Pest control came and dealt with wasp nest in garden, what about stragglers?

[MM]

I got a local chap to come and exterminate a wasp nest this morning. The wasps had built a nest in the ground, but you couldn't see the entrance as they had tunnelled down through the undergrowth (which I can't cut away till they're gone).

The chap donned a bee suit, got a very long lance on a pressure sprayer and puffed loads of white powder into the tunnel. He reckoned they'd all be gone by later today, or tommorow at the latest.

What about the stragglers? They were out foraging when he was spraying the nest. Some are returning. What happens? Do they enter the tunnel, take a bite of some of the powder, and die? Or what?

He said if they haven't gone by Monday, give him a call and he'll come and do it again. But I really want to cut back the undergrowth so that I see the actual entrance. Yesterday I tried rapidly raking back the long grass around where they fly in and out, but that made 'em really angry and I got stung once on the wrist, despite wearing gloves and a thick jacket. (Should have put the sleeves inside the gloves and secured with a rubber band.) That wasp sting was RUDDY painful and the pain lasted all day, easily 12 hours. It's subsided now though.

MM

[Tim Streater]

I imagine they'll be walking on it and that'll be that.

[Chris Hogg]

They will tramp through the powder in the entrance and get coated and die. Most wasps return to their nest overnight, so by the next day there should be very few stragglers.

[MM]

I'm astonished. One hour later and there's NO sign of any activity around the entrance "tunnel" through the undergrowth. Normally, for the past few months, there's been a constant stream of wasps in and out. The chap was right when he said they'll all be gone by today. But I'll wait till tommorow morning till I start hacking away at that undergrowth. That's £45 well spent! Another company locally wanted £79. The council hasn't provided pest control since 2004.

MM

[ARW]

You should have left it alone. The nest would have been dead in a few weeks due to nature.

[MM]

Ridiculous suggestion. You couldn't go into the garden without wasps everywhere.

MM

[The Todal]

Might have something to do with shit.

[The Todal]

Good week then. first the bath tub full of oil, then the sainsburys ticket, and now wasps.

Awesome.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , ARW writes

Yes but all those queens would be hibernating and ready to start again next year.

There is no shortage of Wasps here despite my efforts in the Spring.

>

[ARW]

And?

[F Murtz]

So what, I do it all the time, wasps sole purpose is not to attack every human, left to go about their business they will leave you alone. the only time I would worry is if you are allergic just in case the extremely rare instance occurs.

[MM]

Then YOU do it, okay?

What YOU do doesn't really interest me, okay?

MM

[MM]

It is ludicrous for people to say we should keep an active wasp nest in the garden just yards from where children are playing or neighbours are relaxing. I couldn't give a flying f**k about nature, I just wanted the venomous little critters destroyed with ultimate prejudice, especially after having been stung, the severe pain of which lasted ALL day.

And that seems to have happened! I am very, very thankful for chemicals, and many thanks to men with lances.

MM

[Tim Lamb]

In message , MM writes

I come from a long line of soft fruit growers and have a built in prejudice:-)

However, if they are not an inconvenience, I'm inclined to leave them alone. Without such predators we would be feet deep in Greenfly each year.

[F Murtz]

Exactly.

[F Murtz]

No sympathy,if you left them alone they would not have stung you, it is your own fault.

[The Todal]

You don't have a house full of shit. Wasp's like shit and crap gives them somewhere to live.

[MM]

If I lived on a 3-acre smallholding like the one I grew up on in Kent, provided the wasp nest was a safe distance from human habitation, sure, they could stay. But these things were buzzing all over the back lawn. They had to go.

MM

[MM]

You don't mind getting stung, then? What about your kids? What about the neighbours? These were not just a couple of random wasps visiting the neighbourhood. These were hundreds of the buggers flying in and out of a nest not 6 feet from my kitchen window. Should I never open that window again? Would that suit?

MM

[MM]

Duh!

(No further follow-up response necessary.)

MM