Fight earth wasps – remove earth wasp nest

What species of wasps build nests in the ground?

Very many – but most of them are anything but dangerous. And very many bees also build nests in the ground, and peaceful bumblebees that are worth protecting. If you notice an increased number of wasps in the garden in the ground or in the lawn, you should first try to identify the wasp species before starting any control. With that the problem could actually have been solved, because you don’t need to fear many species under normal circumstances.

A “touch of horror”, but harmless: earth nests of wild bees
If you have the feeling that thousands of wasps materialize out of small holes in the lawn, which will probably soon occupy the entire air space close to the ground, you can use these horror fantasies again right away forget. On the contrary, if there is a swarm of holes in the ground, that’s rather good news, because it will almost certainly be wild bees, and they will really endanger the peace of your house. You also don’t have to keep your children indoors until the animals are fewer – wild bees don’t sting.

The supposed “earth wasps” are definitely wild bees if you can perceive the following characteristics:

• The animals come from individual holes and not in bulk from one hole.
• You can see small, yellow clumps of pollen on the back legs
• the animals look more like bees, so hairy and more black and brown than black and yellow
• The animals suddenly buzz around in large numbers in spring, especially in the sun
• Then a colony of wild bees is just about to hatch from its pupae
• Soon after, you will only see individual animals that have not yet got rid of their eggs
• When all the nests have been built, the wild bee parents die and the lawn is quiet again
• If the females build the nests on site as soon as they hatch, they come back every year

So they come back every year if they like it so much in their garden that they stay in the area after hatching. Then you should be happy that the wild bees like it so much in your garden, and if your garden is not completely bare, you will also get a considerable benefit from the wild bees: They like to pollinate a lot of garden plants, flowers, fruit bushes and trees.

Nests of solitary wasps should not cause sleepless nights either
. Many wasps that do not live in states but live alone (solitary) are similarly harmless. For example, the wall wasps and the pill wasps and the clay wasps, the wasps and the wasps and the parasitic wasps, which really hide with other wasps with their eggs. All these species and many other wasps live solitary and sometimes create nests in the ground, as can be seen from the name of the digger wasps.

The solitary way of life of these wasps results in special brood care, and this type of reproduction makes the solitary wasps in turn quite harmless to humans. Those who do not live in a state do not need to defend it either – the solitary wasps do not build artistic structures, but rather go “quick & dirty” when building their nests: dig a hole in the earth, find a nice crack or crevice, at best one Hang up a little clay nest somewhere, put eggs in, done! The eggs are also given some insect provisions, then the nest is closed and the mother wasp leaves the offspring to their fate. They will therefore not suffer from solitary wasps for long, and these wasps also do not have any useful weapons to defend their nests, they too prefer to hold back from stinging,

Bumblebees – not in the buttocks, but in the ground?

What nests underground there could actually be a bumblebee family, insects that are also endangered and as excellent pollinators, very important. However, the earth bumblebees are basically quite peaceful companions, the workers can theoretically sting, but their sting can only be described as weak – if poison can get under the human skin at all, it is usually only perceived as a harmless pinching , with a little burning sensation and sensation of heat at the puncture site, perhaps, the sting of a bumblebee also has no barbs and therefore does not get stuck like that of a honey bee.

But before that even happened, the bumblebee warned you several times and emphatically: First it stretched its middle leg towards you, if that did not drive you to flee, it would lie on its back, stretch the stinger towards you and it was really audible growled. In other words, getting stung by a bumblebee is almost an art that you will almost only be able to achieve when stepping on a bumblebee with bare feet or trying to hold a bumblebee with your bare hands.

Even hornets build nests in the ground.

Even hornets might have excavated in your yard, which means, first of all, you are probably in luck: if you are reading this article because you want to get rid of your “earth wasps” the hornets will do just that for you – hornets They particularly like to prey on wasps of the species that become annoying the fastest, and they also eat a lot of fruit tree pests with great appetite. You can get rid of up to 500 grams of insects per day with the hornets! The hornets do this completely free of charge, which in this case means without taking up the space at your garden table that the wasps previously occupied. Because hornets like neither grilled goods nor sausage platters, not even Coke, and cakes and sweets are of no interest to the majestic pilots either.

