We’ve lived in this house 10 years. A year after we moved in, we planted an Apple Tree.
Years 2-9 suffered from drought, hail, freeze…and what Apples we DID get were little stunted sour things that, while they made a good Apple Pie, you wouldn’t want to eat em plain.
Yeah, they’re organic. You’ve gotta cut them up to make sure you don’t get a little extra larval protein.
But this year…this year was GREAT! The branches were leaden with Apples…not huge genetically crazy apples like you get at the store…but 3.5" green sweet yummy apples.
And then we went to pick them. Careful, there’s a wasp over there.
And there’s another.
And two more…holy crap they’re EVERYWHERE. Swallowing my revulsion, I look closely to find unblemished fruit. It’s few and far between.
I find an example, give a twist, and the apple NEXT to it drops to the ground, 5 wasps emerging angrily.
Fuck this shit. I’m out.
So what do we do next year? I hear DDT’s not the bestest idea.
If you have vector control in your county, they may give you some ideas.
Depending on where & how big the nest is, you may need to hire someone. Whenever I see the little nests a-buildin’ under the eaves, I knock them down with a long, long stick, like the handle of a broom.
That’s the thing, I haven’t SEEN a nest. Usually we get one or two little ones, but it’s almost like they’re nesting in the apples (ya, I ain’t know bug scientist)
The other theory is that we’ve recently received some squirrels in our area, they squirrels are eating parts of the apples, and the exposed apples are drawing the wasps.
That’s a pretty good bet. Now that summer is wrapping up I’ve noticed that the little bastards are going into overdrive and buzzing anything that can be food.
If they are what we locally call “yellow jackets”, they nest underground so you won’t see the nest. Aggressive little buggers and they love apples. If you can find the hole leading to the nest wait until dark and spray the crap out of it. Repeat as necessary.
aaah. Could well be. Last year they holed up in the hot tub. I think they’re in the gap between the concrete patio and the kick-out for the breakfast nook.
So no help from me. I still like fresh figs, though.