The Season for Wasps

The weather this summer has been fantastic and the mosquito population at a record low.  If you’re like me, you want to eat outside as much as possible while the weather holds.  The problem is, you’ve been shooing away wasps—yellow jackets to be exact—and some of your family is electing to eat inside.  I’m not sure if the problem is worse in the North End with its open dumpsters, but it is definitely wasp season.

So what can be done?  Should anything be done?  After all, wasps feed on insects that may be eating your plants.  Let me tell you, when I made the mistake of going barefoot in the grass during a recent game of catch with my son, I got motivated to reduce the profusion of wasps scavenging for food.  There is nothing like the intensely sharp, throbbing pain of a wasp sting on the ball of the foot to inspire action.

If you look on the internet, you’ll find many commercial and home-made trap ideas.  Being a true North-Ender, I gravitate toward cheap solutions that utilize what I already have.  I modified an idea I found several years ago and have used it with great success.  The idea is to suspend meat an inch or two above soapy water.  Wasps at this time of year are attracted to protein sources as their colony expands.  As they crawl beneath the meat or dart around it, they dip down into the soapy water and die shortly after.  My solution was to take a cooling rack for cookies, set a rectangular storage container underneath (filled with water and a drop of dish soap), and bait it with a piece of meat on top of the rack (great use for leftover burgers).  My version has a drawback in that local cats like to sneak in at night and steal the bait.  One could likely remove the meat in the evening once the wasps are less active or use a really big piece like the freezer-burned ribs I tried recently.  

I do have mixed feelings as I observe the swarming wasps attacking the meat.  Am I luring all the wasps on the block and making my problem worse?  After all, info sources say they travel up to 300 metres to find food.  Am I actually killing enough to make attracting them worth it?  I’ve noticed less wasps flying low over my lawn and I’ve dumped out hundreds of dead wasps, so I feel it’s working.  Apparently, the sooner you start trapping the better, so that the numbers of wasps don’t get so high in the first place.

By the way, if you get stung by a wasp, soak the area as needed in something acidic like lemon juice or vinegar (more things you have around the house).  It should help neutralize the venom.  (Bee stings are the opposite—use baking soda paste or toothpaste after removing the stinger).  Good luck with the wasps and enjoy your BBQ’s while you can!