Anybody else sick of wasps this year??

[slowmotion]

[QUOTE 2627326, member: 259"]Calling @waspyfecker ! [/quote]
waspyfecker? He's hiding somewhere. What a pussy! All talk and no trousers.

 

[Rezillo]

[QUOTE 2628727, member: 45"]Have you tried the fake nest trick? Apparently they're territorial so if you hang a fake nest in a tree they keep away.[/quote]

Thanks - might be worth a try next year. I haven't heard of this before, and the reviews are mixed at best, but worth a go.

 

[ASC1951]

They are on our six garden fruit trees in huge numbers, the worst for years, with apples being chewed to hollow husks in a day. The fruit, which is really good quality this year, is being wrecked before it is fully ripe so we can't even pick what is left untouched. We did have quite a few greengages, which gave them a hearty meal but not us.

Wasps don't attack fruit unless it is already damaged - in my garden, that starts with birds and snails. Wasps are definitely a Good Thing - they control many pests such as caterpillars and aphids, which bees don't do, and they are important pollinators of fruit and flowers; in fact if bees keep declining we shall need wasps to stop us starving.

 

[swee'pea99]

I swallowed one at a bbq last week in the bottom of a beer can, it came back up 5 minutes later, but didnt sting me.

Blimey. You do realise what a close escape you had, right? Classic way to die. Wasp gets in, stings you in throat, airway closes, game over.

Looking at this thread makes me wonder how many accidents are caused each year by wasp/helmet encounters. Just saying....

 

[GrumpyGregry]

This year, and every year (apart from last year when I hardly saw one).

 

[Ciar]

Wasps are a pain but i think this year they are back in abundance, where as for flies tons of those around, luckily i let the spiders have their wicked way

 

[Fnaar]

I got stung by something while walking the dog this morning... may have been a bit actually, possibly a horse fly? Still flipping hurts a few hours later
And I've just dropped a soggy digestive, freshly sipped in coffee, all over my keyboard

 

[Rezillo]

Wasps don't attack fruit unless it is already damaged

Plain wrong, at least in my garden! The fruit's in really good nick and there are enough wasps to watch them at work. Their approach is for one to chew in a small hole on an intact apple, to start the initial damage, then the others all pile in once they pick up the scent.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

waspyfecker? He's hiding somewhere. What a pussy! All talk and no trousers.

The stripey w*nker knows his place by now.

 

[ASC1951]

I like my apples slightly sour, so maybe I pick them before they are attractive to wasps. But overall they are still a Good Thing.

 

[ComedyPilot]

Not bothered at all about wasps, but I am sick of (some) people's OTT reactions to wasps, where they make exaggerated swipes and lunges to hit the wasp or get out of it's way....

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Gone wasp crazy today, feckers are everywhere!

Come to daddy you bastards!

 

[ASC1951]

Blimey. You do realise what a close escape you had, right? Classic way to die. Wasp gets in, stings you in throat, airway closes, game over.

No, no - I distinctly remember that my copy of Scouting for Boys said that if I came across a doubled-up, blue-faced cyclist, I should make a hole in his throat with my trusty pen-knife and all would be well.

 

[Arch]

No, no - I distinctly remember that my copy of Scouting for Boys said that if I came across a doubled-up, blue-faced cyclist, I should make a hole in his throat with my trusty pen-knife and all would be well.

Or a rusty penknife, if it's all you've got.

 

[Davidc]

A nuisance for a few weeks, read about the life cycle to see why.

The economic value of wasps is immense (as of course is that of their cousins the bees) and agriculture (plus gardens) would be in trouble without their pest control services.

I've been stung once this year, but I did ride into it at about 10 mph, so it did have some justification.