Getting a buzz from wooworking

[shipbadger]

My father went out to use his SIP sawbench which is stored under a covered passageway between his bungalow and the garage. He was expecting to lift the cover and brush a bit of dust away. Imagine his surprise to discover the inside of the cabinet had become........a wasps nest! I suspect the little blighters had been attracted by the dry conditions and the possibility of using the sawdust to make their nest. You have been warned.

Tony Comber

 

[Digit]

And they don't start the building then vanish for 6 weeks either!

Roy.

 

[joesoap]

My father went out to use his SIP sawbench which is stored under a covered passageway between his bungalow and the garage. He was expecting to lift the cover and brush a bit of dust away. Imagine his surprise to discover the inside of the cabinet had become........a wasps nest! I suspect the little blighters had been attracted by the dry conditions and the possibility of using the sawdust to make their nest. You have been warned.

Tony Comber

So what then Tony ,Job abandoned or what ? No point on telling the wasps to get on their 'bykes ' I suppose but I've heard a good squirt of the WD shifts them forever . Cheers !

 

[Benchwayze]

A few weeks ago, a tree surgeon disturbed a nest in my garden. I happened to be in the garden and I had to try to run with two walking sticks and a fresh operation wound in my knee. I got more than a dozen stings. Apparently, the chemical mix in a sting in these circumstances is different to the venom you get from a sole wasp that might sting you. Not pleasant at all.

At first I left the nest alone, but I did have to have it removed a day or so later. The pest controller told me:

A wasps' nest will last for only one season. One of the grubs will develop into a new queen, which deserts the nest to seek a place to start her own colony, after hibernation.

The old queen dies, and for a while the remaining wasps mope about in an aggressive mood, and will sting for no reason other than bloody mindedness. And that is around this time of year.

Eventually, they die off and the nest is then just a ball of paper. So, in the winter, they can be removed without problem. (That's when the anglers like to find them, so they can use any remaining grubs.)

That's what I was told, so it could be wrong, but the guy seemed to know his onions.

I appreciate that wasps, won't bother you if you leave them alone, and I know they are good for the garden. However, after setting back my recovery about two weeks, I have no mercy with them, no matter how many garden pests they dispose of. If I find another nest, I will send for the man! I just hope I don't find a nest 'accidentally'... :shock:


:x

John

 

[shipbadger]

So what then Tony ,Job abandoned or what ?

I think almost every household in this part of the world (Forest of Dean) has some of the foaming wasp killer on the shelf. Apparently there weren't that many actually flying around, it has been quite cold over night this last week, and a couple of applications enable an attack with long sticks possible.

Tony Comber

 

[wizer]

I think I would have carefully plugged it in and, with a big stick, switched it on and let it run for 10mins. That'd give 'em headache

 

[Digit]

That's correct Bench, so in many cases it is simpler to just leave the nest alon, where poss.
Each spring I walk my house and garden, as being all timber we seem to attract Queen wasps like flies.
You can actually here them scraping when they are collecting or nest building.

Roy.

 

[Woodmagnet]

And they don't start the building then vanish for 6 weeks either!

Roy.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Thanks for that Roy,
a good laugh is just what i needed. (Bloody pain
is bad today )

 

[Benchwayze]

Hi Roy,

Naturally, I was just a bit miffed with 'Vespula Vulgaris', but I suppose if I do find a nest next year, if possible, I will leave it be.

In this case though the disturbed nest wasn't abandoned afterwards, as it had been moved just a couple of feet. The inmates set a new flight path - right across SWIMBO's track to the washing line! So the nest had to go.

It wasn't funny at the time; except the bit when the tree surgeon disturbed the nest. He hared through my garden, and out to the front lawn, where he stripped off to his boxers. The wasps hung around his abandoned clothing for a good hour or so. So yes,they were annoyed little varmints.
:wink:


Cheers John

 

[tekno.mage]

If you do have to destroy a wasp's nest it's actually best to do it at night. The wasps are far less active then, and most of them will be in the nest.

The foaming wasp nest destroyer stuff works very well indeed. We had to do two this year - one was a small one in our hanging in our front porch, and the other was a huge one under a barn roof - which we would have left alone, except that we needed to repair the roof! Both jobs were successful and no one was stung.

tekno.mage

 

[Mr Ed]

I bought some wasp nest destroyer spray from B&Q thats very good. Its a foam that you coat the nest with and it kills them off. The best bit is that the can squirts a fine jet of foam that you can aim at the nest from a couple of meters away - has worked for me on a couple of nests.

Ed

 

[Digit]

Though I tend to leave nests be Bench those near clothes lines need to go. The flapping of washing seems to act as an irritant and there is some evidence that any bio washing powder residue smell will initiate an attack.

Roy.

 

[Benchwayze]

Right then,

It's 'Supreme Laundries' for us from now on!
Cheers Roy.

John