Even though the weather has been wet surprisingly the wasps have started to make a nuisance of themselves early this year. Usually only a problem mid August to late September they have been notable this year as early as the end of June.
There are many species of wasps here in Ireland but the most noticed ones and the one fond of stinging us are the Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris) and the German Wasp (Vespula germanica).
- On a side note 'Vespa' the well known Italian scooter is named after the wasp because of the sound its engine makes, 'vespa' is the Italian for wasp- but back to our insect!
To understand why they are so aggressive it's important to know a little about their life cycle.
The queen wasp starts her nest and begins laying her new army. Feeding them herself by chewing up insects. Once some of these are hatched (the workers) she devotes herself to purely laying and her new workers take over feeding the larvae.
Wasps are rarely and issue for us at this point because they are so busy catching insects to feed to the larvae who in turn secrete a sugary nectar to feed the workers, keeping them occupied, happy and out of our way! Not to mention providing a valuable service to us gardeners by killing aphids, caterpillars, and ants amongst other pests.
However later in the season the queen stops laying so there are fewer young for the workers to feed and so redundant and hungry they go hunting for their own sugary meals!
So what are the main attractions for the hungry wasps?
Wasps have a keen sense of smell and can sniff out an open jam jar from over 20 feet away!
Some of their favourite scents are also ours, perfumes, shampoos, scented moisturisers will all lure them. So if you are going to a barbeque or are planning to do some gardening in an area where you know they're active try to keep the perfume to a minimum!
Anything sugary will attract them so sugary drinks, beers, wines, ciders are all major targets. If you have outside bins especially composting bins make sure the lids are all on tightly. Any containers that you put into the recycling should be washed out thoroughly.
Deterrents:
As mentioned the wasp has a very sensitive sense of smell so there are quite a few scents that they really don't like;
Peppermint oil, Geranium oil, Citronella, Eucalyptus, and bay leaves are just some. You can make your own deterrent spray by mixing a teaspoon of peppermint (or any of the mentioned oils) with a spray bottle of water and then spraying on the area that you want them to stay away from. In my own recent experience I saw that they were decimating a raspberry crop so a mixture such as this would be ideal to spray on the canes to make them less desirable.
Wd40 is also excellent at keeping them away, it makes surfaces slippery to them and also they hate the smell. If there is a roof or shed area they're interested in just spray liberally around to keep them at bay. This can also be used to smother a nest. Just wait till it's the least active as in at night for example and spray liberally on the nest. Be extremely careful doing this as even if you aren't allergic if you get enough stings it can be life threatening. I would always advise someone to get a professional in to get rid of a nest rather than doing it themselves.
You can also make your own traps. A jam jar that is nearly finished can be quarter filled with water and it's lid punctured just enough so that a wasp can fit. They will crawl into the mixture and be unable to get out.
Another bottle trap method is to saw the top off an old soft drinks bottle and invert it. Fill it with about an inch and a half with sugary water and place it somewhere in the garden out of the way.
Another method if you don't want to kill them is to just distract them. So if you are planning to have a barbeque or just a relaxing evening in your garden place something they cant resist far away from you. So they will be too distracted to bother to come over and pester you.
If all these methods have failed and if your problem is past the point of rescue i.e the nest is above your patio there are other chemical methods to get rid of them, Deadfast Wasp Nest Destroyer 600ml will foam cover the nest and quickly kill them, again if you are inexperienced you are far better advised to get a professional in to do this. For more immediate singular kills Doff Fly and Wasp Killer will quickly make them drop. Keep in mind not to spray chemicals around food stuffs or on your skin.
Finally if the wasps are not bothering you I would advise to leave them bee (excuse the pun). They are a fantastic natural pest killer when they're not being pests themselves. If one does fly close to you stay calm and don't swat it, they generally wont try and sting you if you don't try and swat them!!
Sophie x
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