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Wasps
pennymax
Posts: 56
Hi, I have noticed a couple of days ago that there were quite a few wasps on my Laurel Hedge, i have just been in the garden and i noticed there are so many more wasps along the length of my hedge. I have no idea why. I am terrified of wasps so i am reluctant to get too close All help and advice appreciated.
0
Posts
Possibly you have some aphids on your hedge - the wasps eat aphids - or are they possibly hoverflies rather than wasps - they're also the gardener's friends and eat aphids.
If you don't like wasps just leave them alone - they'll move on when they've eaten all the aphids - they won't be doing any harm.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
They also seem to feed from the honeydew exuded by scale insects, worth checking for those too. You'll have to pluck up the courage to get close to discover whatever it is they are doing though..
Did you see all those wasps on Monty's grapes? They were like that on those plums I purposefully left on the tree for wildlife.
I got a beautiful plum tree to.. but I think I'm going to get rid of it because of wasps..
I got a toddler running around the garden and I'm scared they are going after him.
There are loads on it and I find it hard to understand why you would actually want those voluntairily in your garden haha -Eek-
They won't go after him if he doesn't go after them - but do watch him if he's eating food in the garden, or having a juice drink - they can go after the fruit and it would he horrid if he got stung around the face.
That being said one of my children ran through a wild bees' nest when he was a child and was stung all over his face - he looked quite a sight for a few hours, but a doctor gave him Vitamin C and he recovered quickly.
Don't let your child be frightened of insects - just teach him to treat them with respect, and until he's old enough to be relied on to do that, keep an eye on him when he's in the garden ... which is what you'd do anyway
.And why would you want wasps in your garden? 'Cos they're beneficial insects and the Gardener's Friend http://www.downthelane.net/garden-wildlife/wasps.php
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Haha Dove that's going to be quite the job
you won't believe how scared I am
of wasps if I notice one in 1 or 2 meters away from me, I drop everything I have in my hands, or what I was doing, and get the hell away from It
I'm terrified of wasps and hoseflies and everything that can sting.. petrified.. 
Good thing his dad is not scared.. maby he can teach him hehe
Find out everything you can about them - eventually you'll find that you're more interested in them than frightened of them.
They're fascinating and beautiful creatures
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Many, many years ago we had a wasps nest or "bike" as it was called in Scotland. It was in the loft and only accessed from outside.They were flying in and out like an airport.
Like everyone else we knew we called in the council vermin and pest controller who injected something into the nest and killed them all. Well that's what you do isn't it ?
When I went up into the loft to clean up I could not believe the size of the nest, easily 18 inches across and beautifully constructed. I then felt terribly guilty that I had, had these insects killed especially as they had done no harm to me.
I have a rule now I don't kill any living thing in the garden.I gather slugs and snails and take them far away to release them.
Hmmmmm
I agree about wasps, but I draw the line at slugs and snails!
My young plants used to be devoured overnight till I started gathering the snails and giving them a new home.
Also, for any I may have missed I protected my precious plants with these home made Snail barriers.
Copying nature's thorny plants I made these up from seives, bought at the local cut price shops.
They are 100% snail stoppers.
Has anyone tried a 'Waspinator'? It's at thing that is the shape of a wasps' nest and deters the wasps by making them believe it is a rival nest. I believe it worked early in the season on our plum tree, but seemed to ineffective later on. I'm interested in anyone else's experience.