On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 12:14:51 -0000, "Frances Evans"
wrote:

Wasps keep eating my plums! Any ideas how I can keep the buggers off them?
The plums are Victoria, the garden is about fifty foot long and about thirty
foot across. Just got the one plum tree and it's about 15foot high. Help!


Realistically there's very little you can do - unless you're prepared
to physically isolate your plum tree in a ( very large ) fruit cage.

Getting the plums off early is a good bet - when they're more yellow
than red...though you won't get that lush sweetness you get from a
fully tree-ripened plum.

The traditional advice is to remove any fallen or damaged fruits, on
the grounds that these will attract yet more wasps. However, it's
reasonable to suppose that if the wasps are feeding off semi-rotten or
damaged plums, they'll be leaving the intact fruits on the tree alone.

Setting traps is another traditional option - the old bottle filled
with water with a teaspoon of jam in it - but these are just another
attractant.

I find the problem varies from year to year, depending on the size of
the crop and the abundancy of wasps. Last year was pretty lousy - the
year before was so good I was giving plums away by the carrier bag
full.

I'm none too sure that the wasps aren't merely opportunistic. Plums
are pretty fragile, and are prone to splitting or weeping - and
there's a chance that birds might have a pop at them too. It could
well be that the wasps are simply moving in after the event, so to
speak.

Plant another tree...double your chances - or go for a cordon and
sling a net over it.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk