It’s springtime and it’s all getting green. It’s one of my favorite times of year, but also the time where my arch nemesis is waking up from it’s slumber. The first one of the year made it into my office, slow death by Bengal flying insect spray!
I know it’s unreasonable, but wasps just anger me beyond fathom. If I weren’t a positive person I would completely despise them.
Surely there’s a valuable reason for them to exist in our ecosystem, but to me they are just torturous little villains out to ruin my day.
Now that I’ve ranted about my dislike of the wasp, lets talk about what we can do about them.
We have tons of options for wasp control that we can buy at the store that work well. Wasp spray, wasp traps, natural traps, chemicals and bug bombs just to name a few. I like the least impact versions which are the bait traps that get them into a container for them to die in there, or the feet tangle versions which trap their feet in an icy cold mesh of death.
But what do you do if you can’t run to the store? Or there are no stores left to run to?
Lets look at some home remedies for our wasp problems.
The simplest trap works really well and can trap many wasps in one use, then you just throw it away and make a new one. I’ve seen photos of this trap online filled with hundreds of dead wasps.
This trap I made in under 60 seconds from start to finish and I’ll tell you the steps:
- Cut top off of plastic bottle just under where the bottle comes to full width.
- Insert top without lid upside down inside the cut bottle
- Staple, or tape the upside down top in place
- Poke a hole and run a string to hang it from
- Pour sugary liquid into trap and hang it up (I used concentrated cherry Kool-Aid)
And that’s it. You should be able to see the construction of the trap in the picture I provided.
Trapping May Not Solve Your Entire Wasp Problem
From my research you can trap all the wasps you want, but that won’t get rid of the entire problem. It’ll help control the population and hopefully trap any getting close to your house. The only true solution is to kill off the queen and remove the wasp nest.
IMPORTANT: This is best done at night or early morning, even better when it’s a cool moist night or morning. This is when they are least active and can’t fly well because their bodies aren’t warmed up.
- Locate the “problem” nests
- Spray with wasp killer
- Knock down the nest
Simple solution, but sometimes not the easiest. Spraying the spray at the nest from the commercially available cans can throw nasty chemicals all over you as well as the wasp nest. This stuff can be very harmful and stings eyes extremely badly. It can work as a mace if you ever need to defend yourself against an attacker if you don’t have mace at hand. You can also buy extension poles that have triggers so you can get the can closer to the nest while you stay farther away.
Since were preppers and we realize that we may not be able to rely on stores for our needs I’ve found a few “homemade” sprays that are reported to work well.
Recipe 1. Supposedly most detergents when mixed with water will do the trick. Make strong soapy water in a spray bottle and go to town.
Recipe 2. Unscented detergent, peppermint extract and water. I guess wasps don’t like candy canes! Same technique- apply using a spray bottle.
Recipe 2. Aerosol Hairspray supposedly works great. Just spray them and it’ll kill off your wasp problem. Maybe I’ll try this next time I get up and personal with one of those little bastards.
Recipe 3. WD-40, the lubricant for rusty bolts is reported to kill off wasp nests. Soak well and remove the nest the next day. Spraying WD-40 in spots where they build nests can keep them from rebuilding there as well.
These seemed the most reliable tips that I could find on how to kill them. I’ll leave you with a few final tips for getting rid of these pests.
- Exterminate all nests you can find before June and if the queen gets away she probably won’t have time to start a new colony.
- Wear protective clothing and eyewear. This will help keep stray wasps off your skin mitigating stings and helps protect you from any chemicals you may be using to.
- After I kill off nests in trees my preferred removal method is a 12-gauge shotgun!
- Hummingbirds are really friggin’ awesome to watch, but the sugary liquid will attract wasps as well. Set up your hummingbird feeders away from entrances to your home!
I would love more information and tips on how to tackle wasps. And surely you’d love to share your tips with the community. Hop over to our Facebook page http://www.Facebook.com/PrepCabin to share what you know!