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Original poster

Environmentally/kitchen friendly wasp deterrents that don't involve netting on the windows please?

19 replies

CharminglyOdd · 26/03/2012 13:43

As it says. I am petrified of wasps and have used citronella candles and netting in the past. Last summer DP refused to allow netting up and we had so many wasps at one point we both seriously thought there could be a nest in the roof. They come in the kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom. I've found them in the wardrobe before, which is quite unnerving.

It's a rented flat and I like having the windows open. I don't want to spend another summer with them closed. Is there a spray or treatment I could put on the windows to stop them coming in please?

OP posts:
Original poster
CharminglyOdd · 26/03/2012 13:48

I should add... I'm at home during the day for the foreseeable future so candles aren't a viable option.

OP posts:
mmmmmchocolate · 26/03/2012 13:57

Thank god you've started this thread!! We had a terrible wasp problem last year and I am terrified of them too.

We had a nest in the wall cavity which was killed early in the season (this time last year) but they were in other gardens so they kept coming into our garden. I never even hung the washing out last summer, had to dry it on a clothes horse in the kitchen as the little bastards were everywhere!

There has been a few around the last few days and I just want to cover the house in a layer of wasp powder! Can I ask how the netting works and where you get it from? Do you burn the citronella candles in the house? Sorry I have no answers but I'll keep checking this thread for an answer!

MrsMagnolia · 26/03/2012 14:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
CharminglyOdd · 26/03/2012 17:58

Thanks :) I may try the Waspinator (great name). Unfortunately can't do the old-fashioned jar thing as we are on the top floor and no wide windowsills.

I got the netting from a local hardware store. It was great, although I imagine the same process could work with fine mesh (in a more attractive colour than black). It came with strips of velcro that you stuck around the window frame on the inside and the mesh was of the right consistency to stick to them. That way you could cover any size of window and remove it easily in the evenings. I burn citronella candles outside if I'm outside but also on the windowsills inside. It may be more psychological than anything!

I hope we don't have a nest, but will keep an eye out. It'll be a bugger if there is one as it's a big block of flats and loads of places it could hide. I hope we don't get as many as last year.

DP is currently in the kitchen hitting everything that moves but I think it's flown away.

OP posts:
SmileItsSunny · 26/03/2012 18:05

I am trying the waspinator this year!

mmmmmchocolate · 26/03/2012 18:36

I've just been reading about the waspinator, it looks really interesting and I think I'm going to order one! It doesn't help that in my head I want them all dead Blush but I'd settle for being able to use my garden.

I read the site and it said a very cold, bad winter (which UK had in 2010/11) followed by an early warm dry spring is the best conditions for wasp colonies as only very strong queens survive the winter which leads to massive colonies. Which would explain why the wasp problem was awful last year.

Thanks for the tip about the mesh, I don't mind if the mesh is black TBH I'd rather that and be able to open the windows than melt all summer! I'll google for that!

I made a wasp catcher late last season which was basically a 2 litre coke bottle, cut the funnel bit off and invert it and then you put some sweet honey/syrup in the bottom and some water. Wasps fly in attracted to the sugar but when their wings get wet the cant fly out, and they can't climb out because the funnel stops them so they get tired and drown. I caught about 30 of the new queens last autumn with this contraption.

Has anyone had success with the waspinator? Any stories to share?

ChitChatFlyingby · 26/03/2012 21:58

If you can, put in a wasp catcher, now is a great time to. Queen wasps look for new nesting sites early spring and if you can catch them now, you will have removed that whole potential nest for the summer. We caught over a dozen queens last spring and had far fewer nests than the previous summer as a result.

Original poster
CharminglyOdd · 27/03/2012 12:11

I was thinking this morning about hanging jam jars off the window hinges when they are open (they open upwards and out, so there are long mental bars as hinges) as wasp traps. That might work.

I quite like the idea of catching them all now and saving aggro later on!

OP posts:
mmmmmchocolate · 27/03/2012 18:38

Charming, my wasp catcher is up. There are loads of baby wasps out in the garden. They are tiny! But you can see they are wasps it means that some of the queens have already started building and hatching :(

I wouldn't say the nest is in my garden (crosses fingers) but it isn't far away...

