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I know that every insect on this planet has its own role in the ecosystem, but some insects, as wasps, are not beneficial at all when they build their nests in your mailbox.
Just imagine how I got up the other day, checked my mailbox and I got stung by a wasp. My hand swollen instantly and it felt just like a balloon. You won’t care anymore about their role in the ecosystem thinking just how to keep them away from your house and yard. They can fertilize other gardens, not mine.
I regret not installing wasp traps in the early spring, because now I have to remove the wasp nest and keep them at a distance.
After dressing up in wasp-protective equipment and hit the mailbox hard with a stick to send those wasps away, I gently removed the wasp nest and burned it in the backyard. Wasn’t so complicated because the nest was small and were a few wasps living there, but I can’t say the same thing about those huge wasp nests hanging in trees.
Anyhow, is not such a great idea in keeping wasp nests around your house, because you risk getting stung by them!
The best way to keep wasps away from your yard and house is to set-up traps. Of course, you can buy these traps online or you can make your own wasp traps, like I did by following the next steps:
You need:
- Two-liter soda bottle
- Permanent marker
- Knife
- A piece of wire for hanging your trap
- Something sweet (sugar, jam, juice, wine)
How it’s made?
- Use a permanent marker to draw a line around the neck of the bottle, just below the taper. To keep the line straight, you can tie a string or put a large rubber band around the bottle as a guide, then mark the line with your marker.
- Use a knife, box cutter, or a sharp pair of scissors to cut the top off of the bottle at the line you made.
- To bait the trap, you’ll be putting an enticing food source into the bottom of the bottle. Different baits work at different times of the year. In the spring and early summer, wasps are looking for sources of protein. In the late summer and early fall, they are seeking sweets. Add a bit of vinegar to the mix to keep bees out of your trap.
- To complete your trap, unscrew and remove the cap of the bottle. Then, flip the top part of the bottle upside down, and tuck it into the bottom portion of the bottle and it’s ready to use.
- Place your trap (or traps) outdoors in areas where you see wasp activity or want to prevent wasp activity.
- If you want to hang your wasp trap in a tree or on a structure, use a hole punch to make two holes across from each other at the top of the trap.
- Wasps are attracted to the scent of the bait and fly into the bottle opening to get to it. Once inside the bottle, they crawl down through the narrow opening, can’t figure out how to get back through it and eventually die, drowning in the liquid if it is present.
