How to get rid of the hornets / Kako se riješiti stršljena ?

Do you have problem with hornets? Well I do. It’s not just this year, I've been dealing with them and with wasps for the last five years, since I moved to countryside. I don’t have anything against bees, they are good, but hornets and wasps can give me a really big headache. I don’t like them and I never will. Few years ago, I got stung from more than 50 wasps, thankfully hornet never did. But still, they buzz around my garden and I don’t feel safe when I hear them. Last few days, whenever I go to my garden hornet is there. It means he has his nest somewhere around it probably, but I still dint find it. Hornets are the largest European wasps and some species can reach up to 6 cm. Individual hornets can sting you multiple times because they don’t die after stinging like it happens with typical bees. Same thing is with wasps –they can sting you multiple times. Also, if they feel danger to the nest, they can mobilize the entire nest to sting in defense, which is highly dangerous. So, how to get rid of them? If you found their nest, it's best to call some professionals. You can try with exterminators or in some places fireman’s take care of them too. If you decide to do it by yourself, be really carefully. Wear thick clothing, gloves, safety glasses – basically cover yourself from head to toe.  Also, you should consider treating them at night or early in the morning when they are sleepy.  Their nest is a mud like construction mostly shaped like a pine cone or upside down beehive.  Hornets nest can be found in tree branches, on windows, in attics, under rafters, under leaves and inside abandoned houses. So, there are few methods of getting rid of hornets’ nest (I never tried this one, because I never found their nest) and most people I know use this one. After you protected yourself from their possible stings you should take strong plastic bag which you place under tree branch or where ever is their nest. Try to estimate where the nest will fall so you can place bag under it. Take some long handled trimmer, cut the branch and let nest fall into the bag. Take your insecticide, spray it in bag and tie it really tight. After that you can burn it so you are sure none of the hornets survived. As I said I never tried this method, but I know people who did, and method I use every year is more for keeping them out of my garden then destroying nest. What you need is plastic or glass bottle, some juice (homemade is best because it contains more fruit), sugar, honey and some water. Take your bottle, pour some juice up to half and add some water – you don’t need much water, just about 1dcl. 

 You can also put some sugar and honey, and if you want to be sure none of the bees will get in, just add some vinegar.   Put your bottle where you saw most of your hornets and wait. When juice start to ferment smell of it will attract hornets and as they get in the bottle they will stay there because they can’t get out once they are in.  You can make as many traps as you feel are needed to cover your garden.

Also, you can try altering the environment to get rid of hornets, especially if you remove their nest. So, think of cutting down branches, repainting wall where they were nesting and you can also put some old CD’s in the vicinity of removed nest.  But, as I said in the beginning, when you deal with hornets, be very careful, especially if you are allergic.

For the end, quick look at what’s new in my garden. Lettuce I planted from seeds is starting to germinate and it looks good, and 2 garlic’s are out, but I don’t know what will happen with my tomatoes. Too much rain and not so much sun made some problems – leaves got yellow color and some black spots so I had to take them off. We’ll see what will happen with them if a few days.  If nothing, I’ll have to plant them again.

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Imate li problema sa stršljenima? Ja imam. I to ne samo ove godine, nego posljednjih pet, otkako sam se preselila na selo. Protiv pčela nemam ništa protiv, one su dobre, ali stršljeni i ose zadaju mi glavobolju. Nisu mi dragi i nikada neće ni biti. Prije nekoliko godina, tijekom ljeta, ubolo me više od 50 osa, ali srećom stršljeni niti jednom. Ipak, dok god oni zuje po mom vrtu, ne osjećam se sigurno. Zadnjih nekoliko dana, kada god sam u vrtu, i stršljen je tu. Vjerojatno negdje u blizini vrta postoji gnijezdo, no još ga uvijek nisam pronašala. Stršljeni su najveće europske ose i neke vrste mogu doseći i do 6 cm. 

Pojedinačni stršljeni mogu vas ubosti više puta , jer oni ne nakon uboda ne umiru, kao što se događa s tipičnim pčelama. Ista stvar je s osama - one vas mogu ubosti više puta. Isto tako, ako osjećaju opasnost za gnijezdo, stršljeni u obrani mogu mobilizirati cijelu koloniju, da reagira u obrani, što je vrlo opasno. Dakle , kako ih se riješiti? Ako ste pronašli gnijezdo stršljena najbolje je pozvati stručnjake. Možete pokušati s deratizatorima, a u nekim mjestima i vatrogasci vam mogu pomoći u uklanjanju njihovog gnijezda. Ako ste se ipak odlučili sami ga ukloniti, budite jako pažljivi . Nosite debelu odjeću, rukavice, zaštitne naočale – pokrijte se od glave do pete. Također, razmislite o uništavanju njihovih gnijezda ujutro ili navečer, dok su pospani. Njihova gnijezda najčešće su blatne tvorevine u obliku šišarke ili naopako okrenute košnice, a mogu se naći na granama, prozorima, tavanima, ispod greda, pod lišćem i unutar napuštenih kuća. Postoji nekoliko načina za uništavanje njihovih gnijezda ( osobno nikada nisam iskušala ove načine, jer do sada nisam pronašla njihova gnijezda) a većina ljudi za koje znam da su ih uništavali, koristili su sijedeći način. Nakon što ste se zaštitili od mogućih uboda, uzmite čvrstu plastičnu vreću koju postavite ispod stabla, grane ili gdje god se gnijezdo nalazi . Pokušajte procijeniti u kojem će smjeru gnijezdo pasti , tako da vreću stavite na točno to mjesto. Uzmite dugačke škare za orezivanje, odrežite granu na kojoj je gnijezdo i pustite da upadne u vreću. Uzmite insekticid , pošpricajte ga u vreću i dobro zavežite. Nakon toga možete ju i spaliti kako biste se uvjerili da stršljeni nisu preživjeli. Kao što sam rekla nikada nisam iskušala tu metodu , ali znam ljude koji jesu , a ja svake godine koristim mjere za smanjenje broja stršljena u mom vrtu. Sve što trebate plastična je ili staklena boca, sok domaći je najbolji jer sadrži više voćnog šećera) , šećer , med i malo vode. Uzmi svoju bocu , ulijte sok do pola i dodati malo vode - ne treba puno vode , samo oko 1 dcl. 

Također možete staviti malo šećera i meda , a ako želite biti sigurni da smjesa neće privući i pčele, dodajte malo octa. Stavite bocu gdje ste vidjeli najviše stršljena i čekajte. Kad sok počne vriti miris iz njega privući će stršljene, i kako uđu u boce tako će i ostati u njima. Ovakvih zamki možete postaviti koliko želite. Također, kako biste otjerali stršljene, možete pokušati i s mijenjanjem okoline, pogotovo ako ste uništili njihovo gnijezdo. Dakle, možete odrezati grane, prebojiti zid ili staviti stare CD-e na mjesto gdje je nekada bilo gnijezdo. Ali , kao što sam rekla na početku, ako se planirate boriti s njima, budite oprezni, pogotovo ako ste alergični .

Na kraju , brzi pogled na što je novo u mom vrtu. Salata koju sam posijala počela je klijati i izgleda dobro, iznikla su i dva češnjaka, no ne znam što će biti s rajčicama. Previše kiše i ne baš puno sunca napravili su probleme - listovi su dobili žutu boju i crne mrlje, pa sam ih morala ukloniti. Vidjet ćemo što će se dogoditi s njima za nekoliko dana. Ako ništa ne uspije, posadit ću ih ponovno.