Control of European Wasps (Vespula germanica) in vineyards by baiting

European wasps (Vespula germanica) cause significant problems in some Tasmanian vineyards, with losses of up to 6 Tonnes recorded by an individual grower in 2001. Meat baits can be used to indicate the presence and activity of wasps during late February – March , when they are seeking protein to feed their larvae. This feeding activity can be exploited to achieve wasp control without the need to find and destroy nests.. In trial work in northern Tasmania the insecticide fipronil(Aventis CropScience) at a concentration of 0.05% in fresh meat bait was found to reduce wasp numbers by over 99% within two days.

Further work is needed to investigate the use of alternative meat baits to increase attractiveness to wasps, the timing of control operations and to determine whether there is a threshold sugar content at which wasps are attracted to fruit.