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Too good to be true

Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
I should have known there would be a catch............all summer no greenfly and only one dahlia plant with blackfly.  I thought I'd gotten a good natural balance in the garden......until last Saturday.  OH was clearing the wild section of the garden.......stuck fork into a wasps nest..........dozens of angry wasps around all weekend.  Exterminator came yesterday, Monday, sprayed the place and broke up the nest.
OH back today to clear rest of area..........another wasps nest!..........exterminator called again, has determined there are at least three more nests in the ground............hundreds of angry wasps this time.
We've all been stung, even the poor dog..........so much for me getting a good balance in the garden!!  

Posts

  • Oh how awful for you all Mary,it must've been horrendous.
    The whole truth is an instrument that can only be played by an expert.
  • YviestevieYviestevie Posts: 7,066
    Mind you Mary the wasps love to eat greenfly so that could have been why you haven't seen any.  Not that I'm a particular fan of wasps.
    Hi from Kingswinford in the West Midlands
  • RubyRossRubyRoss Posts: 124
    Ouch! My sympathies. 
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I used to kill wasps wondering just what their role in life was except to sting me, then I noticed one on a greenfly infested plant, he went up the stem hoovering then up quicker than a Dyson.   We have nests here which we have left,  perhaps that’s why I’ve had no greenfly this year. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
    @Valley Gardener it was, I'm still getting the heebie-jeebies, thinking they're still around us.  
    @Yviestevie that's exactly what the exterminator said they're actually great to eat greenfly/blackfly!  To think I was feeling proud that 'I' had mastered the perfect planted garden to attract the 'good' insects to eat all the greenfly/blackfly  :D
    @RubyRoss thanks
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    edited August 2018
    Mary370 said:

    @Yviestevie that's exactly what the exterminator said they're actually great to eat greenfly/blackfly!  To think I was feeling proud that 'I' had mastered the perfect planted garden to attract the 'good' insects to eat all the greenfly/blackfly  :D

    Well, you have. You attracted the wasps. Nothing wrong with wasps if they are out of the way, where you won't need to disturb them. We have at least one hornet nest in our garden. I keep out of their way, they don't trouble us. It's only as the weather gets cooler things can get dicey, as they get dopey and drunk on windfall apples.

    Which is not to say it doesn't bloomin' hurt when you are stung  :(
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • AuntyRachAuntyRach Posts: 5,291
    edited August 2018
    Hope you not too sore @Mary370. It’s good to know that wasps are useful for something - I have often thought that they serve no purpose whatsoever  🐝 
    My garden and I live in South Wales. 
  • Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
    @raisingirl I wouldn't have called any exterminator if the nests were elsewhere.  I'm feeling very nervous now as I have had very few slugs and snails in the garden too.........I have been putting it down to the recent heatwave we've had, but now I'm wondering what else may be lurking out there........eating all the slugs  :#
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    Nah - slugs and snails are just the dry weather. They are all there, just waiting for the rain to start again.

    Unless of course you have one of those mega-frogs in your garden  :o
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Wasps are a gardener's friend.   Best to let them be if you can and work round them.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
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