Natural Remedies for Discouraging Wasps From Nesting

House Hunting

• Wasps, just as people, look for a nice neighborhood to raise their children, or, in the wasp’s case, the queen looks for a home and the rest follow. Sheltered areas, such as recessed doorways and sheltered corners of buildings, are attractive locations for home building wasps, but some species are ground dwellers, preferring abandoned rodent burrows. Some paper wasps travel to great heights on communication towers or grain bins. Yellow jackets, according to University of California Integrated Pest Management Program entomologist E. C. Mussen, scavenge human food when their natural food becomes scarce late in the growing season, making human habitation attractive for late summer homes.

Withhold Scents

• Food and drink are major attractants, but perfume, hair spray and other cosmetics can also smell like a wasp grocery store. Wasps are compulsive -- once they spot food, they’ll return to that location repeatedly, whether food is present or not. They favor meat in spring and summer, which they carry to the larvae in the nest and sweets that they scavenge for their queen in late summer and fall. Feed pets indoors or pick up food as soon as pets finish. Cover drinks -- wasps have been known to crawl into soda cans just because of the sweet smell. Seal garbage cans tightly.

Bait and Switch

• Wasps are social creatures, but many are not fond of crowded neighborhoods. As with many human families, it is the queen who chooses the location for the nest. A fake nest may discourage some varieties of wasps to move on. Reducing the local wasp population with traps might encourage queens to look for areas with more worker wasps. Washington State University’s Arthur L. Antonelli suggests suspending a fish or piece of liver over a bucket of soapy water to catch the greedy wasps as they sink in the attempt to fly carrying chunks of food. Other traps are less ambitious, but all require regular cleaning and fresh food because wasps do not like rotting food.

Close it Up

• Short of moving to the bottom of the hill or replacing your cedar siding with aluminum, the wasps may just find your house -- or your compost heap or lilacs -- the most attractive place to nest. Tactics such as caulking windows and doors, tuckpointing broken mortar and repairing torn screens might discourage wasps from finding surfaces appealing but can save energy and keep other insects out as well.