We have biting flies too, mainly when I’m working in the overgrown bits of the garden. But now, thanks to Catharine’s recommendation of the Craghopper anti insect clobber, I don’t get nearly so many bites. Trouble is they are too hot for summer wear unless it’s before 9.am - best gardening time anyway.
Afraid you are right, Brian, but maybe the water etc helps. We shall give it a go next summer and report back.
We do some of the time, but that doesn’t solve the problem when it’s in use.
Iain Duncan Smith has reclassified their working status, therefore like the missing unemployed from statistics, they no longer exist.
Apparently there are none in Blighty. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2747264/Buzz-know-answer-wasps-gone-Concern-garden-pest-eating-insects-vanished.html Maybe they've all gone to France!
Glad to hear I'm not the only one suffering, have never everbeen 'sooo popular' before by 'something' that bites you incl the infamous damn mosquitos, bumps on my skin non-stop. Earlier in the summer the only cure was, as I got a very bad rash, was sitting in the pool to cool down...not nice, have never ever before known anything like it here in Provence...hope next summer will be 'better'... :)
That is not suitable for all pools, certainly not ours...let's see how things pan out next year, it might just be different...else maybe try the pamplemousse stuff... :)
Instead of declaring war on wasps, wouldn't it make more sense to cover the pool when it is not in use?
Yes, those flies! Just took the dogs out and under the trees there are swarms of them, now I am itching and covered in the red bumps. Fortunately they only last a couple of hours on this old skin but they make the wasps pale into insignificance.
Many wasps nests are tiny, some species are only in colonies of a couple of dozen but there may be many of their 10-12cm nests nearby. If they must be eradicated then always try to leave a few. Wasps are mainly carnivores and eat pests. A garden with lots of wasps and hornets should be without green or black fly and their like. They are not actually aggressive until touched, people flapping hands around to fend them off may swat them, then they sting defensively. At this time of year they are feeding on fruit such as grapes and plums, if you have figs then see them there! This year has been exceptional with spring and summer flowers early in the mild, wet early part of the year so that the small insects they feed on most of the time has done well, fed them well and longer than usual thus meaning there are more colonies now. The first frosts will do for most of them. Then the winter itself will simply leave colonies with egg cells and a few larvae that will hatch as adult wasps as soon as the temperature changes. If people know where there are nests and can wait until it is cold, with careful handling it is just about possible to relocate them as long as they have proper shelter from the cold.
As for swimming pools. Since the question came up I have had a look and it appears to be a worldwide one. The USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Norway are among the countries where people have thrown in questions and comments from. Apart from fishing them out, which it seems must be done when using chemical solutions as well, there is no real answer out there.
Hi Doreen, we are also in the Var, but nowhere near the coast, up in the back-country. We do constantly check for nests, I just think there have been more of them this year because we had a mild winter and damp spring.
Our plant life is not the same as the semi tropical plants on the coast, we are definitely lavender, rosemary, olive and vine country!
Hi Gerard
That’s very interesting. I really thought salt might be the answer. We have had more wasps this summer than any previous one, though as you have found, they have more or less gone now. Up till a week or so ago they were still around in droves. We had a lot of mistral in August which has disappeared now, thank heavens, so maybe it blew them away.
We also scoop them out in vast quantities.
Hi Caroline,
We have a salt water pool and it makes no difference. The salt content will never be high enough to deter wasps. We tried chemicals, but the wasps still ended up in the pool and it just made the water taste horrible.
We just live with it and scoop them out with a net on a regular basis. Our clients seem quite happy to put up with it too.
A toad pond or shallow alternative source of water in the shade might be the best alternative.
Interestingly, although it hasn't rained for weeks, we're not getting them now, but we had them in the early summer.
Another brand. But does it keep the wasps in the water? We want them somewhere else…
I’ve never heard of pamplemousse wine, but I am learning a lot from Survive France! Next year our pool will have many bird baths, honey traps with pamplemousse wine, and Buzz off in the water. Plus some salt. Almost an art installation in itself.
That sounds great Clare - we shall get some at once!
;)))
Hi
Our neighbour is a fruit farmer and vigneron so we get lors of wasps, you can buy a product to pour into the pool , we have a central courtyard wit a fountain so we add to that too, the brand is Subito. It´s inoffensive to humans but doesnt let the wasp fly out of the water.
Exactly, but convince people, including my daughters. I am only really willing to destroy Asian hornets' colonies, but not so many around this year. In pools they are a pest because they can take a couple of hours to sink and drown and still sting bathers which they don't often feel immediately. So it is a very hard one to play the almighty with.
We have had a lot of wasps in our pool all though the summer, ours is a chlorinated pool, but as of last week very few, and now the pool temperature is c22/23. I can see that the bag on our robot has very little in it, despite it's been 9 days since it was emptied! All I have done through the summer is to get them out with our 'big long bag/pole thing' whether alive or dead along with leaves and the rest, that was I all I could think of, as it's not nice swimming amongst 'all that nature'...really do not think there's anything that can be done, we live in nature and the Mistral has at times not helped, so...but in case someone knows, I would love to know... :)