How to Keep Hornets and Wasps Away

As pests go, hornets and wasps are particularly troublesome. They threaten your property as well as your family’s health. Their painful stings can cause reactions that range from mild redness and swelling to serious emergencies. Thankfully, you can take several steps to keep hornets and wasps away from your home and get rid of them should they invade your property. Here’s what to do.

Focus on Prevention

Take these preventative steps to deter hornets and wasps from taking up residence at your home. Wasps are attracted to sweet food and other debris. Clean up food waste and cover all your trash cans around the house. Don’t leave pet food or bags of bird seed lying around. The bugs will lose interest if there is no good food source nearby. Also, be careful about wearing certain types of scents (such as perfumes), which can attract these types of pests.

Where Do These Pests Live?

Hornets and wasps love to nest in structures and crevices in around your home. Check your exterior siding and framing for breaks or holes that could serve as a home for wasps or other insects. You may also want a professional to check the exterior of your home, especially around windows and doors, to make sure there are no holes for insects to enter.

Types of Wasps and Hornets

Pay particular attention to yellow jacket infestations, which can be especially troublesome. Yellow jackets are aggressive and like to burrow in your yard or the structure or your home. Their nests might not always be visible, but if you find a yellow jacket nest or see many wasps flying in and out of a crevice on your property, stay away and call a professional to help remove it.

Hornets build largely visible nests on structures and trees. They are black and white, about an inch long and can be very aggressive, stinging multiple times. Watch out for these guys, and call a professional if you see a nest. Two other kinds of wasps and hornets live in the ground and mud. These are typically less aggressive creatures, but they look like normal wasps and hornets and could still be dangerous if threatened.

Keep the Pests Away

Consider investing in wasp decoys and wasp traps. Ask your pest control professional about a wasp decoy (a structure to deter wasps from settling nearby) or a wasp trap: a sweet-smelling device that will attract, contain and kill hornets and wasps that come near your home.

The safest way to deal with your wasp and hornet problems is to call a professional. At Inspect-All Services, we can help remove dangerous hornet and wasp nests on your property. We can also help you install decoys and traps and consult on preventative measures to stave off infestations.