My girlfriend has been offered an insect hotel and we decided to hang it on our balcony (we live in an apartment close to the forest in Denmark).
It has attracted wasps and they have started building a nest inside a cavity supposed to be used by butterflies (I can see it through the slit).
Right now it is not bothering because the wasps are few and very tame : they're not attracted by food, don't come inside and completely ignore anyone on the balcony. They just relentlessly fly in and out.
The nest is small, roughly 6cm in diameter, and can't expand so much because the cavity is a cube about of about 10cm of edge length.
Should I get rid of it while it is still easy, or should I leave it alone ?
Best Answer
Wasps are just as beneficial as bees. Some plants are pollinated by wasps instead of bees. Carrots, parsley and their ilk are all Vespa or Ant pollinated (ants are descended from wasps).
As a beekeeper, I can recommend a few things. One, if they aren't really bothering you, then leave them alone. The nest will die off in the winter and you can clean out the insect house then.
Two, if they do bother you, then simply move the nest.
To move the nest, plug the entrance hole tightly with some grass early in the morning before the wasps are flying, and quickly move them to their preselected new location. If you are quick about it, you can move the nest without any wasps getting out. Once hung in its new home, just get away from the nest and let the wasps pull the grass out in their own. Trust me they are strong enough to do it in their own, don't help because you will get stung. Some will come back to the old location wondering what happened, but the activity of pulling the grass out slows then down from just flying out and losing their home. It forces them to slow down and take a look around a bit and realize they aren't in the same spot as they were before. Again, some will be stupid about it, but they'll either eventually find their way home again, or finally die off from starvation. (They need the brood in the nest to feed properly).