Stopping Wasps

mary43

I know this thread is to do with wasps but any ideas for either preventing flies from coming indoors or at least killing them once they arrive.
Last year we had those gummy strip hanging from the ceiling...........they work but look so awful. I also bought a plastic fly swat.......brilliant that was but I did get a little fed up dancing about the kitchen with it.
Don't know why they come in..........seems once they do they're at the window trying to get out !

flower7

One of the problems is I don't know where the nest is, we live in a terraced house and all the gardens back on to each other so it could be in any of them. Last year I asked two of the neighbours and they said they were having the same problem but didn't have a nest. One of the houses has been vacant for a couple of years so I think the nest must be from around there. I just don't want wasps coming into the house especially this time of the year because they try and make new nests in the house. Last year I pulled up the two bushes with flowers on to discourage them but there are no flowers or plants in the garden now and it looks very bare!

I have the same problem with flies as well and end up spending a fortune on sprays that kill them.

Ice_2

we kept getting wasps in the front bedroom last year...I sat at the window and watched for them...they were in the loft getting in by a small hole above the window...watch out for them...keep your windows shut and just try and see where they are flying around when you see a number going to the same place thats usually where the nest is..about fly's...I used to get alot...until I bought a cheap pressure washer from woolworths £30 I did all around the walls and paths and yard outside and kept the bins clean with it...I wipe down my window ledges every day as this is where there were nesting...and most went straight away...last year was the best year I have had without fly's...I also put a squirt of bleach down each of my 2 drains everyday and this is what I will do this year...hths:)also if you can burn some vanilla candles near the back door as this helps too...

mary43

We always seem to be constantly washing down the window sill and all around there in the summer.........catch 22 really, open the windows and in they come, close them and its too hot.
Hadn''t heard about vanilla candles before. We often have candles indoors........wonder if we stuck to vanilla through the summer that might deter them. Tried growing basil on the window sill one year as I heard that was the thing to do. Weve also had the fly catcher Pitcher plants........they can work but not well enough.
Think I'll give the vanilla candles a go (keeping my fly swat to hand just in case)

Biggles

flower7 wrote: »

One of the problems is I don't know where the nest is, we live in a terraced house and all the gardens back on to each other so it could be in any of them. Last year I asked two of the neighbours and they said they were having the same problem but didn't have a nest. One of the houses has been vacant for a couple of years so I think the nest must be from around there. I just don't want wasps coming into the house especially this time of the year because they try and make new nests in the house. Last year I pulled up the two bushes with flowers on to discourage them but there are no flowers or plants in the garden now and it looks very bare!

It wouldn't help if you did know where the nest was, as they don't reuse them the following year anyway.

I'm afraid you were probably deflowering your garden (er, you know what I mean!) unnecessarily, as I don't know of any plant that particularly attracts wasps.

mary43

Just thought I'd bring this up again as I've had two wasps in the kitchen this morning. One was crawling up the window, and I mean crawling.......made no attempt to fly off when I scooped it up with an old cloth. Then just now I saw one crawling across the kitchen floor............easy to dispose of as it made no attempt to fly at all.
Both seemed very dopey.............is that normal for this time of the year ? Have they just woken up ? Just can't fathom out it out, particularly the one on the floor.

C_Ronaldo

Wasps are annoying, ill try out the suggestion using the pop bottle

Davesnave

Just thought I'd bring this up again as I've had two wasps in the kitchen this morning. One was crawling up the window, and I mean crawling.......made no attempt to fly off when I scooped it up with an old cloth. Then just now I saw one crawling across the kitchen floor............easy to dispose of as it made no attempt to fly at all.
Both seemed very dopey.............is that normal for this time of the year ? Have they just woken up ? Just can't fathom out it out, particularly the one on the floor.

Only Queen wasps about at this time of year, all looking for somewhere to nest and start off the new colony. Very dopey after winter hibernation.

The best place to have a wasp nest is close to where you sit, as the one thing wasps don't do is attract attention near their nest. They will ignore you up to a certain distance, but I can't say what it is!! We used to have a nest under my 'temporary' (ha, ha!) classroom floor, but the wasps didn't come into the room, other than unwittingly, and they'd fly through the kids' legs without pause to reach the entrance hole in an air vent. We didn't have a problem with them, but of course the rest of the school did, so Rentokill Man eventually polished them off.

rhiwfield

Would you believe it, did the morning round of the garden and there's a wasp nest just under the ground in the new 10' x 20' raised bed area. I've just made a 4' x 4' veg cage and about to clad it with enviromesh and one of the legs will go straight thru the nest if I erect it, if I dont then the psb in the sub-bed will get nuked later in the year by the cabbage whites. Also about to transplant brussels to another sub-bed and this means planting right next to the nest.

I know wasps are mostly beneficial at this time of the year but do I want them in the middle of the veg patch at all, let alone later in the year when they become more aggressive?

Cant use powder/spray near the crops so its looking like the old fashioned jam jar traps or leaving them be. Any other ideas?

Sunnyday

To stop wasps coming in the house my dad made a simple frame from thin timber which was a bit bigger than the back door and covered it with fine mesh, he added hinges and screwed it to the wall - in effect it was a screen door which stopped anything flying in. To keep it closed he hung a half filled 2 litre pop bottle on the end of a piece of string and tied one end to the top of the screen and threw the length of string over a conveniently placed hook on the house wall.

I shall be making one soon as i`ve discovered the wasps are going in and out of a neighbours house where there are holes in the pointing - it`s right opposite my door :eek:

SD