I’ve just come across something I’ve never seen before on my potatoes and not sure what to do! I decided to pull up some spuds today but the stems on one plant was absolutely teeming with small wasps. A firm believer that discretion is sometimes much better than valour, I’ve retreated indoors to think about my next step. Have any of you come across this before and if so, how did you deal with it? I’m in the UK and the spuds are in the ground not containers, ideas anyone please?
I think they’re either seeking/finding liquid or food (tiny aphids)
I was wondering if they were after moisture or maybe sugars? As far as I know there’s been no aphids on any of the plants, I think maybe my best bet is to leave well alone for now and check to see if they’ve cleared off later in the day, doubt if I’ll be able to do anything tomorrow as we’re expecting storm Floris.
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Yep… if you can leave 'em be, that would be kind.
Good luck with the storm… 
It’s most likely sugars as this is the time of year they crave sugar. And as the potatoes rot the starch turns to sugar.
If the spuds look soft/rotten just scoop them up and throw them far away. Wear a coat and gloves and should be fine.
Hmm, hope I haven’t got a lot of rotting spuds, all the rest have been lovely so far. My second idea is now looking favourite, get my OH to dig them up.
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but do the decent thing and warn him and ensure you have the anti-sting cream ready… just in case
He already knows, honest, he came down to look armed with a spade, ( sometimes a gently shaking head is enough).
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3 potato plants successfully dug up and I can confirm, although there was still plenty of the stripy little buzzers about, non of them or husband were hurt during the harvesting. Looks very much like they were after the sugars in some of the leaf stems, you learn something new every growing year!
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I’ve had the same problem at the base of my sunflowers for a couple of days now. I planted 2 varieties and it’s the later flowering ones they’re going for (these were the ones the slugs liked best as well). I think they are the male wasps that have been kicked out of the nest now that their services are no longer required. I don’t want to kill them but if they want sugar there is a whole hedgerow of blackberries just across the path from my sunflowers.
There are over 9000 different species of wasps in France, mostly don’t sting. Some are veggies, so scoff on sugar/starch, others are protien hunters (meat).
If in doubt, post a photo, but try and avoid the few that sting, who give the bad rep to all the other hymnoptères.
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Thanks for that Rob, these were really small and not aggressive at all, they didn’t like having their lunch taken away but didn’t attack. They didn’t make much noise either, a very quiet and well behaved bunch really. If they appear again I’ll take a photo, first time I’ve seen them on my potato plants.
I’ve got a garden full of plants for our pollinator friends but this year potato, seems to be the go to dinner. Maybe they’ve been watching too many cooking programs, sunflowers and spuds, the latest trend for the most sophisticated of wasp 
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That’s extraordinary! I would have thought your hand shook and there were two too many zeros. 
My favourites at the moment are the tiniest of tiny bees on a Lagerstroemia in a pot by our pool, so I can get up really close. The bush has the tiniest of tiny flowers, which obviously suit the bees.
(or maybe they aren’t bees, but wasps?)
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Well I wouldn’t mind if they’d already flowered, they could have them. But if I let them carry on they’ll just eat through the stem at the base then no more sunflower, and to make it worse, once they’ve stripped off the outer layer, the ants come to the party.
Anyway, as damage limitation, I’ve cut up some plastic water bottles and put them round the base of the plants and filled them with dirt. Seems to be working.
At least mine had the manners to wait until the potato stems were dying back, glad it wasn’t when they were in full growth.
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That’s the trouble with neonic[oninide]s, they are used to spray crops to kill the insects which chew through wheat/colza/sunflower stems. They have (were) blanket banned.
Fipronil is a neonic, but got banned so treatment for termites and cockroaches had got a whole lot more difficult.
Thankfully we left them in France 