Tips For Keeping Wasps Away From Your Yard And Garden Throughout The Year
Wasps are almost a year-round problem in Jacksonville. But they don’t have to be an almost year-round problem for you. There are many ways you can make your yard resistant to wasps and prevent them from becoming a threat in spring, summer, and fall. Here are some of our top wasp prevention tips for these seasons
Spring (nest detection)
This is the time of year when wasps work hard to create new nests. Since social wasps have a strong nest-protection instinct, it is best to catch and eliminate wasp nests before they can grow into a problem. The center of spring protection should be an inspection of your property, identification of wasp nests, and removal of those nests. Where a wasp will create her nest depends on what type of wasp it is.
Some wasps species establish aerial nests. These can be found on tree branches, under overhangs of man-made structures, clinging to an upper corner of an unenclosed porch, in the rafters of a barn, etc. They can also be found stuck to the side of a home.
Some wasps create nets inside cavities. If they can find a hole in your exterior walls, they’ll get in and make a nest in your wall voids. You can tell this has happened when you see wasps entering and exiting your home. These wasps can also create nests in unexpected cavities, such as the hollow spaces inside a piece of stored furniture in a shed, barn, or attic space. If you hear buzzing in a storage area, take precaution.
Some wasps create nests in ground holes. If you have holes in your yard and you see wasps entering and exiting, be careful how heavily you walk around on the ground. Vibrations can set these wasps off and cause them to swarm and sting.
Summer (moisture)
All year long, wasps grow their populations. They do this by feeding on nectar and by bringing protein back for their larvae to feed on. Protein sources usually come from caterpillars and other bugs. The more bugs you have in your yard, the more visitations you’re going to have from wasps. You can reduce bugs around your home by reducing moisture. Bugs love moist environments
Fall (exclusion)
As winter approaches, wasps prepare newly hatched female wasps for overwintering. After the first hard frost, wasp nests are going to die and all of the workers are going to die with them. Only the future queens survive. These future queens can be found searching homes for a place to hide from the approaching winter chill. Your goal should be to keep them from getting in.
Wasps on Your Deck? Tips on What To Do
The deck often becomes an outdoor version of the family room in summer. All too often, your family gets ousted from this outdoor space by a family of wasps who have deemed the deck the perfect property for their new home. Are you ready to take back your deck? Here are some simple tips to get rid of wasps on your deck and keep them away.
Destroy the Nest
There are many ways to destroy wasp nests, from aerosol pesticide sprays to more natural methods using dish soaps and shop-vacs. A professional exterminator is also a good resource for destroying and removing nests and offering tips on how to keep the wasps away in the future. Regardless of the method you choose, your best bet is to attack the nest at night, when wasps are least aggressive and have slower reaction times
Remove the Nest
Once all wasp activity around the nest has stopped – usually within a day of extermination – knock down the nest or scrape it off the deck. Leaving an inactive nest in place can attract unwanted scavenging insects, such as carpet beetles or ants. While they may be less scary than a stinging wasp, these pests can bring with them a new set of problems.
Stop Wasps from Returning
Unfortunately, wasps like building nests on and under decks because they often provide shelter
Wasp Traps – You can purchase these traps at the hardware store or make your own out of buckets filled with sugar water, vinegar, and a small amount of mild dish soap. Wasps will fly into the traps and drown, so the traps should be emptied regularly. Set them out in early spring to trap the queen and prevent colonies from forming.
Natural Wasp Control
Wasps can be solitary or social, and there are even wasps that don’t sting at all. The best way to prevent unpleasant encounters with social wasps is to avoid them. If you know where they are, try not to go near their nesting places
Wasps can become very defensive when their nest is disturbed due to their chemical communication. Wasps and bees release an alarm pheromone that marks their target and alerts the colony to attack. This can happen even when wasps are feeling threatened, not just when they sting or are injured, as some people believe. Wasps can present their stinger mid-air, releasing the alarm pheromone even from a casual swat.
Wasps are so much more aggressive than bees because they are predatory and very protective of their young. They are particularly aggressive during the last months of summer.
If you can’t avoid wasps, try repelling them using a fake nest such as the ‘Bee Free Wasp Deterrent’. These fake nests work because wasps are territorial and do not want to build a nest near another wasp’s nest. Failing that, you can use a non-toxic wasp trap, such as the Glass Wasp Trap or the Yellowjacket and Wasp Trap.
Types of Wasps
Several types of wasps build paper nests that hang under eaves and from trees: the bald-faced hornet, yellowjacket, and paper wasp. All of these are social wasps, which can be aggressive and can sting you repeatedly.
Dealing With Wasps Around Your Home
You know them by their buzzing, their numbers, and their painful stings. No one wants to find wasps in or around their home but the warmer the weather gets, the greater your chance of ending up with a wasp infestation.
Finding a Wasps’ Nest
Identifying a wasp situation typically starts with finding the nest. In most cases, wasps nests are out of sight and can usually be identified by a steady stream of wasp activity to a hole in your home, underneath roof eaves, or through your soffits. Wasps tend to congregate in high-ground areas like the roof to maintain a lay of the land. If you regularly encounter one or more wasps when enjoying your yard, you’ve probably got a wasps’ nest on your property
Wasps send out scouts like many other species to seek out food, particularly sweet smells and rotting flesh. They’re a swarming species which means when one finds a snack they’ll immediately return to the nest to tell the rest of the clan. It’s uncommon to find wasp nests indoors (although it does happen!) and/or underground, but if you can’t find a nest outdoors you should bring in a professional to help you identify the problem.
If you do happen to find a wasps’ nest in or around your home, NEVER attempt to remove it yourself as you could be stung by dozens or even hundreds of wasps at once, causing serous bodily harm. An exterminator can help you remove the nest safely and efficiently.
Dealing With Wasps
There are hundreds of species of wasps, the most common of which are English wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets. Bees and wasps are often confused, but a good rule of thumb is to look for yellow, red, or brownish coloring; if you see these colors you’re most likely dealing with wasps. Wasps also tend to be smaller and less hairy than most bee species.
HOW TO PREVENT WASPS
HOW TO PREVENT WASP’S NESTS
Prevention is always better than cure when it comes to wasp prevention. If you have wasp’s nests in the past, you are very likely to have them form again. The best way to prevent wasp’s nests is to understand how they choose where to build their nest.
WASP NEST PREVENTION TIPS
Wasps nests locations are not located randomly but are actually carefully considered by the queen wasp. The first thing the queen wasp looks for is shelter from rain and dampness. They look for a dark secluded area where they will not be interfered with.
LONE WASP PREVENTION TIPS
Wasps travel far from their nest in search of food, water and nest building material, so you may have a high volume of wasps in your home and garden without having a nest in the nearby vicinity. If you want to reduce the amount of “free flying wasps” around
WASP TRAPS OR ATTRACTORS
If you’re feeling daring, a wasp trap is very easy to make.
Cut the top off a large plastic bottle.
Place the top the bottle, cap first, back into the waterbottle so that it makes a funnel.
For bait, add a fruit juice or a fizzy drink.