6 Methods for Repelling Wasps While Preserving Their Value in Your Garden
Instead of reacting with dread when encountering a wasp in your backyard, consider celebrating their presence. These six methods will help you repel wasps without causing them harm and highlight the important role they play in your garden ecosystem.
3 Ways Wasps Benefit the Garden
- Wasps Provide Excellent Pest Control: Wasps have honed their skills as efficient predators over millions of years. With the ever-growing appetite of their larvae to satisfy, wasps actively seek out various pest insects that threaten your crops, such as aphids, hornworms, armyworms, grubs, weevils, spiders, whiteflies, leaf miners, caterpillars, and cabbageworms. They are opportunistic hunters and even target other wasps. Offering a wholly organic and biological pest control solution, wasps are a valuable asset to gardeners, and their presence comes free of charge.
- Wasps are Pollinators: Adult wasps, when not engaged in battles with other insects to nourish their young, feed on flower nectar and diligently move from one plant to another. Although they may not be as effective as bees due to their smooth bodies and lack of hair, they still play a role in cross-pollinating various plants. Some wasps specialize in pollinating specific plants, forming crucial symbiotic relationships, such as with fig trees and certain orchid species.
- Wasps Help Sustain the Food Web: Wasps are essential in preventing an overpopulation of pest insects that threaten food crops. However, this balance is maintained as many animals, including birds like woodpeckers, sparrows, bluebirds, and warblers, along with frogs, lizards, toads, salamanders, and other reptiles and amphibians, prey on adult wasps and their larvae. Even mammals, ranging from bears and skunks to raccoons and mice, fearlessly attack wasp nests to feed on the larvae within.
6 Ways To Deal With Wasps When They Become A Problem
Living harmoniously with wasps may not always be straightforward. Here are six strategies for safely handling problematic wasps and their nests:
- Offer Sugary Drinks: When yellow jackets become a nuisance during outdoor meals, divert their attention by placing cups of sugary drinks like cola or cream soda away from your gathering area.
- Hang Fake Wasp Nests: Wasps are territorial creatures and will avoid nesting near another colony. Hang fake wasp nests in high-traffic areas of your yard to deter them from building nests nearby.
- Remove Nests in Winter: Social wasp species see all but one queen perish during the winter. It’s easier to deal with a nest when there are fewer aggressive wasps present. Wait until winter to remove nests if possible.
- Homemade Wasp Repellent: A mixture of peppermint essential oil and carrier oil (such as olive or liquid coconut oil) can help repel wasps when applied to the skin. A blend of peppermint, clove, lemongrass, and geranium oils, along with a few drops of dish soap, can be used to spray outdoor surfaces.
- Use Water: Encourage wasps to relocate without harming them by spraying their nest with a gentle, rain-like setting from a hose. Do this early in the season to minimize the number of wasps to contend with.
- Nest Relocation: If you’re brave and compassionate, you can relocate a wasp nest to another spot in your yard. It’s advisable to consult a professional for this job. Wait until nighttime when the wasps are asleep, choose a new location, and use a plastic container to transport the nest, ensuring the lid remains in place for about an hour before removal.