Otherwise, hornets are terrifyingly large, but (mainly because of their size) they seem a lot more dangerous than they actually are. Hornets are even extremely peaceful, and far from home (outside of the nest area) even quite fearful. You will rarely see the hornets during the season anyway because they fly very quickly and hunt at great heights, but you will most likely have an unusually relaxed gardening season, even if you have a pond or pool, because mosquitoes also like the hornets very much gladly.

Earth wasp nests of social wasps

The Germans and the common wasps are the most intrusive, and their peoples occasionally nest in the ground. You can tell that these are these types of colonizing wasps:

• An excursion hole from which many wasps come
• No yellow pollen on the animals
• Clear yellow-black color
• No fur
• Nest is abandoned in autumn and not repopulated

German and common wasps are the two species that really annoy us. While the wasps are less noticeable in early summer because they only hunt insects (or sausage sandwiches) for their larvae, the colony grows over the summer. The adult wasps of these colonies do not like anything sweet until they have raised the larvae. So only in the second part of summer do they attack cakes, juice and cola (of course they still like meat).

Relocate earth wasp nests

The nests of almost all wasps except for the Germans and the Common Wasps are under special nature protection, they may be relocated, but only with a special permit, which usually has to be granted by the Upper Nature Conservation Authority, and by experts who are familiar with the implementation. If it is a German or Common Wasp’s nest in the ground, resettlement is generally possible if there is a valid reason. According to the assessment of many courts, such a reason does not already exist if the wasp’s nest is to be removed because it would be more convenient, save time or money or because an ignorant person wrongly feels disturbed by the animals.

In the event of a misjudgment there is a risk of really severe fines, so you should definitely seek advice before a planned relocation for evidence purposes alone. For this purpose, you can contact one of the numerous Hymenoptera services in Germany, you can find your local service by contacting your nature conservation authority, a nature conservation association, a beekeeping service or the fire brigade. These mostly locally organized networks provide advice over the phone, but also on site, and if the need arises, they usually also relocate. This is usually not completely free, but since there is a lot of voluntary commitment in this area, the expense allowance is almost always within very bearable limits.

Have the wasp’s nest removed

Go directly to the detailed article on the  removal of wasp nests .

A wasp nest of the German or Common Wasp that represents a threat may also be removed if there is a valid reason. If you entrust a pest controller with this removal, however, you would have to reckon with the fact that the control of the wasp nest will not always turn out to be easy: If the nest has to be found first, it can take time, which can lead to considerable costs for the removal .

If the nest can only be located approximately, because it is z. B. sitting behind a casing, this often has the consequence that the pest controller brings in the means from all sides with which the wasps is to be put to an end. It is a poison, and none of the poisons that kill wasps are uncontroversial in terms of human contact … If the wasp’s nest is about to die off anyway, toleration is definitely cheaper and more time-saving, and it is, if You have young children, possible:

Live with the earth wasp nest

The following handling of the earth wasp saves your money, is easy on your nerves and keeps your children out of the danger area:

• Cover the pyramid made of wooden strips with coarse-meshed wire and pull it over the earth wasp nest
• Cordon off the area around the earth nest at a child-friendly distance with sticks and a tape recorder
• Postpone gardening work with vibration near the nest into late autumn
• Bumblebees in particular are alerted at the slightest shock and then fly out in droves
• Then you should leave the nest completely alone for a while and only move some distance away
• With a child of the right age, you will surely watch the nesting business – there is no more direct way to convey biology!
• If you have any questions about “child safety” around the Erdnest: The advice of the local Hymenopter service will be happy to help.

Conclusion
With an earth wasp nest in the garden, you can live quite well in most cases, especially because in very many cases it is the nests of creatures that really do not pose a threat. Especially when the annoying Germans or Common Wasps have built a wasp nest with you, you (and your children) should of course know the tricks of how to drive away wasps effectively and what an effective protection against wasp stings looks like.