Hotscot

This time of year the wasps seem to sense that autumn/winter is round the corner.
I have hanging lamps on the patio and I suspect they think that these are nests and therefore swarm around them trying to get into them.
I'd prefer not to spray to kill them...any ideas for a repellent?

GeoffM

Is there a nest nearby to destroy? Citronella works for wasps too, and dabbing that and eucalyptus/menthol apparently works on surfaces (never tried it) - maybe some Tiger Balm as it should take a while to disappear?

Hotscot

I have no idea where their nest is..they seem to be very confused though..I'll look into those suggestions.
They're only paper wasps..not particularly aggressive but a wee bit annoying.

Pica

Are they not just drawn to the lights?
We have hornets here-lots and at this time of the year they're well on their way to dying so a bit dopy and confused and probably drunk from feeding on the rotting figs! When we put an outside light on a few are instantly buzzing round it. They'll go if you turn the lights off.

Hotscot

No it's during the day, they come around 3.00. Brilliant sunshine...
They actually do seem to think that my hanging lights are nests. A few of them even forced their way inside the lights, through a wee hole.
Weird...

Pica

Sorry I can't reccommend a product for USA but there must be loads of local advice-you can't be the only one.

tipex

whenever I kill a wasp nest I spray peppermint oil mixed with water on the spot where the nest was, so far they have never come back. I put 15 to 20 drops in one of those cheap spray bottles you get from walmart

Hotscot

Sounds worth a try!

tennesseestud

If you get stung by them, the best thing I have used for stings has been Listerne mouth wash. Seriously it works a treat. It still hurts but the itch goes away. "Off! Deep Woods" for yourself when you go outside will help keep them from stinging. There are wasp and hornet sprays that are supposed to kill nests but those haven't seemed to clear up our invasion on the front porch. It'll get cold soon, so hopefully they will die down.

S Folinsky

Why does the caption make me think of World War II aircraft carriers.

Both the Hornet and Wasp did not do well near Guadalcanal. A good friend later flew the Corsair off the Essex class Wasp.

Nutek

Pulaski

So, what happened?

Hotscot

They kept coming round for only a limited time each afternoon.
Some of them got inside the lights so I blocked the holes with caulk.
They still persisted in looking for somewhere to nest, presumably.
I tried some sprays, soap, vinegar, peppermint etc but didn't seem to have much effect.

However at no time have they been aggressive so I just managed things around them.

It's a bit sad, they're huddled up together in the front porch right now, (see pic), a bunch of them anyway, trying to snuggle for protection against the cold. But they're starting to die off, dry up etc...so maybe that's the natural life cycle at play.

Pulaski

I had a wasp nest under that sod that I laid back in the summer. They hollowed out quite a hole under part of it. I haven't looked up close yet, but it looks like a shallow scoop about as big as both my fists combined, but they have been gone for several weeks, probably since we had that hard frost at the start of November. I will get a couple of shovel fulls of soil some time and fill it in.

Some neighbours had what appears to have been a much larger nest under their porch decking, with wasps in larger numbers making their way between the concrete foundation and the edge-framing of the porch-decking. I have agreed to help them get rid of it before spring, and caulk-up the gap they were crawling through. Given that the nest is better protected from the cold, and is effectively in the crawlspace, I want there to have been as many frosts as possible before I go under the house to get the nest out. If there is any possibility that the occupants are still alive I will leave a "bug bomb" aerosol under it and come back another day.

If I can get it out in one piece I will probably turn it over to little Miss P for a show and tell. So far this year she has taken in, among other things, a deer antler, and a tortoise shell, both of which I found here.

Michael

It appears that the wasps die out at the end of the season but the larva survives.

Yard Wasps | University of Kentucky Entomology