Wasp Nest in a Hedge or Bush – What West Bridgford Garden Owners Should Know
Knowing what a treatment visit involves, from the first phone call to the moment you can use the garden again, takes much of the worry out of booking.
Before you pick up the phone
Most people ring after a bad moment: a near miss with a hedge trimmer, a child who was stung, or a line of wasps that has been getting busier for a week. It helps to gather a few facts before you call, though none of them is essential. The more you can say, the quicker the booking.
Think about where the nest seems to be, roughly how high, and which part of the garden it is in. If you can see the entrance, say so. Note anything unusual about access, such as a side gate that is kept locked, a narrow passage, or a dog that is let out during the day. In West Bridgford, where gardens are often hemmed in by fences and neighbouring hedges, these details matter more than you might expect.
Think also about who else uses the garden. A partner who is in the habit of cutting the hedge on a Saturday morning, or a child who plays beside it, should be told about the nest before you speak to us, so that nothing happens in the meantime.
The phone call and the price
When you call, we ask about the nest and the property. Once we understand the job, we give you the price, which is a fixed £95 per nest, with £35 for an additional nest on the same property. That figure is confirmed on the phone before the technician visits, and nothing happens unless you agree to it.
There is no call-out charge. We are open seven days a week and offer same-day service. We work at domestic and commercial properties alike, so a hedge in front of a shop or an office is treated in the same way as one in a back garden. The number is 0115 937 5117, and there is also a booking form on the contact page.
If anyone at home is allergic to wasp stings, say so at this point, so that we can take it into account.
Preparing the garden
There is not much to do, but a few simple steps help. Keep children and pets indoors or well away from the hedge, close windows on the side of the house nearest the nest, and bring in washing, toys and food. Clear any obstacle that stands between the gate and the hedge.
- Unlock gates and make sure the technician can reach the garden.
- Tell neighbours who share the hedge, so they can keep clear.
- Do not cut back growth around the entrance in advance.
- Leave the area as it is, so that the technician sees what you saw.
You do not need to be at home for the whole visit, but a mobile number lets the technician contact you if something comes up.
If you have a view of the hedge from a window, you may want to watch from there for a short while before the visit, so you can describe what you see.
Reaching a nest in dense growth
Hedges can be thick, wide and tangled, and the nest may be some way in. The technician will assess how to get to the entrance, and may need a clear line of approach. They are trained, and the work is fully insured, so that is their job and not yours.
That said, if the hedge is very overgrown or backed by a fence, tell us in advance. The more we know about the route in, the better. If the technician sees something different on arrival, such as a second entrance, it may be that a further nest is involved, in which case the additional nest rate applies and is explained clearly before anything more is done.
Do not expect the hedge to be cut back as part of the visit. The job is treating the nest, not gardening.
If the nest is in a hedge you share with a neighbour, the technician may need to reach it from their side. It is worth speaking to them beforehand, so that access is agreed and nobody is surprised by a stranger at the fence.
Afterwards
The technician will tell you when it is fine to return to the area, so ask before you go back to the hedge. Wasps that were away from the nest when it was treated may return to the site for a short time, so you might see some activity for a while. If it continues, let us know.
Ask the technician whether the empty nest can be taken down. It is worth doing, since a remaining nest can alarm visitors or be mistaken for an active one. Then you can trim the hedge as normal, keeping the same careful approach you would use at any time of year.
Keeping watch in future years
Wasps start nesting in late April, depending on the weather, and the colony grows through the summer to a peak in August. Each spring, walk along the hedge on a warm day and look for traffic to a single point. It takes five minutes and may save you a great deal of trouble.
The nest we treated will not be reused. A different queen may select the same hedge, or may not, so there is no way to predict it. What you can control is how soon you notice.
Keep the contact details somewhere you can find them, such as a note on the fridge or in your phone, so that if you do need to book again in the summer you are not hunting for them with wasps overhead.
Wasps on your property in West Bridgford?
Fixed price £95 per nest, no call-out charge, same-day service available.