Jacqui came and spoke to members of the Coatesville Garden Club recently, and members were asking what to do about the wasps*.
I was happy to share what I do!
It’s clear that the declining population of our butterflies, particularly the monarch, is due to the increased number of wasps, both Vespula species and paper wasps (Polistes). By reducing the number of wasps in our gardens we can give bees and butterflies a chance to survive.
Having a shade house for your potted swan plants is an ideal solution to protect the eggs, and caterpillars, plus installing several wasp catchers around your garden (I have 14) draws the Vespula wasps away from the swan plants to drown in the wasp catcher.
Wasp catchers are cheap to buy at Bunnings, Mitre 10 and The Warehouse (or you can make your own, search the internet for instructions). The stores also have the lure which wasps love.
I always add a dessertspoon of cat biscuits (such as Friskies, Smitten or Whiskas) to the lure as wasps are looking for protein.
Hang your wasp traps in a sunny sheltered position on hedges, shrubs, trees. It may take a day or two for the wasps to find it. When the wasps are out in force towards November, December and January you may need to empty the traps almost every day, or I just add another one alongside. Make sure you drop the trap into a small rubbish bag, spray with fly spray to kill any live Wasps before you empty it into a bucket, wash and reset.
Sadly, paper wasps (Polistes spp.) are not interested in the lures: you need to find their nests and remove them.
Happy wasp trapping.
* By wasps, I mean the introduced pest species.
At the beginning of spring the female works alone to raise her brood, so killing her is my aim. I keep a butterfly net by the door & when I see a wasp on my swan plants I pull the net right over the branch; they always fly upwards to try to escape. I quickly flip the net over & then they are trapped in the tail of the net. My shoe does the rest...
Many thanks Val for your very helpful advice on the dreaded types of wasps. I didn't realise there was a '' lure'' I could purchase to help me eliminate the horrible species. Oh, how I have had battles with those despicable wasps over the years! I can remember even writing a letter to the Editor of the Herald about them once, though cannot remember quite what the letter was about ----enough to get me fired up, that's for sure! Earlier this year a kind neighbour '' disposed'' of a nest for me and a few years ago , at twilight, I disposed of a nest myself. The nest was in a wooden beam of my carport. I had watched the wasps gathering the wood from a wooden fence, and followed them. ''Never quit'' is my motto for ridding us of our beloved butterflies' enemies!