I've found some of that mesh on eBay and it's white so it'll be less noticeable than the black. DD was playing lovely out there this evening after school and it really annoys my that she won't be able to play out there soon. We've only got a tiny bloody garden too and I like my washing LINE DRIED!!!

Please report back with how your bug catcher are doing!!

Original poster
CharminglyOdd · 28/03/2012 17:39

DP has vetoed the Waspinator ("Our neighbours will think we are weird") and a bug catcher ("It'll fall and kill someone and our neighbours will think we are weird"). I am posting this from our hallway, with the light on and all doors closed as DP left thirty minutes ago and I forgot to close the windows. There are wasps in our bedroom and a massive bumble bee in the living room/kitchen.

He'll be back in an hour or so... I have got some tulle to go on the bathroom and kitchen windows. Am still hunting for something pretty to go in the living room. Might put my hallway exile to good use!

OP posts:
mmmmmchocolate · 29/03/2012 00:05

Oh dear charming! It's not good that you can only use one room in your house! Get yourself some raid 5 second squirt in a room will take down whatever is in there.

I say let the neighbours think you're weird! They might thank you if they have the same problem!

Well I was busy putting my make up on for work this morning when a queen came buzzing in my bathroom window. If ever they are at the front of my house too I'll cry :( I had to shut the door run downstairs and wait for the I laws to turn up so that FIL could go up and make sure it is safe Blush I also have to wait until Friday now until I can go buy £100 worth of wasp poison...

PS I don't think my wasp catcher has caught anything other than a spider...

bessie26 · 30/03/2012 21:52

I know you said no netting, but I put this on DD1's window last year & have just fitted some more on DD2's window.

I think it's great (although we don't have a wasp problem, just bees who like to bumble in and get themselves stuck in the curtains) & seriously doubt that the neighbours could see it. Although I wouldn't care if they could Grin

HansieMom · 31/03/2012 00:54

I would go for wasp netting. After all, it works! I would outvote DP.

mathanxiety · 31/03/2012 02:46

That is the beauty of the black colour -- it is virtually invisible.

tabulahrasa · 31/03/2012 04:19

Flash

The old fashioned all purpose liquid one, that you'd dilute and put in a mop bucket...about half and half with water in a spray bottle, if you spray wasps with that most of them suddenly remember how they got in and those that don't you skoosh a couple of times and it kills them.

I have absolutely no idea what's in it to make them do that and most people look at me like Hmm but for some reason it works

PurpleFrog · 02/04/2012 14:47

mmmmmchocolate - baby wasps?? Young wasps are larvae i.e. grubs. They grow and then pupate in the nest and hatch as fully-grown wasps.

Are you sure you are not seeing hover flies?

LaGrenouille · 03/04/2012 22:48

I bought a waspinator after having a very bad infestation. They are made of a sort of nylon sacky material that you have to fill with squashed up newspaper.

Going back to the infestation, the wasps were literally in the walls, and coming in through gaps in the airing cupboard and bedroom. I would find them dozy but able to fly and sting, on the floors, up to about 6 per room at a time. I tried all sorts of over the counter sprays to try and avoid getting the wasp man out (about £50 round here), but to no avail. I even had one of the bastards sting me in the middle of the night in bed.

I caved in and got the wasp man in, although by then the problem had subsided, but he sprayed the nest anyhow. I wouldn't have it at first, that they had gone, but the man said that you would hear them buzzing in the walls if they were still there.

After that, I decided to get a waspinator to deter any new wasps, and haven't had a problem since. I'm not sure whether hanging one up will cover the whole of the building but you could always ring the company to ask.

mmmmmchocolate · 05/04/2012 22:40

Purple frog- really? You have given me hope! These are small (about 3mm) they have the yellow and black markings and one that 1 swatted you could see the stinger.

There are definitely queens out there but I'm hoping that the recent snow and cold weather will have killed a few of them off....

liveinazoo · 06/04/2012 20:33

cant say its eco friendly but if you spray dettox anti bacterial cleaner at them it stuns them and you can remove them.works on all insects

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