Pest Control: How to Keep Wasps Away
With the arrival of summer, it’s time for lunches on the terrace and picnics… but also for wasps, attracted by the smell of meat, fruit, and sugar. There are several solutions to
How to Keep Wasps Away
get rid of them. From essential oils to burnt coffee, incense, or certain plants, here’s how to keep wasps away effectively. The following are based on the smells that wasps hate and that make them flee.
Method 1: Keep wasps away with essential oils
Using essential oils (EO) is one of the most effective ways to repel wasps. The following can be used alone or in a mixture:
– Java citronella (Cymbopogon winterianus Jowitt);
Note: this is also the essential oil used against mosquitoes.
– lavender aspic (Lavandula latifolia);
– lavandin (Lavandula x hybrida);
– clove (Syzygium aromaticum);
– rose geranium (Pelargonium graveolens).
Several types of use are possible.
– Diffuse one or more of these essential oils near where you eat your meal.
Tip: if you don’t have a diffuser, pour a few drops of EO into a bowl of hot water.
– In a spray bottle, put 250 ml of water and 30 drops of EO; spray this preparation around.
– Place around the table pieces of cloth, lavender bags, or other porous supports soaked with a few drops of one of these EOs.
– Dilute 1 drop of lavender spike EO in 1 teaspoon of moisturizing body milk and coat the exposed parts of your body with this mixture (arms, neck, but avoid the face).
Note: this last use is also suitable for children under 6 years of age; the gesture often helps to reassure them when wasps terrorize them.
Method 2: Repel wasps with cloves
To repel wasps, cloves can be used as an essential oil and in their natural state. Place on the table or nearby:
– 1 orange liberally studded with cloves,
– or, better still, a dish containing crushed cloves, giving off a more potent scent.
Method 3: Burn coffee, incense, or a citronella candle
Burning certain products will also keep wasps at bay. For example, you can:
– put freshly ground coffee (or just poured from the packet) in a cup and burn it: you get incandescent burning (no flames), which gives off a very wasp-deterrent smell;
– burn incense sticks on the table or nearby;
– Leave a citronella candle on the table while you eat your meal.
Method 4: Use the repellent properties of plants
Wasps hate the smell of certain plants like:
– lemongrass or lemon thyme,
– tomato leaves,
– lavender,
– chives,
– mint,
– thyme.
You can take advantage of their repellent properties:
– either by planting these plants near the place where wasps usually come (garden table, pool),
– or by placing small bunches of fresh sprigs of these plants on the table.
Method 5: Keep wasps away with a nest lure
Fooling wasps with a decoy is another way to get rid of them! Make them believe that a wasp nest is already in your home; respecting the territory of their fellow wasps, they will look elsewhere.
You can also
– buy a wasp nest decoy in a store,
– make your own by simply crumpling up a kraft paper bag to resemble a nest, hanging it from a tree or roof edge, and that’s it!
Materials needed to repel wasps
Cloves
Essential oils
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