The term wasp represents all insects of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita, excluding all types of bees and ants. Hornets and yellow jackets are the most common types of wasps. As the Australian summer starts to get hotter and the fall approaches us, the menace of wasps takes a serious proportion. These pests not only threaten your home or office, but may also cause serious harm to the health of the occupants. Wasp stings are known to cause reactions ranging from mild swelling and redness to emergency situations. Luckily, these are several ways to keep wasps away.
Before discussing preventive measures, it is important to understand certain behavioural traits of wasps. Please remember that their most preferred nesting areas are the crevices and other structures around your building. Holes or breaks on the exterior framing or siding are excellent homes for these pests. Therefore, it makes sense to have your building exterior checked by a professional from time to time.
Yellow jacket infestation can be dangerous because they are aggressive and tend to burrow in the yard or the building structure. This is why their nests are not always visible. On the other hand, the nests built by the hornets are generally visible on trees and structures. Hornets can be identified by their black and white colour, and are extremely aggressive. Some other kinds of wasps and hornets are also found in mud.
Keeping Wasps Away:
At the very beginning, please note that chemical treatment for wasp management is not usually recommended unless you can directly treat the colony.
- Prevention: This is always the first and the most important step in keeping wasps away. Wasps generally prefer nesting in different opportune areas of a home. They are attracted by all types of food and sweet materials such as nectar, lotions, perfumes, etc. Therefore, you can keep them out by covering the trash cans and removing all unwanted food waste.
Proper maintenance of the building structure is also important because wasps love building their nests on the crevices, broken panels, or sidings. Make sure all your windows and doors are perfectly functional so that the wasps can’t fly in. Fill up the rodent holes in your yard with dirt or soil because these are potential burrows for the wasps.
- Wasp Repellent Plants: Take a closer look at your landscaping pattern and remove flowers from the areas where you like spending time. Replace the flowers with wasp deterring plants such as wormwood, eucalyptus, thyme citronella, and spearmint.
- Peppermint Oil: It is reported that wasps can’t tolerate any type of mint. Therefore, in addition to planting all types of mint, place cotton pads soaked in peppermint oil at strategic locations around the building. Target the spots where old nests were discovered in the past.
- Essential Oil Blend: Recent studies have revealed that a blend of clove, lemongrass, and geranium essential oils is an effective wasp repellent. Therefore, you may apply a mix of these essential oils along with a small quantity of dish soap in the preferred nesting areas.
- Sugar and Water Traps: These traps contain a tempting treat resembling sugar water to attract the wasps inside. However, after getting inside the trap, the wasps can’t find their way out. These traps can be made easily at home by cutting a two litre plastic bottle’s top and placing it inside the bottom in an inverted manner.
Wasp Nest Removal Tips:
This can be a dangerous practice and it is recommended to hire a professional for the removal of wasp nests. If you are looking to do this on your own, you must visit your doctor and make sure that you are not allergic to wasp stings. Wear proper protective clothing throughout the process and keep an escape route in your mind, in case the wasps start swarming.
At Vectothor, we are a team of specialists offering state-of-the-art techniques to manage all types of flying insects. Please contact us today to find out more about building a wasp free home or office.
