I think the waspinator sounds like a good idea if you want to deter the little bleeders, but despite being stung myself on Friday (inside of upper arm) and my wee boy (2 and a half years old) being stung on the end of a finger a few weeks ago, I don't really want my garden to be a wasp free zone as I think they are a helpful and necessary part of a healthy ecosystem. I am new to gardening, and finding out about insect life is absolutely fascinating. I too can be found gathering slugs and snails,and transporting them in a bucket to their new home in a distant corner of a field with a riverbank along one side!
You can accidently disturb a wasp when it feels threatened and end up getting stung ,but there's nothing like the appearance of a wee wasp to cause grown men to spontaneously leap up and start performing the Highland Fling,
Hi, Thank you for your suggestions and help regarding the wasps on my laurel hedge. Being as i was not brave enough to get too close to the hedge full which was full of wasps, my husband had a closer look to try and see what the wasps were doing on the leaves, there were no Aphids that he could see nor was there any Ivy Flowers. What my husband did notice was that the wasps seemed to be focussing on the back of the leaves along the spine. Could it be as Bob the Gardener suggests the wasps were after the Honeydew from the Scale Insect. Will the Scale Insect cause damage to my hedge? i wonder?. Thanks.....x
Hi, in reply to dovefromabove i think it is called Prunus Lauroceracus. Also if as jeffd suggests the wasps are feeding and having a party on the sweet sap, does this mean that my hedge will be ok. ..x
Laurel will survive the holocaust. I've just spent the afternoon trying to get rid of some that's gone mad in OH's garden. Tons of the blasted stuff.
But we discovered a load of wasps in an old brushwood heap just where we want to build a new compost heap or three. She wants to get rid of them and has sprinkled some white powder around (apparently the same stuff the Fire Service use to do the job - it's their job here!). Odd sort of place for a nest anyway.
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I think the waspinator sounds like a good idea if you want to deter the little bleeders, but despite being stung myself on Friday (inside of upper arm) and my wee boy (2 and a half years old) being stung on the end of a finger a few weeks ago, I don't really want my garden to be a wasp free zone as I think they are a helpful and necessary part of a healthy ecosystem. I am new to gardening, and finding out about insect life is absolutely fascinating. I too can be found gathering slugs and snails,and transporting them in a bucket to their new home in a distant corner of a field with a riverbank along one side!
You can accidently disturb a wasp when it feels threatened and end up getting stung ,but there's nothing like the appearance of a wee wasp to cause grown men to spontaneously leap up and start performing the Highland Fling,
Hi, Thank you for your suggestions and help regarding the wasps on my laurel hedge. Being as i was not brave enough to get too close to the hedge full which was full of wasps, my husband had a closer look to try and see what the wasps were doing on the leaves, there were no Aphids that he could see nor was there any Ivy Flowers. What my husband did notice was that the wasps seemed to be focussing on the back of the leaves along the spine. Could it be as Bob the Gardener suggests the wasps were after the Honeydew from the Scale Insect. Will the Scale Insect cause damage to my hedge? i wonder?
. Thanks.....x
Wasps are attracted to laurel leaves as they produce a sweet secretion from two ducts on the back of the leaves.
Hi jeffd - I'd understood that to apply to Laurus nobilis, the bay (culinary) laurel, although I may be wrong.
I think the laurel hedge we're talking about here is Prunus lauroceracus - am I correct Pennymax?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Yes it on Prunus laurocerasus too, I have a laurel hedge which has also got a lot of wasps at the moment.
Hi, in reply to dovefromabove i think it is called Prunus Lauroceracus. Also if as jeffd suggests the wasps are feeding and having a party on the sweet sap, does this mean that my hedge will be ok.
..x
Laurels are tough as old boots and have survived wasps before. I'm sure it'll be fine
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Laurel will survive the holocaust. I've just spent the afternoon trying to get rid of some that's gone mad in OH's garden. Tons of the blasted stuff.
But we discovered a load of wasps in an old brushwood heap just where we want to build a new compost heap or three. She wants to get rid of them and has sprinkled some white powder around (apparently the same stuff the Fire Service use to do the job - it's their job here!). Odd sort of place for a nest anyway.
Any other ideas?