• morrowind
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    3 months ago

    Ok, fine, educate me, what do wasps contribute to the environment?

    • Windex007@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      People who post shit like this are being intentionally obtuse and provocative. “Wasp” is a big tent classification, and what everyone else thinks of are a few specific creatures.

      A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant;

      Vast majority of things that are “wasps” don’t bite/sting and many are important pollinators.

      The bitey stingy ones? Fuck em.

      • JovialMicrobial@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        As someone who has a live and let live attitude towards most insects…when I got swarmed by ground wasps while weeding out my garden I had no mercy for them after. Aggressive doesn’t even describe how pissed they get.

        It was the first time I didn’t feel bad about using insecticide. So yeah, the hyper aggressive, stinging ones can fuck right off.

        • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          I’ve found the best thing to use against wasps is diatomaceous earth. It’s non-toxic, and just very tiny silicate animals that get into their joints. It kills the entire nest and not much else around it.

          That’s what they used when the wasps were in my siding and stinging me in my bed at night.

          • JovialMicrobial@lemm.ee
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            3 months ago

            Oh that’s a great idea! I didn’t know diatomaceous earth worked on wasps.

            I’ve used it to keep ticks and fleas out of the lawn area my dogs play in, and to get rid of ants.

            I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to dump it on the wasps, I guess I just thought they were too big? Doesn’t it work by puncturing their exoskeleton and basically sucking all their fluids out?(I could be misinformed on that)

            Either way I’ll go that route if I run into that issue again! Then I don’t have to worry about contaminated areas of my lawn.

            Thank you for the tip!!!

      • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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        3 months ago

        You lost me at the end. Now you’re the one being obtuse and provocative. Just because something stings or bites doesn’t mean it isn’t good for the environment.

    • Gsus4@mander.xyz
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      3 months ago

      They eat the things that eat the things you eat.

      (e.g. aphids, caterpillars and mfcking thrips and leaf miners)

      PS: ok just one more: if bees are the plant matchmakers, wasps are broad spectrum pest exterminators.

      • ElJefe@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        Yeah… well the also eat my peaches and plums. So they eat my food, and that just ain’t cool. On top of that they set up shop by my front door and then sting me for just walking into MY house where I was letting them make a little room of their own. Not no more. Them removedass mfers are back in hell where they belong, and my world is much better since I opened that portal for them.

        • Gsus4@mander.xyz
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          3 months ago

          yea, ok, we got rid of our peaches anyway, it wasn’t that bad :D but yea, keep boundaries, ok.

    • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Many wasp species, while not considered pollinators, still transport pollen and pollinate plants. Others hunt pest insects. There are also many species that are vital as prey for birds

      • amelore@slrpnk.net
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        3 months ago

        That’s only some types of figs and one type of tiny wasp. Most figs we eat are virgin fruit.