Last November I wrote a piece about wasps and their many benefits to the garden but there are times when they are downright annoying in the garden especially at a social occasion.
It is really hard to ignore wasps buzzing around a plate a of sweet goodies as happened yesterday at a gathering I was participating in. Although I had not been overly bothered by them before this, I quickly learned this is a bad year, brought on by drought apparently.
I reached for the swatter, a mini ball racket that emits a tiny electrical shock when the button is pushed. It runs on batteries. I'm afraid it gives the wasps a rather tortuous death and likely annoys all the other wasps probably making it more likely for someone to get stung. However I succumbed to my primal protective instincts, which made me feel slightly better thinking I had a little protection.
If we all had summoned our calm strength, sat still and allowed the wasps to look around and indulge themselves on the sweetness, we possibly would all avoid their wrath but that is very difficult to do when both we and the wasps gather in large numbers. One wrong movement trapping a feeding wasp or slapping it unintentionally while gesticulating might cause a nasty sting.
So what to do?
This is the list of things that can be employed to decrease the likelihood of a painful sting:
• Stay calm.
• Look where you are putting your hands. I used to frequently get stung picking raspberries - well of course. I was trapping a wasp with my overbearing fingers on a juicy berry that both wasp and I wanted.
• Stay calm - they know! If you are no apparent danger to the wasp it will leave you alone.
• Watch the wasps to see where they are flying to and from. If you can locate the nest, the rest is your decision.
• Don’t get in their regular flight path.
• Set a wasp trap. After everyone had left the gathering yesterday I baited a glass trap with marmalade. Bingo - got eight wasps in no time. The honey solution that was in it before was just not strong enough to attract them. There are numerous methods for making wasp traps on the internet, many out of a pop bottle and a little masking tape.
• Clean up rotting fruit, windfall apples and other sweet fruits that may still be on the tree or bush. My husband had been juicing our apples yesterday which attracted them into the garden. Alert the neighbour of you think the nest is in their yard.
• Again, Stay calm and try to remember, wasps do good things
Zonethreegardenlife.blog
