Chemcial Control
Chemicals can be used against wasps in two ways - either finding and destroying all nests in the area, or using poison bait. The advantage of poison bait is that foraging wasps carry the poison back to the nest. This means you don't have to find and approach nests. Both methods will only alleviate the problem for the current season, and workers from further away are likely to turn up looking for food. In the next season, the area will almost certainly be reinvaded by queen wasps, which can fly from 30 to 70 kilometers before establishing a nest. The problem will therefore have to be dealt with each year.
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Nest Destruction |
Developing New Baits
Currently Landcare Research is working towards making a bait commercially available that will provide an effective tool for use against social wasps in urban, rural, and natural ecosystems.
Aerial Bait Application
Controlling other pests, such as possums, from the air is common practice in New Zealand. Could this form of control be used for wasps? To be successfully dropped from a plane, wasp baits will need to be solid pellets. However, experience has shown that wasps are very fussy eaters. Wasps would need to feed on their old favourite (sardines) after it had been dehydrated. The addition of water-absorbing chemicals helped the bait become palatable once it hit the forest floor. Workers were recorded feeding on dried baits after water had been added (as would occur with a shower of rain). The difficulty is to formulate pellets that can withstand the hopper of a plane and yet still remain attractive to wasps. Aerial baiting would only be considered if non-target species were not placed at risk.