and see what happens.

Please don't laugh

A few years ago we had wasps invading our eaves..they were gaining entrance through a join in the soffit.

I tried the powder but couldn't get it into the joint so getting my brain into gear I cut a small length of the hosepipe and using a funnel poured the anti-wasp powder into the hose
Negotiating out of the bedroom window onto the flat roof of the extension was the real tricky bit but I made it.

Putting the loaded end of the hosepipe to the join I blew the powder into the join in the soffit.... how fast do you think I slithered scrabbled to get back into the window...I do believe I hold an Olympic record....within a minute or so the back garden was black with wasps

I got rid of the wasps never to be seen again

Our local Council, bless 'em, charge around £80.00 to get rid of wasps nests ...I always was a skinflint

We have had wasps nests on the allotment in the past, both in the hedges and in a bird box and have never removed them. "Mummy wasps" feed their "baby wasps" on caterpillars so there go the cabbage white beasties! As long as you don't annoy the wasps, they won't annoy you.