European Wasps in Australia /Your cures wanted.

[John Gryphon]

Another species that is simply a terrible introduction to our land that requires us to find a solution. Over the last fortnight I have 'puffed' 8 nests along the creek bank and several in hollow trees.
One nest I revisited the next day for a follow up had a bucketful of golden shiny jumbo sized queens that had succumbed to the puffed dust,bloody thousands of them laying in a heap under the tree hole entrance.
I have never seen this previously as they die in the nest.

According to the CSIRO the average nest at the end of April start of May has 5000 new queens ready to go out,hibernate over winter and then start a new colony. I`m glad I have been tracking the nests down before this happens.

Anyway i`m sure that you fellas would have some great ideas on how to deal with these effing things.

I am using Aldi [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT]Permethrin Dust .

 

[enfieldspares]

Do the grubs make great trout bait like our Brit wasps?

If I ever had a nest if there was no fire hazard I used petrol.

At dusk after they'd all gone to bed and set the thing afire.

 

[kes]

Definately do it at dusk when they are home and a bit stupified - If you can't bin bag the nest and burn it, I use a wasp toxic foam to bung up the entrance and they poison themselves eating their way out. Your method sound equally effective.
You could try shouting 'Brexit' then maybe they will just go away ?

 

[enfieldspares]

LOL. I'd love to see that too John!

"BREXIT...BREXIT".

But how did they get down to Australia? It's a bloody long way. Aren't they maybe from nearer home?

 

[Tartan_Terrier]

I've found a syringe full of petrol into the nest at dusk to be quite effective in the past. No need to set it on fire though, the petrol has been enough the few times that I've tried it.

 

[badbob]

We rely on cold frosty winters to keep the wasp population at a reasonable
level. Cannot imagine how they might multiply in Oz
The foaming spray is much more effective especially with a combination
of tetramethrin with other pyrethrins.
They dont normally bother you til you start trimming over their nest or
chain sawing the tree.
Their numbers peak in August just at BBQ time,they love a drink of
white wine.

at least we dont have redbacks or funnel webs.
......well actually we do get the odd visitor.

 

[John Gryphon]

Like the rabbit and the cane toad these things are out of the ordinary in numbers as they have no predators here to any degree and our winters are mild in comparison.

With the petrol method I wouldnt be able to help myself...matches please.

I looked at a nest that was puffed yesterday arvo early this morning and the tunnel went straight into the creek bank and the bottom of it was littered with dead `uns for 12 inches..i gave the *******s another puff anyway.
We follow them by eyesight to where the nests are and when losing one wasp wait for another to fly through and leap frog from there.
I have rolled the quad bike twice while following wasps down a slope when a wheel has dropped into a wombat burrow.
www.abc.net.au











The European wasp Vespula germanica is native toEurope, North Africa and temperate Asia. OurAustralian records show that the European wasp first reached Tasmania in 1959, where it soon became well established. ... It is a close relative of the European wasp and has very similar colour markings.

[h=3]European Wasps Introduction Australia Victoria - Museums Victoria[/h]https://museumvictoria.com.au/wasps/

 

[Overlay]

30 grams of Bendiocarb @ 1% ww is the best one by far, straight into the core of the nest, - 30 mins later Zero activity. Perfic

 

[rodp]

Tannerite, may as well have fun while you're doing it.

 

[finnbear270]

I used barbecue lighting fluid from the nearest garage, using a long spill to set it going.

 

[John Gryphon]

I found another nest today..it got it too.

Bendiocarb is sold here as Ficam and its a ripper deal too.

 

[shakey jake]

Have you thought of wasp trapping in your spring to target queens? Im on a course in a couple of weeks and will ask about shipping to auz

 

[Hornet 6]

If they really are our wasps I'd just leave them be, it's not like they are aggressive, I cannot remember the last time I was stung, but it has to be over 50 years ago.
Or maybe they are a new really aggressive version our scientists have dreamed up, sent down to you at great expense to help look after the carp and rabbits

Neil.

 

[User00035]

Without the cold winters to arrest the reproductive cycle, biological control is probably the only option in Australia, if there's an answer at all, but that is fraught with unintended consequences.

I use the powder here very successfully but the problem isn't as acute and its seasonal. Unless its a massive infestation in a roof space in which case the pest controllers come in.
I'm in the building trade and I've known of roofs being opened up to uncover massive active nests which lead to sudden evacuation of the scaffold and professionally assistance before the roof can be covered in again. In old roofs that haven't seen the light of day for a lifetime I've seen abandoned nests that are three feet across.

If European wasps only came to Australia in the 1950 there must be millions of people, especially native people, who have never been stung and who have no inherited genetic immunity and their first sting could be seriously nasty. Even here, if you haven't been stung for decades and your immunity is depleted one sting can make you feel pretty ill and some people go into shock. Bee stings I don't mind but wasps and hornets I'm not keen on at all and I've been getting stung since the age of three.
When we were kids everyone had tin dustbins with no bin liners and the bins were always surrounded by wasps in summer. We were always getting stung and I guess we were immune. We used to smear jam or something onto the muzzle of an air rifle and fish for wasps by poking it under the bin lid. If you got one eventually it would not be able to resist investigating the bore and once its head was out of sight you fired. It was very satisfying. Nowadays we're too clean and tidy, we don't get stung and our immunity has gone.

 

[badbob]

Working outdoors I get stung regularly, sometimes multiple times. Have found nests under high seats,always check now before I climb. Once had to jump down,hurt my ankle,hopped off at high speed,with a dozen of the little blighters stinging.
( Still not as bad as jellyfish

 

[John Gryphon]

If they really are our wasps I'd just leave them be, it's not like they are aggressive, I cannot remember the last time I was stung, but it has to be over 50 years ago.
Or maybe they are a new really aggressive version our scientists have dreamed up, sent down to you at great expense to help look after the carp and rabbits

Neil.

The yellow *******s are aggressive as bullants and have been known to collectively sting horses to death here.

 

[User00035]

Have European wasps cross-bred with other wasps which have also been introduced over there? Its happened with bees.

 

[John Gryphon]

I have no idea of that.

NZ has an enormous problem with euro wasps also.

 

[kes]

I have no idea of that.

NZ has an enormous problem with euro wasps also.

Has the Aus/NZ dept of Ag not considered chemical neutering of males or Queens as a means of depleting breeding stock ?
There must be way of making queens infertile and thus frustrating the little Uggers reproductive cycle.

 

[John Gryphon]

We do that with flies here by irradiation rather than chemical means.
Dept of Ag here like most Ag Dept never get much funding,not enough to address these *******s.
They chased me today so I went back with petrol and eucy leaves and let them have it.I then went and put about a wheelbarrow of wood on top of the fire to cook them deep underground.
I saw how tenacious they are,one hooked onto my fleece top with its mandibles and repeatedly stung my top for minutes until i belted it and its head stayed hooked on ha ha.

While I was frigging around near the wasp nests a bloody Jack Jumper stung my neck,my chest and my guts,they are red hot *******s!