U-pick farms feeling the sting during intense wasp year - Action News
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EdmontonVideo

U-pick farms feeling the sting during intense wasp year

Edmonton area U-pick farmers are losing berry and honey crops to larger than usual wasp population.

Hot weather causes 'exponential' wasp population growth in Edmonton

Wasps biting into honey production

6 years ago
Duration 1:19
Mario Bevilacqua, a Leduc-area farmer and beekeeper, lost 70 per cent of his honey crop to hungry wasps.

Mario Bevilacqua is proud of his organic growing practices on his U-pick farm southwest of Edmonton, but he's having a hard timegetting rid of the wasps invading his farm this year.

"Some of the raspberries have been all eaten by wasps. I thought it was ants, but no, it was wasps," he said Tuesday.

The hobby farmer says about 35 per cent of his strawberries went to the wasps this year, while 70 per cent of his honey crop was eaten by wasps, too.

"I'm supposed to get 1,000 lb. of honey," said Bevilacqua. "I'm going to lose some beehives because they're going to steal the honey."

To save the hives, he's making the entrance to the boxes smaller to keep the larger wasps out.

Mario Bevilacqua, owner of Bevilacqua Small Patch u-pick farm near Leduc, says he lost about 70 per cent of his honey crop to wasps this year. ( Raffy Boudjikanian/CBC News)

Royal Alberta Museumentomologist Matthias Buck says the culprit in this case is the bald-faced hornet.

"They're a little bigger and a little bolder and they try to get into the hives. Other kinds of yellow jackets wouldn't usually do that," said Buck, who is assistant curator of invertebrate zoology at the museum.

Alberta has 14 yellow jacket species, but Buck says only a handful are known to crash barbecues in urban areas. Buck said the insects are looking for sugary snacks like ripe berries and honey to eat.

"That's basically their only food carbohydrates, sweet stuff," said Buck.

The insects also go after grubs and mites to feed their young protein earlier in the season.

Buck saidwe're seeing more wasps than usual in Edmonton this year but it's just part of the natural population fluctuationinsects go through from year to year.

Wasp nests grow quickly in part because hotter weather makes it easier for the insects to forage building materials like fibres from weathered wood.

Tim Darragh, owner of Big Rock Berry Farm near Spruce Grove, says nest hunting is a big part of their annual preparation before opening to the public.

"Our biggest concern is the safety of the customer the last thing we want to have is a kid pick up a berry with a wasp in it," he said.

A wasp nest is still thriving on Bevilacqua Small Patch u-pick farm despite the owners efforts to get rid of it. Edmonton is experiencing a wasp population boom this summer. (Nathan Gross/CBC News)

Bevilacqua said he had relatively good success trying to drown the nests in his field with water.

Ultimately, Buck says there's not much you can do to get rid of the insects.

"Don't spray your fruit, because you don't want to poison yourself," he said. "When the harder frost hitsit basically kills the nest and then they're gone. Only the young queens overwinter and they start the cycle anew in the spring."

With files from Raffy Boudjikanian