Watch out for wasps

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 9, Issue 406, 1 October 1991, Page 4

Watch out for wasps

Look under your woodpile, in the garage or under the eaves, you may find a sleepy queen wasp about to wake up. Warm spring weather means that many of the queen wasps that have been hibernating through the winter months in woodpiles, garages, roofs and gardens will start to emerge. Once awake the queen wasps will begin looking for nest sites where they will lay between 20 and 40 eggs, their first 'crop' of workers. The queen wasp has to feed these workers herself. This means that during October the queens will

be out and about looking for food. Once hatched, the first 'crop' of workers take over the role of feeding the queen, her new larvae, and the nest building. The queen is left to concentrate on egg laying. Most wasps seen flying around at this time of year (early spring) are queens. They can be identified by their reasonable large size which is due to the huge fat reserves stored in their abdomens. During the next two months, the Turangi office of the Department of Conservation has a number of wasp traps

which will be available to members of the public. Baited with jam or honey water, these traps are an effective way of catching queen wasps, thus reducing the likeli-

hood of nests becoming established around your home. Every queen wasp captured in spring will mean one less wasp nest to deal with during the summer. It is estimated that one queen can be responsible for as many as 2,000 wasps by au-

tumn! These traps are effective during the two month period only. Once the second worker wasps hatch the queen does not venture outside the nest. Capturing workers has no effect on the wasp population. The only consoling

thought is that once workers start to appear their nests are easier to find and can be destroyed quite simply. While the Department of Conservation is not responsible for destroying wasp nests on private land it can advise on how best to deal with

a wasp nest problem. Wasp nests on or near reserves however, can severely reduce the pleasure of those using such areas. Local DoC staff anticipate that they will be destroying nests again this summer. Last year 340 nests were destroyed by DoC staff.