Earth wasps can become a real problem if they have chosen a garden for their nest. After all, the yellow-black stinging insects are not cuddly toys. In such a case, a fine balance must be found between combating and tolerating.
How to fight earth wasps in the garden?
Earth wasp control should only be carried out by a beekeeper or specialist who can possibly relocate the nest. Passive expulsion methods include planting odorous plants such as basil, lavender or lemon verbena and covering outdoor food.
When a wasp nest in the garden becomes critical
In our latitudes, earth wasps are usually German or common wasps that have chosen a place in the earth to establish their state. This could be, for example, an abandoned mouse or mole burrow. In principle, the wasp species mentioned can also use higher places such as roof trusses or garage niches to build nests.
Having a whole colony of wasps in your garden can of course be problematic. In late summer, a wasp community grows to around 7,000 animals, many of which swarm out every day to look for food.
You should consider carefully in advance whether you want to engage in a clear fight. There are a few reasons against it:
- Wasps are protected and cannot be easily controlled
- Fighting is dangerous and not necessarily animal-friendly
- Wasp state only lasts for a limited time anyway
Wasp control
Wasps are protected
First of all, it is important to know that the Federal Nature Conservation Act makes it a punishable offense to intentionally disturb or kill wasps. However, under certain circumstances, such as an allergy to insect venom or small children living in the household, control can be permitted individually.
If possible, do not carry out wasp control yourself
Even if the nature conservation authorities justify wasp control in your case, you should not take the appropriate measures yourself. It takes some experience with the animals and of course professional equipment to get the whole thing over with as little damage as possible. A beekeeper or an expert from nature conservation associations can also better assess the situation and derive suitable options from it.
The most gentle method that specialists use to remove wasps is to relocate the nest. To do this, the animals are first put into a state of twilight using an animal-friendly agent so that they do not get too stressed and, understandably, become aggressive. They are then vacuumed alive so that the nest can be carefully dismantled. It will then be rebuilt 3-4 kilometers away and the animals will be resettled. From this distance they can no longer find their way back to their original location.
Passive expulsion methods
When in contact with wasps, a calm, passive behavior is generally the wisest. If wasps have nested in your home, you should therefore tolerate them as much as possible and use gentle repelling measures.
Gentle and completely unpunishable options are odorous plants that smell unpleasant to wasps, such as basil, lavender, lemon verbena or the frankincense plant. Rubbing garden furniture with lemongrass oil can also help. When eating at the garden table, the most important, albeit annoying, measure is to prevent tempting scent molecules from getting into the air by consistently covering the food.