Wasps Vs Caterpillars

[Ila002]

Alrigt, I have a problem. I have a butterfly/hummingbird garden in my back yard. I did have 19 Oleander Caterpilars and am now down to 6 because of these wasps that keep coming and killing the caterpillars. I do not have any wasp nests around my house - they are coming from some place else. I want to prevent the wasps from killing my beautiful caterpillars. Any suggestions?

[MaryG]

About all I can suggest is getting one of those wasp traps (either plastic or glass) that traps the wasp inside it. You put some water in it and something really smelly that wasps like, for instance some salmon or meat, and they crawl in to get the bait and can't crawl out.

[boo]

Are they the tiny wasps that lay their eggs into the Caterpillars? Those are actually beneficial insects even though they do that. :mellow:

Anyway, if your serious about raising the larva you might want to invest in a light netting material to keep some of the predators away from them.

[Ila002]

They are big wasps - yellow and black. I saw one of them eat apart a caterpillar, and yellow stuff kept oozing out. Then, what was left of the caterpillar they rolled up and took with them. It was crazy, there were about 5 wasps all at once doing this to the caterpillars. Like I said I did have 19 Oleander caterpillars. I had to take the rest of the caterpillars in. The light netting idea was mention by my dad, but I want Lepidoptera.... and the netting would defeat that purpose. I still have the Monarch caterpillars - luckily the wasps haven't discovered them, probably because of the poison they eat that is in the milkweed. I did have a Fritillary caterpillar, but unfortunately the wasp got to that one. No idea on how to keep Hymenoptera out but let Lepidoptera in.

Also MaryG, where might one find one of these traps. Or, what would the name of one be.

[MaryG]

Those sound like yellow jacket wasps - I hate them - I've been stung by them more times than I can count! Not for a couple of years though.

Those wasp traps should be available at any good hardware store or gardening centre. The plastic ones are cheapest but some of the glass ones are pretty. We have a green glass one that we hang near the BBQ when we're cooking and the wasps are being pests.

[yellow22]

Could be they don't have a typical nest but they live in the ground and are taking the catapillers down for their young.
Could you collect what you have, rear them in a fish tank of something?

[MrSeedy]

It's both good and bad, but the truth is that many wasps and hornets are ominiverous and will eat both meat and plant matter, so even though they may be bothering some caterpillars that are "wanted" they also may eat and kill some you'd like to be rid of!! They can nest almost anywhere, so it's likely they could be anywhere around the yard or in unexpeted places. I just noticed I have a nest in my front entry light , since there's a broken pane in the "lattern" like cover, and they've built a nest in there. Ground is also a possibility, and recently I found a yellow jacket nest by accident in one of the plastic or PVC coverings on a guy wire of a utility pole , when I was bumping the cover with my lawnmower. The wasps came swarming out , but fortunately didn't sting me . A close call there however, and I've not been stung by more than one at a time in many years, nor would I like to be !! I do understand your frustration however, when you have a favorite caterpillar that's being killed.

[boo]

I would suggest taking them in, like yellow said. I've raised monarchs before but not Oleanders. :unsure:

[Ila002]

We had pest control come out, but they didn't find any hives etc.... It took the wasps about 3 hours to realize there is no more caterpillar food for them yesterday. So far today I have only seen one wasp.... I am going to buy that wasp trap though. My problem is, other than I love all Lepidoptera, I am allergic to wasps and bees if they sting me. So having a swarm of wasps or bees in my yard is just not an option. The monarch cats are still okay though. The oleander cats are doing fine in their caterpillar habitat. When more caterpillars come, the wasps will be back again though. I do have a great garden nursery here which I will check for those wasp traps.

[Ila002]

Alrigt, the wasps that are causing problems are paper wasps. So far, al of he wasp traps I have checked out say they won't work for paper wasps, and they will only work for yellow jackets... So how do you attract paper wasps to trap them?

[yellow22]

I'll give myself some what of a purpose and look around a bit because I realize you could suffer from a sting. Since they use water to cool down their nest...it's almost a catch 22 if you were to use a treatment in some kind of bird bath...I wonder if BT works on wasp larva. Other than to let nature take it course finding another preditor would be a corse of action for next year.

I don't think there has ever been a nature center that I walked into that didn't have a paper wasp nest hanging on display. Your best bet it to get a book and read about how to attract more butterflies. I know how you feel, I omce captured a wasp that scanned up and down the milkweed and took them right down a hole, only to stick it in the freezer and ship it out to a person doing research on why the Monarch numbers were low like this year. It gave me bad goose bumps, almost stood the back of neck hair up like Rachlett cheese. Nasty.

[boo]

I found this page from the University of Kentuckyhttp://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entomology/...truct/ef620.htm ('http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entomology/entfacts/struct/ef620.htm')

It might help. It appears that removing their nest is the way to go. If you're allergic you will want to hire someone in pest control.

It might be nice for you & the caterpillars to have them gone, but I do agree with MrSeedy that they are probably killing some bugs that you'd like to be rid of. Who knows what pest problems may arise when they are gone.

I hope you're able to save the caterpillars that are left.

[Ila002]

So trapping seems to behard with paper wasps, but what about repelling? I read some where that the smell of rotting meat might repell most wasps. Does any one know good repelling techniques? Like I said the nest is no where near my house, I followed the wasp one block from my house only to watch him dissapear. I did buy a wasp trapper, but I put some lunch meat in there. I wonder if the rotting meat thing will work or not. Has any one heard of repelling wasps?

[DandyLioness]

OMG! All I can say is that I was stung by some paper wasps last year. Several stings to my hand - and my hand swelled up soooooo much that I could bearly use it! I was in major pain!! My skin started to peel and turn a dark colour. I finally ended up going to a clinic - because it was was insane! They gave me some cortisone cream. They said that the venum in the wasps was getting worse every year. Super wasp in in the process..........

That freaked me out................so NOW.. when I hear any buzzing... I walk away slowly! -_-

[Ila002]

Today there were a bunch of paper wasps flying around!!! So meat DOES NOT repell them... does any thing repell them though?