I have been repotting my collection over the past week. Not the best time of year I know but it has to be done when I have spare time for it and my husband and I have just finished washing and re glazing the greenhouse.
Today though I was happily unpotting a large and very old cactus that hasn't been repotted for a few years. I tipped the plant into my hand using a glove to protect from the spines, and started loosening the compost around the roots with my fingers. To my horror a very large wasp fell out of the pot and into the bin I use to collect the old compost. I am pretty sure it was a queen settling in for hibernation, to my eye it looked huge. I have seen the bees that use the pots to breed and dig out compost and replace with leaves before in the greenhouse but never a wasp.
That must have been a shock, Mary. This is the time of year when queen wasps find a place to hibernate but I've never found one inside a plant pot - but I don't usually re-pot at this time of year.
Rod Smith
Growing a mixed collection of cacti & other succulents; mainly smaller species with a current emphasis on lithops & conophytum.
Thanks Mary for the warning. I usually do some Autumn repotting and had not realised that queen wasps might do this. I shall be more cautious in the future.
Croydon Branch member, growing mainly cacti and Echeverias
An update to your experience Mary, I have a planter of Aeoniums, still outside at present, with a spreading clump of 'Ballerina' at the bottom.
A couple of days ago my husband mentioned that he had seen a very large wasp go right inside this clump, I assume a queen looking for a cosy spot for the winter. I now have to work out how to find her and remove her before moving the planter inside the greenhouse for the winter!
Croydon Branch member, growing mainly cacti and Echeverias
Why bother, it will come out on it's own when the weather warms up in the spring and fly away. Wasps are rather annoying in late summer but for most of the year they are highly beneficial predatory insects. I get the odd queen in my greenhouse every year, but I don't do any repotting in winter so I have never had a problem
I agree with Ali Baba on this one. Why get paranoid. If you know where one is hibernating then you know how to avoid it. It can be a bit of a surprise if you find one unexpectedly in mid-winter, but they are generally pretty sluggish at that time and not likely to be a problem. There is always one or two (at least) hibernating in my greenhouses over winter, and even if I know where they are (and mostly I don't), I just make a mental note and leave them be. They are very happy to leave when they want to in the Spring, and I have never known them stay to nest in a greenhouse, which admittedly would be a problem (too hot for them I suspect!).
Malcolm
Stockport, UK
Member of Macclesfield & East Cheshire BCSS Branch
Collection mainly of cacti, though interested in a much wider variety of plants than I can accommodate!
Thanks Ali and Malcolm for this reassuring advice. My main concern was that the queen wasp would get trapped in the greenhouse and maybe start a nest there, but it sounds as though that is very unlikely.
Croydon Branch member, growing mainly cacti and Echeverias
I agree with the others, it's unlikely to do any harm. I have occasionally found sleepy wasps in boxes and heaps of pots in the greenhouse during the winter in the past. The only times I have ever been bitten too.
I finished my potting without any further problems or nasty surprises.
I went out to the greenhouse yesterday to make a start on clearing and cleaning my other greenhouse, and threw out some old compost from some pots at the same time. To my surprise I tipped out two more large wasps from their hiding places into the wheelbarrow of waste compost and rubbish.
The odd thing is we had very few wasps this year, and no sign of a nest anywhere near the greenhouses.
Edited to add that I went to use my nice thick gloves to pull out some nettles that had managed to grow inside the greenhouse and thought to check inside the gloves before putting them on, only to find the hugest wasp inside one of them. Beginning to get paranoid where I will find one next. And I am afraid to say I squashed it, to stop it relocating.
mary44 wrote:Edited to add that I went to use my nice thick gloves to pull out some nettles that had managed to grow inside the greenhouse and thought to check inside the gloves before putting them on, only to find the hugest wasp inside one of them. Beginning to get paranoid where I will find one next. And I am afraid to say I squashed it, to stop it relocating.
Just as well you discovered it was there before it bit you. Not a nice experience. You seem to have had more than your fair share of hibernating wasps this year. We've had two - one indoors and one in the loft. There may be others that we haven't discovered: I must check my gloves.
Rod Smith
Growing a mixed collection of cacti & other succulents; mainly smaller species with a current emphasis on lithops & conophytum.
I am pretty sure it was a queen settling in for hibernation, to my eye it looked huge. I have seen the bees that use the pots to breed and dig out compost and replace with leaves before in the greenhouse but never a wasp.
