When the weather is nice and warm, you know that wasps will soon be coming out in full force, too. These buzzing blighters will never miss the chance to join you as you enjoy your tasty snacks or refreshing drinks. Is there even a way for your days to be wasp-free?
In general, wasps, when left alone and undisturbed, are harmless. If they don’t go near your home and don’t pose any problem, it is best to just let them be. Wasps freeze and die during winter in colder climates.
The only time that wasps pose a serious threat is when they get inside your house or make nests close to doorways. Thankfully, you can kill wasps inexpensively and effectively with no need to buy and spray costly and dangerous chemicals in your yard and around your house.
There are plenty of household products that you can use to kill wasps with no need to use harsh chemicals. Some of these are soaps, spices, hairspray, bleach, and essential oils like peppermint and lemongrass. You can also prepare your very own wasp trap with just water and sugar syrup.
If you are not too keen on the idea of using toxins around and in your property, check your kitchen cupboard for the best household products you can use to kill wasps.
Essential Oils
Citronella, eucalyptus, clove, and lemongrass work well if you dilute them with water and apply them to places where wasps reside. The smell of these essential oils can help repel wasps as well as other insects. However, it is important to note that essential oils will not likely kill the wasps but this is already a good starting point for you.
Hairspray
There are several chemical products like hairspray that you can use to immobilize wasps by just coating their wings upon contact and making it harder for them to fly free and wriggle away. You stand a great chance to slow down a wasp depending on how great you are in aiming the spray so it will be easier to swat the insect.
Peppermint
If you just want to repel wasps instead of kill them, anything that gives off peppermint’s strong scent can do the trick because these insects cannot stand it. You can also grow some mint plants in the garden that can serve as a deterrent and be added to your drinks so that wasps won’t swarm around you every time you want to relax with a refreshing drink at hand.
Hot Water and Soap
Hot water and soap are not just a cheap solution to kill wasps as it is also effective if you apply it directly to the insect itself. The solution can clog the breathing spores of wasps which can result in instant death. It is recommended to add 30 to 60ml of liquid dish soap to every 500ml of hot water. Mix well to form the solution. After making the foamy concoction, transfer it to a spray bottle for you to directly spray on the wasps or their nest.
Bleach
Water mixed with bleach and poured into a spray bottle is another household product that you can use to kill wasps as long as you manage to hit the target directly. But even if you do so, it might take several minutes before the insects plummet and fall to their death so ensure that you are ready for any possible retaliation.
If there is no bleach handy, there are other household items that you can use as alternatives for fighting against wasps such as detergents and hand sanitizers.
However, don’t forget to wear protective clothing before you use these home remedies as a precautionary measure if the wasps decide to fight you back.
How to Make Your Sugar Water Wasp Traps
A wasp trap works by luring these annoying insects into a lair that has some kind of tempting treat like sugar water. The moment their wings are inside, you need to make sure that they won’t be able to escape.
An easy way to make your trap is to cut off the top of the 2-liter soda bottle and then invert this inside the bottom. This way, you have made a funnel where the wasps can enter. Add a string to the sides of the bottle and hang this on the nearby tree.
You can add sugar water if it is summer or meat if it is still spring. You can even add a vinegar drop for good measure since it can help ensure that innocent honeybees won’t end up trapped.
Make sure to put water in the bottle so the wasps will drown once they get inside.
Contact the Experts
As the adage goes, prevention is better than cure and this also applies to wasps. Surely, you wouldn’t want to wait for them to attack you before you even do something to defend your property.
Other solutions include the remedies mentioned above that offer a more humane way of addressing the problem. However, if you prefer a more guaranteed effectiveness, you can always use an insect spray. These sprays work by releasing chemicals into the air that can cause the muscles of the wasps to seize up and stop them from flying away and killing them as a result.
If there are children or pets at home or it is already too late for you to just put up barricades now, your last resort is to contact the professionals and let them solve the issue for you.
It can be very tempting to grab a commercial insecticide spray in the hopes of killing wasps. Unfortunately, many of them contain dangerous chemicals that are unsafe for you, your family, the surrounding wildlife, and the environment as a whole. Use the household products mentioned above to ensure a safer way of dealing with these buzzing critters and say goodbye to your wasp problem without causing danger to anyone or anything.
