Connie's Corner

War of the Wasps

At the beginning of spring back in March, I started seeing 1 or 2 or 3 wasps buzzing around up high near the ceiling of my back porch. Since I am a nature lover I thought that I could live with them with that old rule, “you don’t bother me and I won’t bother you.”

For a few weeks this worked even though the numbers increased some. They never tried to sting me and at nightfall, they disappeared. But as the weather warmed more, the numbers increased and suddenly, it seemed, there were a dozen or more congregating just above the screen door exiting the porch.

Had they been anywhere else, I may have continued a while longer trying to ignore them, but now I had to race out the door while worrying what they were going to do. Time for Googling how to get rid of the wasps naturally. They had been tolerable but this was getting annoying.

Google said I could deter the wasps with many different much hated wasp scents, number one being peppermint. Bingo! I already had peppermint oil. I mixed up some according to Google’s directions and sprayed around the ceiling and doorway. And I bought two peppermint plants at Publix and positioned them outside the porch door, ready to make them permanent additions to my landscaping if they worked. And yes, the smell of the spray did seem to deter them for a while although a few were stupid and did not know they were supposed to hate it. The smell wore off. The wasps came back. Persistent little buggers. The plants outside were completely ignored.

But I did as Google said and continued to respray, and after around two months, they got the message that they were not wanted and completely disappeared. Although it was labor intensive and somewhat expensive, I was satisfied and relieved that I had not had to kill them with a pesticide. My back porch was wasp-free. And the mint plants outside were thriving so, who knows, maybe that helped, too.

But then they, or their cousins, showed up again, this time on my front porch and not on the ceiling but in the dirt around one of my potted lilies beside the front door. The lilies were blooming profusely. Obviously, these were a different kind of wasp. I found their nest the hard way. Reaching into one of the plants to trim off some dead leaves, I was attacked. I dropped my scissors, yanked my hand back, and unbelievably stared at a wasp glued to my thumb even though I was shaking my hand like a maniac. I had to literally knock it off with my other hand. It did not want to turn loose and I had not done anything to it!

More were buzzing around me now so I raced inside, slamming the door behind me. I held my rapidly swelling thumb under the cold water faucet and piled on some baking soda that I grabbed from the fridge, but if it helped, it was minuscule. That sucker throbbed like a jackhammer. My poor thumb quickly swelled up to Paul Bunyan size.

Now I had a real dilemma. The more I looked at my thumb and suffered with the pain, the idea of live and let live quickly disappeared from my train of thought. But if there was a way to get rid of them without the dreaded bug spray, I would find it so off I went to Tractor Supply and on one of the shelves I found Terro Wasp and Fly Trap, attracts and traps wasps, hornets, yellow jackets and flies. I mixed the bait (guaranteed not to attract pollinating insects) and hung it at the required height in a sunny area and waited. And waited. And waited. And in the meantime, my lily was kicking the bucket because I was afraid to water it. So I watched the blooms and leaves turn brown and waited some more. And, of course, I warned all visitors to come in by the back door.

I checked the Terro Trap often but noted only ants floating around in the nasty-looking liquid. I thought it might be too far away so I took it off its hook and set it on the concrete about two feet from the lily but still no captured wasps appeared. I saw them buzzing around and giving me the evil eye but they went nowhere near that trap.

Giving up on Terro, I went back to Google and was directed to Angi, formerly Angie’s List, who had a wealth of information on pros who could do anything you required, specifically pest control of wasps for me. I filled out the requested information and hit send. I waited and waited and I’m still waiting to hear from a pro. I guess there are no wasp killer pros.

I was tired of fooling around so this time I went to Publix to the pest control section and grabbed the biggest ugliest looking spray can of Raid Wasp and Hornet Killer I could find. It stated on the can that it “kills on contact and sprays up to 22 feet!” Yes! Exactly what I needed. As soon as I got back home, I cracked open the front door just enough to reach through with the can in hand, and I soaked that poor little lily and all the dirt below it. I never saw a wasp but felt certain that it had worked.

No, it didn’t. The next day I jiggled the lily with Jim’s old cane and a couple of wasps flew out to my amazement. I went to the garage and got my ammunition and sprayed again. This stuff had to work because I did not know anything else to do. I kept this up for four or five days and finally all the wasps seem to be gone or dead. Several were lying belly up on lily leaves.

It has been about a week now and all seems well. I’ve watered and trimmed the lily and it may come back to be a healthy plant again. I do not know why the wasps, probably yellow jackets, were attracted to it, but I hope none are left to show them the way back. If that happens, I’ll be investing in some fake plants, the kinds that don’t die. Maybe that is the better idea anyway.