waaaay too many wasps & bees

hughm

Does anyone have any tips for keeps wasps and bees out of the garden. My kids are scared to go outside as we seem to have a regular supply of wasps this spring.

patrickolee

We used to fill jam jars with water and put a dollop of jam in, just a spoon full or so and leave it outside. They go for the sugar and drown. Other than that you'll have to find the source of the wasps/bees and illiminate that. Also if you have lots of rotten fruit or rubbish lying around in the area that might be attracting them, if you can get rid of that it would be a good idea.

I noticed myself when visiting a friend at the weekend who lives beside the canal, there seems to be loads of them around this year.

pp_me129

Just get a jam jar as said above, cut a square hole in the lid of it
fill with a liquid and then add anything thats sweet ( cranberry juice is a great liquid to use as its sweet and they will drown in it)

pjq

Killing them in Jam Jars will have the impact of a drop in the ocean , teach the kids to respect them , because we have to put up with them just like our continental neighbours have to put up with the mosquitos . Tell the kids to be happy that we dont have mosquitos , this is a fantastic island!!
pjq

PS I will happily follow any scheme that murders the slugs that are after my lettuce. ( apparently the slugs , wasps and mosquitos have better chances osf surviving glabal warming than we do.... not very fair when you consider the effort we put into global warming!)

crosstownk

Check to around the eaves and other places to see if a nest is close by. Watch the wasps activity - if a nest is present you will see them flying in and out of the same area. Every year I have to call an exterminator to remove a wasps nests. The little fuc*ers can get in through the smallest opening and it's always a different location each time. Two years ago I had a wasps nest the size of football in the attic and loads of wasps in the house. Last year I'd a similar, but smaller nest in the eaves. This year I noticed the beginnings of a nest in my shed - size of a ping-pong ball so I lashed copious amounts of fly and wasp killer in and closed the door - 2 hours later there were 4 dead wasps - no activity since.

CJhaughey

pjq wrote:

Tell the kids to be happy that we dont have mosquitos , this is a fantastic island!!
pjq

EH! You are dead wrong on that pjq, we have mossies alright I couldn't sleep 2 years ago and had to kill 8 in our room!
I have killed one this year already....

pp_me129

CJhaughey wrote:

EH! You are dead wrong on that pjq, we have mossies alright I couldn't sleep 2 years ago and had to kill 8 in our room!
I have killed one this year already....

Were under attack everyone run and hide and cry go on just cry
and and and nnoooooo their coming for me HELP !!!!!!!!!!:D

hughm

Thanks for the replies.

i can't see anything that could be encouraging them. We don't have a lot of ivy and our stock of plants and trees has not changed in 5 years but the wasps are much worse this year.

There are not enough wasps to suggest a nest in our own garden but perhaps in a surrounding garden or in the sports field behind our house. We usualy have at least 1 or 2 of them in the garden at any one time. You are rarely out there without seeing a wasp or a bumble bee the size of a chicken McNugget.

i will look for a nest.

Keep the suggestions coming as to how to control them. I don't love the idea of killing evey one that comes in to our garden, i would prefer to deter them from entry and speed them on their way. I am happy to live and let live (except for big spiders they should all die). Ironic how I would perfer to wipe out the enemy of my enemy, rather than my enemy......

littlebug

I'm in the same boat. There seems to be so many of them this year. They're funny looking little fellas though... they seem to hover there just watching us! I don't think they're your regular wasps as they seem to be a duller colour too. I just don't remember seeing them hovering as much before. I haven't found a source but then again I haven't looked as I'm usually to busy running screaming and flapping my arms around like an eejit.
It's hard to teach my children respect for the wasp when I have that flapping/ running instinct.

mikep

I have noticed these odd bee type fellas as well...I got pretty closde to one who was happliy hovering away in the back garden...they look like honey bees except they hover....Any ideas?

littlebug

mikep wrote:

I have noticed these odd bee type fellas as well...I got pretty closde to one who was happliy hovering away in the back garden...they look like honey bees except they hover....Any ideas?

Good I'm not imagining it then! They just hover there and you can get fairly close but then they just move back a few feet.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

littlebug wrote:

I'm in the same boat. There seems to be so many of them this year. They're funny looking little fellas though... they seem to hover there just watching us! I don't think they're your regular wasps as they seem to be a duller colour too. I just don't remember seeing them hovering as much before. ..

They probably are not wasps but Hoverflies which are a great addition to the garden. Completely harmless and they will eat greenfly. Don't rush to panic about Wasps and Bees. Bees are vital to a good garden and many insects accused of being Wasps are not Wasps at all. Even wasps are an important part of the ecosystem and at this time of year feed on aphids. Learn to get along with the Nature about you. Teach the children that a Wasp is not out to sting them and Bees are our "friends".

littlebug

Colt Grumpy Litterbug wrote:

They probably are not wasps but Hoverflies which are a great addition to the garden. .

Oh.. interesting.
I should really learn about these things.

Black Sky

I've got the same problem.. definitely some wasps and bumblebees around but also loads of Hoverflies. Thought they were wasps, as i'd never heard of/seen/noticed them before, but they just hover in the sunlight in the back garden frightening the kids. Looks like some of the guys in this link alright.

http://www.uknature.co.uk/hoverflies.html

still wish I could encourage them to hover in someone elses garden though.....

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Black Sky wrote:

still wish I could encourage them to hover in someone elses garden though.....

Why They are completely harmless and good for your garden. Take the children out to the garden get up close to the Hoverflies and let them learn about Nature and marvel at how these little creatures can hover so well. Teach the children that most insects are harmless and many are useful.

loyatemu

yeah - been seeing a lot of these things in the last few weeks. I assumed they were hoverflies as they hover in a way that bees and wasps do not.

they don't look like the usual black and yellow hoverflies though. They are larger, duller in colour, and have very prominent legs dangling down at the back. Guess the warm weather has probably caused them to hatch earlier than usual.

Reyman

pjq wrote:

Killing them in Jam Jars will have the impact of a drop in the ocean , teach the kids to respect them , because we have to put up with them just like our continental neighbours have to put up with the mosquitos . Tell the kids to be happy that we dont have mosquitos , this is a fantastic island!!
pjq

There's plenty of mosquitoes in Ireland. Just wait till August and the place is alive with them.

In the middle ages Ireland was supposed to be rife with Malaria and don't worry it's not all bad --- Oliver Cromwell picked up Malaria while on one of his jaunts here a few hundred years back.

hughm

loyatemu wrote:

. They are larger, duller in colour, and have very prominent legs dangling down at the back. Guess the warm weather has probably caused them to hatch earlier than usual.

YES YES YES, mine are the same. They seem to hover and they move back a foot or two as you approach and they have those dangly legs.

DO bees and wasps not hover then?

rogue-entity

WIT was swarming with them today, and the odd huge bumblebee.. havent seen a single wasp yet though.

As for the mossies, we have one pond in our garden that I am positive is a breeding ground for them, and I have gotten bitten several times by them too <_<.

crosstownk

OT but.................

Reyman wrote:

Oliver Cromwell picked up Malaria while on one of his jaunts here a few hundred years back.

Good enough for him:D

On topic, hoverflies are harmless and they only seem to appear in early spring for some reason (at least in my neck of the woods). They're a bit freaky the way they just hover but they move along if you approach them.

I've not seen any mossies here yet, thankfully! I suppose it's only a matter of time

bushy...

pjq wrote:

PS I will happily follow any scheme that murders the slugs that are after my lettuce.

I think you can murder slugs in much the same way , dig a little hole near where whatever is been eaten is and bury a jam jar ,then half fill it with beer,they go in and drown in it afaik.