North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Road's End Farm <organic87@frontiernet.net>]

On Jul 20, 2008, at 8:45 PM, Alan Haigh wrote:

> Rivka, you kill me, you actually relocate wasp nests so you aren't destroying them?  I wonder if this doesn't create territorial wars between your immigrant nests and already established nests.  Hmm you may be doing more harm than good.  OK, just kidding. 
>  
> As a fruit grower bald-face hornets and yellow jackets can be more than a nuisance some years as they destroy a lot of fruit by chewing holes in all the best stuff just as it ripens.  You grab a piece of fruit that is occupied and it's even more annoying.  If you try to harvest while they are active they sometimes actually swarm you and drive you from the tree.  Growing fruit is not a Disney nature animation and I have become ruthless, though sometimes I feel a bit like Elmer Fudd, I have to admit.
>  

Alan, I also grow fruit; I'm perfectly capable of squashing unwanted insects, and do so frequently (not to mention the venison sausage in the freezer, which would hardly fit well with a Disney animation, at least unless I was the bad guy). Farming anything requires a certain degree of ruthlessness.

But I've rarely if ever found wasps in fruit that wasn't damaged before they got there; only in overripe fruit or in fruit that had holes in it from bird pecks or other damage. I've often grabbed fruit that was buzzing, dropped it as soon as I felt the buzz, and not been stung. And I've certainly never been swarmed by feeding wasps; even if I disturb a nest they only follow me ten feet or so. 

As I said in a previous post, it's possible we're not talking about the same species of yellowjackets and hornets; that might explain the difference in our experiences. I think I've got at least three or four species of wasps around here. not counting the ones that are too small to unnerve people.

Oh, and the relocated nests are generally only being moved thirty feet or so; and not placed next to another nest. I don't know whether they survive, I don't monitor them. I just don't feel any need to actively kill them, once they're out of my way.

--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly