Wasp Repellant - Help!
 

I have a serious wasp phobia and its heading towards the time of year where I fear BBQ's and all that drinking outside stuff due to the menacing little barstards they call wasps.

I heard somewhere you can buy repellants for the garden which effectively make your BBQ's a no wasp zone. Thing is I went to B&Q yesterday and found nothing of the sort.

Does anyone know of a product that can ease my autumnal curse and where I can buy lots of said product?

Cheers

P

I'm afraid there is no such thing as a repellant that will create a garden size exclusion zone other than various nasty, volatile chemicals that will do neither the wasp nor you any good! Normal insect repellants are only really effective against insects landing on and biting your skin, i.e. within an inch of you. In the case of wasps, they only sting when provoked, and its unlikely a nasty taste will put them off.

If there are any products out there that claim to make your garden a wasp free zone I for one would be very interested to know the ingredients! It is highly likely that most smelly "hippy" remedies would make the problem worse because wasps are highly inquisitive creatures and are drawn to unusual smells and activities.

The only way to truely reduce the numbers of wasps in your garden is to locate and destroy the nearest nest.

Are you one of those people who the wasps always seem to make a "bee-line" ;) towards? You have probably heard this a million times, but it is your body language that increases their persistence and angers them. I know its hard but if you sit still and try to resist thrashing out at them they will ignore you and concentrate on trying to get what they are after... your food. All it takes is a gentle waft to prevent it from landing on you or your food, and it will eventually go for easier pickings.... your neighbour's food!

They will not sting you to get your food, period. They may sting you if you wack them, if they get trapped under your clothes, or under your hand whilst you are trying to push them away.

They are simple creatures and are not to be feared if you understand them! :D

Ho ho, try telling that to my wife who got THREE hornet stings at once in France last year.

She now kills anything black and yellow on sight, on principle now:D:

Alcazar

Ooops! :P

She must have done something to annoy them though, or they were already annoyed, because hornets feed exclusively on insects and are not interested in sweet food like wasps are!

Edited to add: not trying to annoy your missus, but interestingly hornet poison is less toxic than common bee poison. Hornets have more acetylcholine in their venom which stimulates the pain receptors making it feel worse than it actually is! Dare you to tell her! ;)

Ah, so less toxic but more painful. Grrreat.

I know wasps eat aphids, but seeing as I don't own prize-winning roses, they are one of the few creatures I would like to see wiped from the face of this earth.

One thing they can be attracted to is things like deoderant and hair spray or gel.

So go out and enjoy your BBQ with helmet hair and wiffy armpits :D

Unfortunately we only have ourselves to blame for the behaviour of wasps. They rely less on their natural food source of insects and fruit and more on our rubbish that is left out for them, and then we provide them with warm, dry places to nest.

I agree with you though, they are annoying little sheits, but they are just making the most of a situation we have created for them! That and milder winters and the little buggers are thriving.

bees wont sting you unless provoked, i can agree with this

i mean if i could sting sumbody but i wouyld die afterwards i wouldnt run about stinging people unless i had to


wasps on the other hand, these are the football hooligans of the insect world, they dont die when they sting, so they pick on humans for laughs.
evil

"football hooligans "

a cruel twist of fate that these dont die when they hit someone!