{"id":4820,"date":"2016-03-01T14:37:42","date_gmt":"2016-03-01T04:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ppmmagazine.com.au\/?p=4820"},"modified":"2021-04-24T02:16:42","modified_gmt":"2021-04-23T16:16:42","slug":"new-bee-safe-wasp-bait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/professional-pest-manager-magazine\/new-bee-safe-wasp-bait\/","title":{"rendered":"NEW ‘BEE-SAFE’ WASP BAIT"},"content":{"rendered":"

The creation of a new wasp bait, Vespex, looks set to tackle the growing <\/em>Vespula problem both in Australia and New Zealand.<\/em>
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New Zealand\u2019s primary producers have a new weapon in their fight against European wasps, thanks to a new bait.<\/p>\n

Insect ecologist, Richard Toft<\/strong>, has developed a bait that is unattractive to bees and can reduce wasp activity by 95%, according to New Zealand\u2019s Department of Conservation.<\/p>\n

Wasps cause an estimated $120 million in disrupted pollination and lost honey production in New Zealand, as well as $60 million in environmental damages, conservation minister Maggie Barry<\/strong> told Radio NZ.<\/p>\n

European wasps are not native to New Zealand and have no natural predators that can control their population.<\/p>\n

Concerns about toxicity to non-target insects have resulted in most of the effective controls for wasps being taken off the table.<\/p>\n

There was a major spike in wasp activity in Australia last summer, with attacks across Melbourne and Canberra.<\/p>\n

Mr Toft\u2019s bait, called Vespex<\/a> (main picture, above) uses a slow-acting but potent pesticide from German company BASF, which wasps take back to their nests and distribute around the hive, including to the queen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they get a sufficient dose, they will collapse the nest overnight,\u201d Mr Toft said.<\/p>\n

The innovation has been recognised by the environmental group WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), which awarded Mr Toft NZ$25,000.<\/p>\n

The product will not be sold unless users undergo stewardship training to ensure the bait is used correctly and non-target organisms are not exposed.<\/p>\n

Mr Toft said he was actively investigating opportunities to register and release the bait in Australia.<\/p>\n

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Adapted from: ABC Rural article published November 17, 2015<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The creation of a new wasp bait, Vespex, looks set to tackle the growing Vespula problem both in Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":4823,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"The creation of a new wasp bait, Vespex, looks set to tackle the growing Vespula\u00a0problem both in Australia and New Zealand.\u00a0","_seopress_robots_index":"yes","_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"company":[135],"pest":[149],"pesticide":[],"product-service":[191],"class_list":["post-4820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional-pest-manager-magazine","company-other","pest-wasps","product-service-baits","wpbf-post"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4820"},{"taxonomy":"company","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/company?post=4820"},{"taxonomy":"pest","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pest?post=4820"},{"taxonomy":"pesticide","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pesticide?post=4820"},{"taxonomy":"product-service","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/professionalpestmanager.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product-service?post=4820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}