Paper-Wasps Eating my Hops?

[Praiodan]

Hey all,

Question for you backyard hop growers. I had a 5 foot healthy vine die about a month ago (turned brown and looked like insects got it) and have a couple more 3 and 4 foot first year bines coming up now.

I was out watering the yard and noticed 7 or 8 paper wasps over near my hop garden. I walked over and watched for a minute as 4 or 5 of them descended on one of my 3 footer's hop leaves and proceeded to eat about half the leaf and fly off.

I think I found the cause of my first vine dying and think the second and third are heading that way too. Has anyone every heard of paper-wasps liking hop leaves? Anything I can do about it, other than pesticides?

 

[Tiber_Brew]

Find their nest, wait until sundown, spray the sh*t out of it with wasp killer, wait 24 hrs, smash the nest.

Step 1 is the hardest. Look under decks, roof overhangs, etc.

That happened to me a year or so ago and that pretty much took care of it. They usually nest near the food source, FYI.

TiberhopethishelpsBrew

 

[motobrewer]

and underground!! f*ckers!!!!!!!

 

[lowlife]

mine have ****-tons of wasps and hornets on them. Its annoying.

 

[Tiber_Brew]

An unrelated trick (this won't apply to flying insects) is to make a perimeter of Sevin Dust or some insecticide safe for crops around the base of your bines. This will keep tent worms, earwigs, ants, spiders, etc. off of your precious greens.

Cheers to a healthy harvest,
TiberwillbeharvestingminesoonBrew

 

[Praiodan]

Thanks all, just never heard of wasps liking hop leaves. I'll take down any nests I see.

 

[Tiber_Brew]

Thanks all, just never heard of wasps liking hop leaves. I'll take down any nests I see.

Stay safe, and like I said; spray 'em at sundown.

TiberhopesyouarenotallergicBrew

 

[MajorTom]

I actually had wasps building a nest on one of the side arms of my hops. Tore the nest down and a few days later found them building another nest an couple of inches away from their first failed attempt. I sprayed them good so they wouldn't come back. Wouldn't that be a nice surprise on harvest day... a big ripe nest full of wasps.

 

[rniles]

I'm a big fan of wasps - not those who are munching your plants - but yellow jackets, especially the European ones (the ones that build their nests in combs up and under eaves, as opposed to the American variety who build their nests on the ground - and the European ones aren't nearly as mean and nasty as the American variety). They eat bugs (pests) like you wouldn't believe.

I usually limit the amount of nests around my home to one nest. That keeps enough around to kill bugs but not so many as to cause trouble.

I learned about keeping a nest around as one year I killed all the wasps and had bug problems galore. You can watch them, they hover around the plant searching for bugs.

 

[Schlenkerla]

Here are a couple of things you can spray on your hops that will make the bugs dislike them.

Baking soda and water. I believe this is mainly to prevent mildew attacks.

Manure Tea. Get a bag of manure, put about one shovel-full into a 5 gal bucket and fill with water then stir it up a bit. Then let it sit for a few days pour off the tea-like water into your spray.

I have a $14 sprayer that I only use for hops. I normally spray the plants when they only have leaves.

If you have leftover tea water use this as organic fertilizer for watering the hops.

I also use Charlie Papazians zap-tap lauter tun design to drip water my hops. No beer is made with this lauter tun!

 

[Emerald]

Almost all wasps are territorial and if you make a "fake" paper nest and hang it near your hops (like right up there with the hops or on the supports) they will choose other areas to inhabit.
Just blow up a big balloon, paper mache around it and paint it that gray color and hang up for the season (I would think you might have to put some varnish or something on it or it might melt in the rain tho?) they also sell little blow up ones in some stores.. they work.