Wasps

[Phil Pascoe]

a copy of a letter in the Telegraph -

SIR – For our diamond wedding anniversary last year we were given a beautiful teak bench. The instructions were not to paint or cover it, so that it would gradually weather to a silver colour, which has happened.

But there is a problem: wasps are chewing strips off the surface of the wood and carrying them away to build their nests. This is ruining the bench.

The manufacturers do not have an answer. The internet suggests spraying the bench with a soap solution, but the rain washes it off and the wasps return. We are surrounded by other sources of wood (trees, fences, etc). How can we persuade the wasps to go elsewhere?

Has anyone had this problem?

 

[Rorschach]

Wasps were eating my neighbours fence for a while, not sure why, I was told they prefer hardwoods.

 

[Blackswanwood]

They'll strip wood anywhere near to where they are building a nest and are partial to a bit of teak. It's chewed and turned into cellulose to build the nest. Barlow Tyrie produce a paint on solution for garden furniture that deters them.

 

[Rorschach]

They'll strip wood anywhere near to where they are building a nest and are partial to a bit of teak. It's chewed and turned into cellulose to build the nest. Barlow Tyrie produce a paint on solution for garden furniture that deters them.

They don't like wood soaked in used engine oil either! lol.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I don't much like sitting on wood soaked in engine oil, though.

 

[Rorschach]

I don't much like sitting on wood soaked in engine oil, though.

It's perfectly dry after a week or so in the sun.

 

[Fitzroy]

I can see the patches on my shed cladding, and the stripped area on my oak arbor where the wasps work. However they only take a microscopic layer so it’ll never come to much, but it does change the look.

I first experienced it about 15 years ago when I was sat in the garden one summer and I could hear chewing. The wife thought I was nuts but on a still day I gradually homed in on the sound. It was wasps chewing the surface of a fence panel, which was acting as a sound board. I was also a younger man with much better hearing.

Fitz
Fitz

 

[Suffolkboy]

They don't like wood soaked in used engine oil either! lol.

I think if I were going to soak a wooden bench in oil, it would be one made of a cheaper wood than teak.

 

[manglitter]

Paint the bench with woodworm killer

https://www.screwfix.com/p/sika-sikagard-woodworm-killer-clear-5ltr/56214
It is clear and contains permethrin which is an insecticide.
Not sure how long it will last, but possibly longer than soapy water.

Hope this helps,
Mike

 

[Blackswanwood]

It’s far better to deter them thank kill them. I learned after applying my pyrotechnic skills and wiping out a nest that they actually do a lot more good than their reputation suggests.

 

[Daniel2]

It’s far better to deter them thank kill them. I learned after applying my pyrotechnic skills and wiping out a nest that they actually do a lot more good than their reputation suggests.

Can you give any examples of any good they do ?
I'd love to know, as I think they're a bunch of nasty,
aggresive and untrustworthy b**t**ds, and the only good
one, IMO, is a dead one.
Seriously, though, I am curious.

 

[Garden Shed Projects]

They impart balance on your local eco system. It always feels a bit harsh to me to wipe out a whole colony just for being.

See the BBC’s view-

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41042948.amp

 

[Blackswanwood]

Can you give any examples of any good they do ?
I'd love to know, as I think they're a bunch of nasty,
aggresive and untrustworthy b**t**ds, and the only good
one, IMO, is a dead one.
Seriously, though, I am curious.

Pollination and naturally controlling other insects such as greenfly.

 

[Adam W.]

Can you give any examples of any good they do ?
I'd love to know, as I think they're a bunch of nasty,
aggresive and untrustworthy b**t**ds, and the only good
one, IMO, is a dead one.
Seriously, though, I am curious.

Sounds like humans, not wasps.

 

[selectortone]

Can you give any examples of any good they do ?
I'd love to know, as I think they're a bunch of nasty,
aggresive and untrustworthy b**t**ds, and the only good
one, IMO, is a dead one.
Seriously, though, I am curious.

They are only a pest in the autumn. As posted above, for most of their lives wasps contribute to the ecosystem by pollination and eating smaller bugs like aphids. A wasp nest only lasts for a spring and summer. After new queens are released the original queen dies, the workers have no further purpose, and lose interest in the nest. Society breaks down and elderly wasps (at least in my garden) spend the autumn getting drunk on fermenting apples and being a niusance. Much like what happens to many old men, including me

 

[stuart little]

Tell 'em to foxtrot - oscar , seems to work for me!

 

[Daniel2]

Pollination and naturally controlling other insects such as greenfly.

Plenty of other insects manage to go about their business of pollination, etc
without being such a royal pain in the arris, though.

 

[accipiter]

https://www.daviddomoney.com/top-3-wasp-deterrents/

 

[Cabinetman]

You could maybe give them a sacrificial piece of Teak nearer the nest?

 

[JimB]

My granddad used a nearly empty jam jar about a third full of water with some holes punched in the lid. They could get in but not out. (a bit like Joe Root I suppose)