All summer, we had marveled at how much improved the wasp situation was. We had some wasps, of course, but nothing like the great swarms of the year before. Then, about two weeks ago they were back.
We had to get his and hers fly swatters because they got so pesky. We must have made a comic sight, both sitting on the porch, swatting madly.
Then I swatted my coffee off the table. That brought them all and kicked off what has come to be called the great wasp massacre. Thousands of wasps lost their lives. Or at least several, as Gerald is fond of saying.
We had to take action. We looked all around the house under the porch to try to find the nest. They were especially thick near the garage and the back door, but we couldn't find anything.
Not knowing what else to do, we reset the traps that had worked so well before. We cut off the tops of bottles and inverted the tops inside the bottoms and filled them with sugar water. The wasps are drawn to the sugar water and fly in but can't get out. We found that Gatorade bottles worked better than 2-liter soda bottles because the mouths are wider. We set several traps, including three near the garage where they were most concentrated. By the end of the weekend, there were noticeably fewer flying around.
2 comments:
SOunds like progress is being made on the house. It must be encouraging to be insulating now ,and installing the wainscott.
If you ever do find a nest, and it's too close for comfort, a solution of dish detergent and water will kill them in a few minutes.. It won't rile them like poison spray will. It's much cheaper, too.
The soap affects their ability to breathe . They basically suffocate and die.
You want to do this well after sundown or before sunrise- not while they're active.
Cold water quickly will put them into shock, as well. Lots of ice cubes in a pump sprayer full of soapy water will do the trick.
Interesting! Thanks!
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