You want to repel wasps and keep them away from your garden table in a gentle way? Then you've come to the right place! Of course, we should all strive for an insect-friendly garden. But wasps can also be a nuisance, behave aggressively and dangerously and spoil the fun of a barbecue on the patio.
However, the black-and-yellow insects are also a valuable resource in the fight against the species extinction. On the one hand, they eat flies, spiders, caterpillars and other small animals that can damage plants - and on the other, they perform a valuable Pollination performancewhich stimulates plant growth. The intelligent hymenoptera are therefore quite rightly a protected species, which is why the animals must not be killed and wasp nests must not be willfully destroyed. If this happens, fines of up to 50,000 euros can be imposed in Germany.
So what helps against wasps and how can you coexist as peacefully as possible without being stung or bitten? Do you avoid wearing colorful clothes, blow them away, light incense sticks or even a cigarette? Not really. Fortunately, there are some natural home remedies and tips to keep the buzzing creatures away from your garden table. In this article, I'd like to introduce them to you - without any poison or fly swatters. Let's go!
- Use a spray bottle with water
- Set up essential oils
- Coffee powder burn
- Use the paper bag trick
- Insert basil and garlic
- Clear up leftovers as quickly as possible
- Distract with treats
- Avoid perfume, deodorant and creams with fragrances
- Put half lemon with scented carnations
- Harvest and collect fruit
Notice: Of course I am not an enemy of wasps, on the contrary. With this article, I would like to help us learn how to live better and more safely with wasps so that neither humans nor animals are attacked.
1. use a spray bottle with water
If the wasps are active again from the beginning of May to the end of September and are occasionally a little aggressive and annoying, this is no reason to kill them. Instead of this overreaction, you can simply fill up an ordinary spray bottle with tap water and fire a few pumps in the direction of the animals. The spray will give them the feeling of rain and they will move away. So you can do it without environmental toxins and killing 😉
2. set up essential oils
Natural home remedies for wasps include essential oils, which you can simply place in a jar or in the form of a scented candle on your patio table. The insects, for example, are not fans of Clove, citrus and tea tree oil.
Notice: Classic incense sticks achieve a comparable effect, but of course do not smell as pleasant.
3. burn coffee powder
What else helps against wasps? A classic and useful household remedy that probably everyone has at home is actually coffee. The busy little animals don't like the aromatic scent at all. If you want to drive away annoying wasps, you should simply light coffee powder or a few coffee beans in a fireproof container or on a safe surface to intensify the smell. If the powder glows slightly, it should work.
Tip: Of course, this also produces some smoke, which can be a bit annoying for you and your guests.
4. use the paper bag trick
There are some unusual tips floating around on the internet. One of them is certainly the paper bag trick, although it has worked for many users. More and more people are hanging up paper bags to keep wasps away from their own four walls, which they like to visit due to the increasingly scarce living space.
Whether in the carport, under the house roof or in the roller shutter boxes: the Paper bags look very similar to a wasps' nest and may signal to the animals that the competition is already living here. Certainly not a guarantee, but at least worth a try to keep wasps away without harming them.
Tip: Wasp nests must not be knocked down, regardless of whether construction has just begun or has long since been completed. Instead, relocation by a specialist in protective clothing is worthwhile for everyone involved.
5. insert basil and garlic
Garlic and basil are also among the animal-friendly household remedies against wasps. If you want to respectfully put the insects to flight, then you should simply put sliced garlic cloves and a plant pot with basil on the tablewhere you spend your time in the garden. The wasps recognize the smells that the plants give off and are anything but fans of them.
6. clear up leftovers as quickly as possible
In the summer, the active phase of wasps collides in their favor with the time when we like to Ice-cold lemonades, sugary fruit juices and pieces of fruit, as well as sweet cakes to us. Both the German wasp and the common wasp are naturally very happy about the smell of food and sweet drinks, as they need to provide their offspring with sugar.
To avoid attracting wasps and to keep them away from your coffee with friends and family, you should clear up any leftover food as quickly as possible. A classic rule of conduct that usually extremely effective is.
7. distract with treats
Wasps are very intelligent! For example, they can recognize faces and memorize their surroundings.₁ Nevertheless, their instincts naturally lead them in a different direction. Simply place overripe fruit, such as grapes, bananas and apples or simply a Glass of high sugar lemonade at a safe distance from your garden table. For this tip to be effective, there should of course be no sweet treats on the latter.
8. avoid perfume, deodorant and creams with fragrances
How can you get rid of wasps? Certainly not with perfumes, deodorants and scented creams. The insects orient themselves primarily via pheromones and scents and as a result would probably be at the table with you in time for dinner. Therefore, avoid scented deodorants, perfumes and creams if you want to get rid of wasps.
9. serve half lemon with scented cloves
The scents that tend to drive wasps away include both the Lemon as well as the clove scent. If you are looking for a natural home remedy against wasps, it is advisable to cut a lemon in half and place it on the table together with a few cloves. This is another simple but effective and easy-to-implement tip to prevent wasp disputes and, not least, wasp stings.
10. harvest and collect fruit
If you want to drive away wasps, you should not offer them the things they love. Overripe fruit and its fructose really do magically attract insects. Harvest ripe fruit such as berries, apples or plums and collect them from the ground. However, if the fruit tree is at a safe distance from your lounge or seating area, you can pick them as part of a generally animal-friendly and sustainable gardenbut also simply leave them lying around.
Drive away wasps made easy!
The pressure of foraging makes the wasps more aggressive. However, waving them around, blowing them away or swatting at them is counterproductive if you want to calm them down or drive them away - this will only make them more aggressive. Instead, here are some tips and natural home remedies that will help you to live better with wasps and keep them away from your patio table.
Do you have any questions or other sustainable tips for driving away wasps? Then I look forward to your comment.
Stay animal-friendly,
PS: In addition to wasps, bees in particular perform valuable pollination work. How you can create a bee friendly gardenyou will find out in the next article.
References:
₁ A. Avarguès-Weber, D. d'Amaro, M. Metzler; et al. (2018): Does Holistic Processing Require a Large Brain? Insights From Honeybees and Wasps in Fine Visual Recognition Tasks, available at https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01313/full. [11.08.2022].
