Blasted wasps!

nice to know that you have a "summer house" - I had a Russian friend who referred to my conservatory as the "Winter Garden"

The Queen will be inside the "cardboard".

Each year, I spend some time clearing *Box Moth* caterpillars from an elderly shrub near our back door. Judging by the numbers and attack duration, the Box Moths had a very good Winter:-(

Insecticide won't do much. You need a little tub of wasp nest destroyer powder which you tip into the nest entrance when they're all inside at night.

Indeed, but the catch is that the powder is in a drawer in the summerhouse! I want to make sure there are no flying wasps around when I retrieve the powder. Then there's the problem of where the nest entrance is as it's hidden in the polybag somewhere. If I can get the polybag inside another polybag I can puff the powder round the inside of that first.

I've used these

Thanks - I'll keep that in option in reserve. Should do well in a 10m^3 space!

Last night I found the powder and next to it was one of those long-distance expanding foam wasp-killer aerosols. I sprayed one side of the bag last night and flipped it over this morning (long bamboo cane!), and sprayed the hole I'd seen. Only saw one wasp fly out from, I guess, another hole. I'll spray that tonight.

What are you using to clear the Box Moths?

Elderly eyesight and fingers for squidging the caterpillars.

Somewhere in excess of 300 so far.

Not tried insecticide as Moth arrival time is unknown:-(

I've used Bux Revive - Professional Box Tree Caterpillar Treatment (Ebay and direct

Two years ago I photographed a moth, not knowing what it was. When I saw one in a similar location this year I killed it. This whole area has been infested and several bushes have been lost. Next door at theirs removed as their gardener didn't know what the problem was.

Apparently Jackdaws will eat the blighters:

Good luck anyway, that's a lot of "kills".

Diminishing now. May 1st. would seem a practical leaf spraying start time. Note for the gardening diary.

My biggest problem is fending off criticism from my family for not simply removing the shrub:-(>

Put up some nest boxes for blue-t*ts and let them do the hard work for you ?.

Three nest boxes available. One used by Blue T*ts and a second (larger entrance hole) Great T*ts. All now fledged and flown. (Sparrow Hawk food:-(

Birds seem rather nervous of the caterpillar stripy colouration.>