The wasps

[johnbanshee]

Hi

I'm in the process of fixing all my ceilings. some are atrocious and not just safe, lots of plaster come away from laths, coupled with many weak ceiling supporta, not strong enough to set foot on to repair etc - we have been able to keep the better ceilings but the others have had to come down.

Having done this it seems our roof must have everything a wasp needs for a home - I am well into double figures on wasps nests (probably 20+ large ones) and some are 18+ inches diameter....fortunately it's the right time of year to remove old nests, I haven't come across a single live one this January.

Here's my diagram of our roof for some other work I'm doing, all the nests are where the orange slice sits...from what I can tell under the felt by the gutters it seems pretty open - there are certainly no soffits etc as per modern houses...

So what's the best way of preventing any re-wasping...has anyone else had a similar issue and found a good method to prevent future issues?

Thanks!

 

[noj]

No help, but the proximity of nests to each other (in your roof and mine) does rule out those fake nests - which are supposed to deter the stripey, stingy things - that garden magazines and the interweb love to market...

 

[housewinnie]

I may be wrong but if you leave wasp nests to die out naturally 100s of queens are created. My tip would be get a good wasp man in. We get a nest or two each year. We also get cluster Flies too.

 

[a twig]

Add more spiders

 

[johnbanshee]

No help, but the proximity of nests to each other (in your roof and mine) does rule out those fake nests - which are supposed to deter the stripey, stingy things - that garden magazines and the interweb love to market...

I think they have had the opposite effect and encouraged more to come!!!!

 

[Kearn]

No help, but the proximity of nests to each other (in your roof and mine) does rule out those fake nests - which are supposed to deter the stripey, stingy things - that garden magazines and the interweb love to market...

They won’t re-use the same nest, but evidence suggests they happily re-use similar locations… we had a few in our attic space.

 

[johnbanshee]

They won’t re-use the same nest, but evidence suggests they happily re-use similar locations… we had a few in our attic space.

View attachment 12321

I find them beautiful but at the same time quite disturbing - they look almost alien!

 

[CliffordPope]

My tip would be get a good wasp man in. We get a nest or two each year.

There's no need for a wasp man. I use a spray bottle with wood preserver. One blast from a safe distance does the trick.