READER’S QUESTION

FOR two years, my neighbour has had wasps’ nests removed from his loft. He was told that the raspberries I grow had caused the wasp problem. Is that true?

Marjorie Brown, Huddersfield. IT’s not true. each wasp col-ony is started by a queen. she builds a nest into which she lays her first eggs and then feeds her young grubs with insects. Those grubs become worker wasps which live on sugary secretions exuded by succes-sive grubs. In late summer, the queen stops producing. With no more grubs, the workers cannot be fed. That’s when they turn to sweet fruit such as your raspberries.