Wasp be gone...naturally?

LilRed

Hello all,

We just moved into a new place this fall and we seem to be having a bit of a wasp problem. I found two in the house today alone and three on the storm door. My problem is my husband is extremely allergic to wasps, bees and anything in that family. He has about 30 seconds to use his emergency sting kit or he is dead. He works nights, sleeps mornings so I am really worried about him getting stung while asleep.

The landlady has a bugman that comes and sprays but I am finding roaches less than a week after he was here so I do not have much faith in the bugman plus he can't spray once my bird lives here.

Does anyone know of a natural (herb, incense, gem, plant) to get rid of these pests? We live up in the mountains and our house is in a Cul-de-sac in the forest. It obviously cannot be something that has to be reapplied every coupe of hours. I have heard both yay and nay on mint.

Any help would be wonderful.
Thank you,
LilRed
 

EricTheHermit

Hi, LilRed -

I read on a "household tips" site that Bounce dryer sheets - original scent - repel wasps, bees, hornets, yellow jackets, and mosquitoes. They hate the smell. Carry a sheet or two in your pockets and they won't come near you. Here are other tips to repel wasps, bees, and other stinging insects:

1. Use screened storm doors and windows. Never open a window without a screen in place - you'll invite in all sorts of pests.

2. Don't wear strong perfume or cologne, especially those that smell like fruit or flowers.

3. Always keep indoor and outdoor trash cans closed tightly. Stinging insects love the smell of rotting trash - especially if it contains fruit remains like apple cores and banana peels.

Are you a Wiccan or pagan? If so, here is a ritual to bless your bedroom:

Place a white, red, or black candle in the center of the room and light it.

Say: "God and Goddess bless these walls, may no evil spirits enter without call. May no enemies pass through this way."

Sprinkle salt in a strong line across doorway and continue.

Say: "Let this be a sacred place, and let all who enter be of true face. Let no shadows dwell in it's corners unwelcomed."

Go to the North wall, sprinkle basil.

Say: "I call upon Earth to protect this wall, may my room be a safe haven for all."

Go to East wall and sprinkle basil.

Say: "I call upon Air to protect this wall, may my room be a safe haven for all."

Go to South wall, sprinkle basil.

Say: "I call upon Fire to protect this wall. May my room be a safe haven for all."

Go to West wall, sprinkle basil.

Say: "I call upon Water to protect this wall, may my room be a safe haven for all."

Return to the center of the room, stand in pentagram form - feet spread shoulder width hands extended out to the sides and visualize white light spreading out from your body, illuminating the entire room.

Say: "My spirit is pure and I mean no evil. Goddess and God let creatures see your light and love. So by the powers of earth and sky, below me and above. Bless this space, make my words done. So mote it be."

For extra protection, you might want to hang a pentagram decoration on the wall above the headboard of your bed.

Good luck, LilRed. May your husband never be stung!

- Eric
 

HudsonGray

Plant nurseries have a weird looking glass thingie that you sit on picnic tables or indoors which is filled with sugar water, the wasp goes in but can't get out. Those work really well.

For indoor wasps around the window (we get them too!) keep a wide mouth plastic bottle with cap nearby (and a piece of paper), if you want to catch & release them. Put the bottle over the wasp, slide the paper up between it and the glass, and when the wasp flies to the back of the bottle, put the cap on. You can put it in the fridge for 5 minutes if you want to make sure to not get stung when you set it outside & take the cap off. They go lethargic with the cold.

OR (and this works great!!!) get a cheap can of hair spray and when the wasp is on the wall or window give it a spritz. The hairspray sticks their wings together & they immediately fall to the floor where you can step on them, use a flyswatter on them, or take them outside on a newspaper (they can still crawl, so be careful). The hairspray works 100% of the time. AND you don't have to get within inches of the things to use it.
 

lunalafey

How gone do you want them? Here's a method of elimination
If these are the ground dwelling wasps you can get rid of them with a clear plastic soda bottle- the bigger the better. Find thier holes, best during the day when you can actually see where they go. Then in the evening when they have all gone home, put the uncapped end of the bottle into the hole. Make sure it's not going to fall over, with dirt or rocks. In the morning the wasps will fly around in the bottle and think they can get around. If you where to just bury the holes they will dig thier way back out.
 

Simone

Also make sure to check your attic to see if their nest is not there.

Here, firemen (really!) are trained to take out wasp nests with the least possible damage to humans. Maybe you could ask for help in this case, because nothing much will help if the nest remains undiscovered within the house.

Usually the nests are very pretty ;) so depending on how "gone" you want them to be, the "bug man" probably will inject a cyanide product into it. So then, when you are *really really* sure there is no surviving wasp, you can keep the pretty nest (well aired out of course) as a souvenir ;)
 

Emily

I too was about to suggest checking around the house, including attic for a nest - a few years ago I had a huge problem all Summer with finding dead wasps over the house - only very occasionally did I find them still alive.

By the time we got to checking it out it was nearly Autumn and we found the nest up in the attic, with a convenient little hole through into my bedroom ceiling that they were throwing the dead and dying wasps out into. They moved before I could do anything about it and luckily they didn't come back the next Summer.

I too use flyscreens over the windows, mainly because I like to have my windows open at night during the Summer and the screens stop bugs getting in. :)
 

HudsonGray

"So then, when you are *really really* sure there is no surviving wasp, you can keep the pretty nest (well aired out of course) as a souvenir "

One quick way to 'make sure'. Microwave it for half a minute! NO insect survives past 3 or 4 seconds in a microwave.
 

psychic sue

Don't know any natural remedies, but it sounds like you have a wasps nest nearby. I had one in my attic and my house was over run. You need to get Rento-kil or someone to come in and get rid of it. Don't worry, they have a new nest every year and never go back to an old spot, so you won't have them again.

Hope this helps

Sue x
 

LilRed

Thank you guys for all the tips, I am seeing what will work and will let y'all know. Bugman was here a couple of days ago and said that they were just looking to build and if they built a nest he would take care of it, seems a bit passive to me but oh well.
LilRed
 

purple_scorp

Hey LilRed,

Don't know if you have European or Paper Wasps. About three weeks ago, my son was stung by a Paper Wasp, three times. I had several nests along my verandah. The nests hang upside down, like a wine glass - their connection point is only a single stem. Anyhow, I went onto the net to google Wasps to learn more about them.

Supposedly, Paper Wasps do not defend their nest, nor do they attack. When my son was stung, he was outside fetching a packet of lollies (sweets) and I assume that the wasp was drawn to the sweetness and was probably hovering around the packet. I've had these wasps for all of summer and this was the first time anyone has been stung. Nevertheless, I thought it was time to remove their nests.

You should spray their nest at night-time when the activity is low. I used fly-spray but I later found many websites that spoke of using a combination of lemon-joy dishwashing detergent and water (as a natural alternative).

After spraying the nest, most of the wasps drop (so don't stand underneath and spray it). I sprayed and ran inside, so I could watch the activity from the safety of being behind a glass window. Interestingly, in most cases, all but one of the wasps flew away (or dropped to the ground). I don't know if this was like the Knight/Warrior wasp whose job it was to protect the nest???

Anyhow, I just ran out and sprayed the nest again, after the majority of wasps had gone. Within ten minutes, all wasps had left and I then knocked the nest down and turfed it as far as I could throw it. Birds later came and took the nests away. So it must have been like a little feast for them.

The other interesting thing I learnt about Paper Wasps is that they are good for your garden, as they keep things like caterpillars away. So, most websites said to remove wasp nests that were in high-traffic areas, but if you had one that was out of the way, it was a good idea to leave it there.

purple_scorp