Wasps

[mrsflibble]

these guys have paper bags on sale, they're a sort of greyish off white. I've got a plastic envelope full of them. I use them as party bags.

[Cheezy]

Finally got round to taking a rather dark photo this morning of the fabled paper baginator!




gives you an idea. See I pushed one of the corners into the bag so to fashion a more "realistic " hive shape.
Hard to imagine a wasp being fooled, but so far on the only evening we sat out this year (bloody weather) it had a 100% sucess rate!

Also we get grey tissue paper when we buy wine from Oddbins (they wrap the bottles up in it), this I think is a good colour match and finish to the wasp hives, you should be able to fasion a cone fron a piece and fold and stick the bottom to make a wasp hive.

[Shirley]

They were a nuisance at the barbecue on Sunday and I'd forgotten about this trick until afterwards! If we get another run at it I'll definitely give that a try.

[dane_c1987]

You can buy wasp killers that are really effective. My parents use one in Bulgaria and it zaps 'em good! All depending on your moral standpoint of course - they sting people and cause pain for enjoyment so as far as I'm concerned they've had their chance!

[Green Aura]

Hi dane

This is a very old thread you're posting on - we got a lot of spam posted in this fashion!

Why not say hello in the welcome section so we know that doesn't apply to you.

[dane_c1987]

Oh dear you're right - nearly two years old! Sorry about that, just what with the weather hotting up and wasps becoming more of an outdoor nuisance I thought I'd enlighten people to the best way (imho) to stop them ruining your next barbecue! Of course I will introduce myself in the welcome section.

[Cobnut]

You can buy wasp killers here that are really effective. My parents use one in Bulgaria and it zaps 'em good! All depending on your moral standpoint of course - they sting people and cause pain for enjoyment so as far as I'm concerned they've had their chance!

Hmph! My moral standpoint is that they do not live just so they can wreck humans’ BBQs, or “sting people and cause pain for enjoyment”. Wasps are actually an important part of our ecosystem and have every right to live in it. Killing living things that don’t neatly fit in with our lives p****s me right off . We are supposed to be the most intelligent species on the planet yet some of us can’t find a way of dissuading other species from interacting with us, even though we constantly invade their space . Last time I ate al fresco I was “harassed” by a wasp, so I gave it a bit of my jam on the edge of my plate (which was what it was after, not me!) and it left me alone. Simple and effective .

[dane_c1987]

I completely agree with your point about our species often neglecting its responsibility to respect the animal kingdom - I've been vegetarian for nearly five years now. And yes, wasps are a very important part of our ecosystem but several times throughout my 23 years has a wasp landed on me, given me a painful sting and then promptly flown away (and I'm sure if wasps could laugh they would in this situation).

I suppose I've always ignored the idea that maybe they see us as a threat (which fundamentally I suppose we are) and are trying to defend themselves/their nest but I couldn't shake the idea that they're fundamentally evil and will sting anything they happen across!

As you raised a good point and have prompted me to reconsider my waspist ways I will make it my mission to let the wasp prosper.

[indy]

Got to say that the best solution I have found is the afore mentioned jam jars with sugar water in, very effective

[Millymollymandy]

Or to just sit still and try to ignore the wasp and not make a big fuss and flap your arms about and squeal..... which I must admit is pretty hard to do...... They wouldn't bother me quite so much but I get a really nasty bite from them and swell up like a balloon and sometimes get a bit feverish (think I'm slightly allergic) so I really don't want to be bitten.

[donegalwildman]

I'm with cobnut. Just because you want a bbq doesn't mean you have the right to kill wasps. All creatures have their niche in our ecosystem, and it's up to us to coexist with them. Decoy jam works, and I'll try the paper bag trick next time they want to break into my party.(btw, I'm often asked just what role wasps DO fill. Their job is scavenging...they clean up dead or dying organic matter. This is a valuable role, similar to fungi that break down rotting wood or to beetles that dispose of wood, dung and corpses) It should be noted that wasps tend to turn aggressive in the later stages of the year. This is because the larvae in the nest reward the wasps with a drop of sugar when they bring back corpses for them to eat. But later in the year, the larvae get ready to pupate and stop giving the reward. So the wasps develop a sugar craving and get it where they can, along with venting their temper on almost anything.

[Annpan]

Nope, sorry, wasps are evil. I have been stung 4 times and each time I was minding my own business. Not poking about in nests, not chasing them, not stealing their food. Not at barbeques or picnics either - once, harvesting lavender, once on a row boat 40ft from shore, once playing with my nephew (one of the "hold still and it won't sting you" cases... where the wasp promptly turns round and stings the adult instead )

I hear them now, when they are approaching me...
"is that Ann?, oh goody.... PREPARE STINGER"

On one occasion my sister had to pull the wasp off because it was stuck with it's stinger in me and each time they sting I swear it gets sorer and the pain and swelling last longer.

So nope, no chance, they clearly want to sting me and I am not prepared to spend every moment outside in a bee-keepers outfit, so they get terminated at every opportunity.

[MKG]

I allow wasps to prosper - as long as they're prospering somewhere else. Crocodiles are marvellous creatures, but I wouldn't want one in my pond. There was a point last year where we couldn't even approach one of our raised beds because the wasps had made a subterranean nest. They even attacked the lawnmower at one point, with me hightailing it down the garden after I saw them come out en masse. I plucked up courage and did the inverted Pyrex bowl trick - it worked a treat. This year, the bowls are ready for action at the first sign of a wasp invasion.

Mike

[pelmetman]

We have a plum tree right outside our sun lounge so get swarms of wasps feasting on the plums. I ignore wasps but every year I get stung numerous times, I have always been a target for the blinking things, I'm there minding my own business and in they come and ooch they get me again, can't understand why they seem to pick on certain people.

Dave absolutely hates them and starts thrashing out at them but has never been stung.

Still really wasp stings are not really that painful compared to a bee sting. One got me a few years ago on the knee and it blew up like a football (my knee, not the bee ).
Sue

[Millymollymandy]

Funny isn't it, I have no reaction whatsoever to bee stings but the last time I had a wasp sting I happened to have a dental appointment and the dentist took one look at my arm and told me I should have gone to A&E to have an antihistamine shot! Now I carry antihistamines with me everywhere but that is because I am hideously allergic to red ant bites and that really alleviates not just the bite but stops the secondary reaction which is the worst one. Have yet to try taking the tablets the moment I get stung by a wasp to see if there is any reduction in the reaction. Unforrtunately antihistamines don't work on spider bites.