The season of ripe fruit is upon us, Mirabelle plums are ripe and dropping/
rotting. Our early apples are ripe and some have fallen. The Victoria
plums are ripe.

Previous years we would have been sharing (carefully) with the wasps.

This year, out harvesting from hedgerows, we came across a Mirabelle which
had already dropped a load of fruit which was fermenting on the ground,
and not a wasp in sight.

Is this common across the country, or just in East Anglia?

Cheers

Dave R

--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

On 20/08/2021 11:41, David wrote:
> The season of ripe fruit is upon us, Mirabelle plums are ripe and dropping/
> rotting. Our early apples are ripe and some have fallen. The Victoria
> plums are ripe.
>
> Previous years we would have been sharing (carefully) with the wasps.
>
> This year, out harvesting from hedgerows, we came across a Mirabelle which
> had already dropped a load of fruit which was fermenting on the ground,
> and not a wasp in sight.
>
> Is this common across the country, or just in East Anglia?
>
> Cheers
>
>
> Dave R
A month ago I would have agreed with you, but I got stung by a wasp a
couple of weeks ago for the first time in over 50 years! I was watering
with a hose and moved a shrub branch aside to water under it, not
realising there was a wasp under the branch, and a nest less than a
metre away.

That was in the front garden. We also have a nest in the back garden.
Both are underground. We routinely find wasps on the apples which have
been damaged by them or birds. They're also on the fruit skins we put on
the compost heap. That's in south Hampshire.

On another point you've mentioned, our Laxtons Fortune apples have been
falling for around a week. They often show red on the outside, but they
aren't ripe inside (white pips), and have little taste.

--

Jeff

In message <sfo42u$d7d$1@dont-email.me>, Jeff Layman
<jmlayman@invalid.invalid> writes
>On 20/08/2021 11:41, David wrote:
>> The season of ripe fruit is upon us, Mirabelle plums are ripe and dropping/
>> rotting. Our early apples are ripe and some have fallen. The Victoria
>> plums are ripe.
>> Previous years we would have been sharing (carefully) with the
>>wasps.
>> This year, out harvesting from hedgerows, we came across a Mirabelle
>>which
>> had already dropped a load of fruit which was fermenting on the ground,
>> and not a wasp in sight.
>> Is this common across the country, or just in East Anglia?
>> Cheers
>> Dave R
>A month ago I would have agreed with you, but I got stung by a wasp a
>couple of weeks ago for the first time in over 50 years! I was watering
>with a hose and moved a shrub branch aside to water under it, not
>realising there was a wasp under the branch, and a nest less than a
>metre away.
>
>That was in the front garden. We also have a nest in the back garden.
>Both are underground. We routinely find wasps on the apples which have
>been damaged by them or birds. They're also on the fruit skins we put
>on the compost heap. That's in south Hampshire.
>
>On another point you've mentioned, our Laxtons Fortune apples have been
>falling for around a week. They often show red on the outside, but they
>aren't ripe inside (white pips), and have little taste.
>
I normally get an annual invasion somewhere in and around the house
(usually the loft) - but not this year. There's barely been even an
occasional loner coming in through an open window. Neither have I seen
much of the other common insects. Even an infestation of greenfly on the
roses (which I was going to deal with the following day) got washed off
during an absolutely torrential downpour - and haven't reappeared.
--
Ian

On 20/08/2021 11:41, David wrote:
> The season of ripe fruit is upon us, Mirabelle plums are ripe and dropping/
> rotting. Our early apples are ripe and some have fallen. The Victoria
> plums are ripe.
>
> Previous years we would have been sharing (carefully) with the wasps.
>
> This year, out harvesting from hedgerows, we came across a Mirabelle which
> had already dropped a load of fruit which was fermenting on the ground,
> and not a wasp in sight.
>
> Is this common across the country, or just in East Anglia?
>
> Cheers
>
>
> Dave R
>

I was in Shropshire a few weeks back and the friends who i was staying
with have had lots of problems with wasps this year - they have had to
destroy 3 nests.

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 20/08/2021 11:41, David wrote:
> The season of ripe fruit is upon us, Mirabelle plums are ripe and dropping/
> rotting. Our early apples are ripe and some have fallen. The Victoria
> plums are ripe.
>
> Previous years we would have been sharing (carefully) with the wasps.
>
> This year, out harvesting from hedgerows, we came across a Mirabelle which
> had already dropped a load of fruit which was fermenting on the ground,
> and not a wasp in sight.
>
> Is this common across the country, or just in East Anglia?
>
> Cheers
>
>
> Dave R
>
They've all moved to Herefordshire!

In message <ioa172Ffb7iU1@mid.individual.net>, nothanks@aolbin.com
writes
>On 20/08/2021 11:41, David wrote:

>> Is this common across the country, or just in East Anglia?

>They've all moved to Herefordshire!

Very few, if any, in this part of Aberdeenshire this year (touch wood!)
--
Graeme

Jeff Layman wrote:

> A month ago I would have agreed with you, but I got stung by a wasp a
> couple of weeks ago for the first time in over 50 years!

Couple of weeks ago I chopped down (and chopped up) a largish willow
tree, as soon as I had, quite a few wasps appeared and were vying for
position to get at the bark or cambium ... nest making?

On 20/08/2021 17:20, Andy Burns wrote:
> Couple of weeks ago I chopped down (and chopped up) a largish willow
> tree, as soon as I had, quite a few wasps appeared and were vying for
> position to get at the bark or cambium ... nest making?

Salicylic acid is chemically close to a wasp pheromone, and they are
attracted to it and the sap.