3 Ways Wasps Benefit the Garden

 Wasps benefit the garden

Instead of cursing, celebrate every time you see a wasp in the backyard.

Here is why

Wasps provide excellent pest control

Wasps have evolved into highly efficient and effective predators over millions of years.

With thousands of hungry mouths to feed on each season, wasps are looking for many of the pests that will devour your crops: aphids, hornbeams, nematodes, worms, moths, spiders, whiteflies, leaf miners, caterpillars, and cabbage worms. Some.

Wasps are very opportunistic and will prey on any nearby insect, including other wasps.

As a completely organic, biological pest control, wasps provide the most valuable service to the gardener - for free. If you can tolerate their sometimes annoying behavior, it is good to be around them.

After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend!

Wasps are pollinators

When they do not feed their young insects along with other insects, the adult wasps feed primarily on flower nectar and can be seen sounding from plant to plant.

Although wasps are not as effective as bees, due to their lack of soft bodies and hairs, they go to a large number of plants and carry pollen.

Some wasps have special pollinators and have a symbiotic relationship with fig trees and some orchid species, where if one is extinct the other will follow.

As pollinators are declining worldwide health and population, we need all the help we can get.

Wasps help to retain the food web

Without wasps, many fruits and flowers would be infertile and we would be overwhelmed by pests that destroy food crops.

While wasps control the number of bugs, what prevents them from becoming more populous?

Numerous animals eat adult wasps and their larvae.

Wasps prey on a wide variety of birds, including woodpeckers, sparrows, bluebirds, and warbirds.

Frogs, lizards, toads, salamanders, and other reptiles and waterfalls will bear some bite for a delicious meal.

Large and small mammals, bears, skunks, raccoons, whales, badgers, and rats can also fearlessly attack the wasp nest and eat the larvae inside.

6 ways to deal with wasps when they have a problem

Just because we live in harmony with wasps does not mean it will be easy.

Here are some tips on how to safely deal with problem wasps and their nests:

1. Set sugary drinks

Are you bothered by yellow jackets when eating out? A great way to divert their attention from you is to offer them a cup or two of sugary drinks. Cola or cream soda works well for this.

2. Hang the fake wasp nest

Wasps are very regional and do not build nests near another wasp colony. Place some fake nests (like this) around your yard where you can spend time and where there is a lot of traffic.

3. Wait until winter to remove a nest

In social wasp species, all but one queen die in the winter. If you wait and allow them to complete their natural life cycle, it will be much easier to deal with the nests when hundreds of angry wasps are not ready and ready to defend them.

4. Home wasp repellent

Mix a drop of peppermint essential oil with a teaspoon of carrier oil (such as olive oil or liquid coconut oil) and rub it on the skin to help keep wasps away while you work in the yard.

A mixture of peppermint, clove, lemongrass, and geranium oils can be used to spray a few drops with dish soap on tablets and other exterior surfaces.

5. Use plain water

Wasps build nests in a dry, safe place where they are protected from the elements. You can encourage them to move to another area (without killing them) by spraying the nest with a hose.

Stand at a good distance and set your hose sprayer in a soft, shower-like setting. Soak the nest well in this manner and repeat in the next few days.

If possible, do this as much as possible during the season so there are fewer personnel and drones to fight.

6. Nest displacement

If you have a gold heart and steel veins, move your nests to another location in your yard

 Another option.

However, whenever we use a professional for such work will also advise.

The trick is to wait until dark when the wasps come at night and sleep. Decide in advance where you want to change the nest.

Using a large plastic bowl nest and a thick piece of plastic as a lid, slide the lid over the bowl to disconnect its perch.

Carefully move the nest to the site of your choice and gently lower it away from the lid. Wait an hour to remove the lid.