With earth wasps in the garden, the summer can really be spoiled. On the one hand, the striped stinging insects are annoying, on the other hand, they can also pose a serious threat. In certain cases it may well be necessary to remove the entire nest.
Earth wasps defend themselves and their nest
Wasps are not to be trifled with
Wasps are inherently peaceful animals - but also quite determined ones. When it comes to the supply or the peace of their state, they know no shyness. When searching for food and defending their nest, they behave aggressively and defensively - unlike bees, for example. This is also due to the fact that, unlike bees, they can use their dreaded sting several times in their lives.
Basically, you should approach wasps with caution and calm. If a colony has settled in your garden, you should carefully consider whether you will take active action against the animals or whether you can come to terms with them to some extent. There are several reasons for an extensive toleration:
- Wasps are a protected species
- Active control can be punishable and very dangerous
- Wasp state only persists from spring to fall
- Lots of options to just avoid the animals or keep them away
The aspect of species protection is not only important for the sake of the animals, but also important for you to consider. Because the Federal Nature Conservation Act provides for high fines for those who willfully and without good reason disturb, catch or kill wasps. In certain cases, however, you can obtain official permission to combat it - for example if you are allergic to insect venom or if there are small children in the household.
How to remove ground wasps
If the removal of a wasp nest is unavoidable and officially approved, you should definitely hire a specialist to do it. It is far from advisable to attempt the dangerous undertaking yourself. Because the correct handling of the predatory insects requires a lot of experience and professional equipment.
The most common way to remove a wasp nest during the season is by translocation. The wasps are put into a twilight state early in the morning or in the evening, when they are less active, with an animal-friendly agent and then sucked out of the burrow. Then the nest is carefully dismantled and rebuilt in a suitable place 3-4 kilometers away. From there the wasps can no longer find their way back to their previous location.
Prevention: Make old sites uninhabitable
In the fall, when new queens are raised, a wasp colony disperses. Only the fertilized females hibernate in order to establish their own colony in the following year. They usually look for a new shelter for this. The risk of a site in the garden being repopulated year after year is therefore low. In order to reduce the residual risk, however, it is advisable to dig up an old building in autumn and thereby make it uninhabitable.