Published on 12, July, 2020
I thought it was time for another lightish thread This year has been pleasantly free of gnats (hate the things!) but the ants decided to cause me grief by chewing a hole in my patio door frame! Luckily the ants themselves appear to have disappeared now but it’s annoying as I now need to fill in the hole and clear up their mess! Why couldn’t they just use the door like everyone else?
Has anyone else suffered at the hands of insects, this or any other summer? Comic/Serious/Other stories are all welcome
Our wasp invasion was a nightmare in more ways than one.
My relationship with my father was just about the worst possible and the reaction to the wasps is just one example.
Although his mental state was a hundred times worse than mine. He openly hated me calling me an embarrassment and a stupid nutter.
Our house had a water system where a cold water tank in the loft was feeding the hot water tank. one summer I noticed wasps coming in and out of the overflow pipe above the cold water tank. I mentioned it to my parents. My father as usual completely ignored me, pretending that I didn't exist. My mother insisted we do nothing, just leave the wasps alone.
After about a week I noticed that the hot water was slightly yellow and had a horrible smell, when I saw bits of dead wasps coming through the hot water taps, I phoned for pest controllers.
I told my parents that the pest controllers were due in a couple of hours. instantly my father ran for the ladder braved the swarm of wasps and tried to block the overflow pipe. So that there wouldn't be any wasps when the pest controllers arrived. He failed.
The pest controllers found three separate wasps nests in the attic, one directly above the cold water tank.
We had that in a house we rented - a few months after we moved in, every now and then, there would be 'bits' when we ran a bath - I went into the loft and found lots of old nests above the open tanks and the 'water' in the tanks was actually wasp-soup. It was soooooo gross! Thousands of dead, dissolving wasps had met their end in the tanks. That took a lot of flushing to clear out and I fitted lids to the tanks to make sure it didn't happen again.
Yes. A lot of flushing.
The following year we installed central heating with a combination boiler, where hot water was heated on demand and we got rid of both water tanks.
The wasps must have some kind of genetic memory because we and our neighbours had problems with wasps nests every year. I felt relief when I noticed a neighbour fighting a nest because it meant we were safe for another year.
I remember getting the wasp nest poison from the pest control section in a DIY store. It was powder in a cardboard tube. With a pointed end so you could blow it into the nest opening.
That’s wise advice! Though wasps are so small I imagine they can get in through very tiny access points! Very sensible to know where to obtain wasps nest poison when required! Luckily we know a bee keeper who can get it for us if needed!
Carefully check for access points such as rotten wood and any other gaps.
In subsequent years we had two other wasp invasions, both times I tackled them with wasp nest poison as soon as I noticed it. No hesitation, no waiting or asking for advice.