South African Paper Wasps—Vespidae

 Don’t reach for the Doom!

These are the most common wasps and all species build papery multi-celled nests of chewed wood pulp and saliva. 

They are highly social. So if you see a paper wasp nest under the eaves, do not reach for the Doom. They are not aggressive and will not attack you. They are keeping the ecosystem in your garden in equilibrium, by preying on insect larvae and aphids.

They gather fibers from dead wood and plant stems, which they mix with saliva, and use it to construct nests made of gray or brown papery material. The resultant wood pulp is remarkably strong.

“Paper wasps have an interesting lifestyle. The nests are usually founded by a single queen. A mated female from the parental nest emerges in spring and starts building the nest. She becomes the queen and is soon joined by other mated females from the same nest to form a colony. The late-comers are relegated to the worker caste. After the queen has started construction of the first hexagonal cell of the nest, the worker females add more concentric circles of cells to enlarge it.

The queen will lay all the eggs. The worker females are destined to be the workers – building the nest, hunting for food and minding the offspring.”

— Read more here :

(The pics are of 4 different wasps and they are all chewing wood on my wooden clothes drying rack.)

Black Snow

It’s sugar cane burning season in South Africa and here in KwaZulu Natal, it starts late-winter (July/August) and continues into early-summer. 

 

Before the sugar cane can be harvested, it must first be burned to remove the outer leaves and make it easier to cut.

While this process is necessary for the sugar cane industry, it can have some negative effects on the environment and human health. The burning of sugar cane releases large amounts of smoke and particulate matter into the air, which can cause respiratory problems and other health issues for people living nearby.

At the start of the sugar cane burning season in Southern Africa, many residents brace themselves for what has become known as ‘black snow.’ This term refers to the thick, black smoke and soot that fills the air as sugar cane fields are burned to prepare for harvest.

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Sunsets teach us

It was sunsets that taught me that beauty sometimes only lasts for a couple of moments. By the time I turned my back, went inside and closed the door, all the fiery orange had disappeared, leaving only a few splashes of pink and grey. 

I also found out that sunset or dusk is a good time for photography--it lends a certain peaceful quality to the garden.

Everyone is in the position not to harm

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Moles and Leather-leaf Ferns

 

What does a Mole have to do with a Leatherleaf Fern? you might ask. 

My Leatherleaf Fern is suffering from root-burn (I think) because I poured some diluted Jeyes Fluid down the Mole’s hole and I think some got to the roots of the fern. The Jeyes Fluid doesn’t harm the Mole, but the smell is strong enough to send him (and me!) scurrying to the other side of my garden fence. 

He has an extensive range of underground tunnels with many air holes (those unsightly heaps of soil all over your garden or lawn), so it’s quite a job watering as many of them as I can to keep him on the other side of the fence. 

Moles actually do not cause much harm, other than making your landscape look messy, which to an avid gardener or landscaper, can be extremely testing. That said, moles do help to aerate the soil, which makes for a healthy and robust lawn.

Moles do not hibernate. They are usually nearer the surface in winter and deeper in summer. They love moist soil where worms are active, which is why they suddenly appear when the soil becomes cool, and moist in late autumn.

Moles, like the Golden Mole, eat insects and snails and are more attracted by such soil pests present in the roots of plants, than by the actual roots. They are sometimes referred to as ‘surface moles’ and are more active during wet seasons. They are completely blind and rely on their hearing and smell to capture prey.

I have a suspicion that my friend is a Molerat, which feeds on roots and bulbs (and it is these moles that push the soil from their burrows, creating molehills), so he is actually not welcome in my garden. 

‘Nuff said. 

My fern in the days before the mole :(

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