The best way to deal with wasps is to prevent them from coming into your home and yard in the first place. While you can’t keep every single one out, you can take a few cautionary steps to prevent hordes of them. Cover up your trash cans and remove any food or food spills that may be outside. Also cover up all the crevices that you are able to find. Without something to attract them and a place to build their hive, wasps will not frequent your yard as much.
I discovered recently that wasps are apparently very territorial. They don’t like it when other colonies get in their way. And they won’t get in in the way of other colonies. Use this to your advantage and hang up decoy wasp nests around your yard. The wasps will see them, think they’re real, and build somewhere else.
A natural way to repel wasps is to grow plants that they can’t stand. This is especially important if you have plants and flowers in your yard that attract wasps. Put plants like spearmint, citronella, and eucalyptus between the others so that wasps will tend to avoid your yard and garden.
Wasps not only hate peppermint plants, they also just hate the smell of peppermint in general. So take some peppermint oil and pour it on cotton balls. Then leave the cotton balls around your home and yard. Place them in spots such as near windows and eaves, by outdoor dining tables, etc. Refill or replace them as necessary.
Make a wasp trap with a 2-liter bottle. Cut the top third of it off, remove the lid, and place the top upside down in the bottom part. Duct tape it so the top is secure and then pour about an inch of equal parts beer and water. The wasps are attracted to it, fly into the bottle, but can’t get out and eventually drown.
You can also use a large jar as a trap. Drill a hole into the lid big enough for a wasp and pour in the mixture above or a cup of apple cider vinegar, a cup of water, half a cup of sugar, and a teaspoon of liquid dish soap. Spread jelly on the inside of the lid, screw the lid on, and the trap is set. This too will eventually attract, trap, and drown wasps.
If you want to take drastic measures and destroy the whole hive, here’s how. Just be careful and make sure you’re wearing long and thick clothes, just in case. Do this in the evening when all the wasps are back in the hive. Using a hose with really good water pressure, pour liquid dish soap over the nozzle and spray the hive really well. The soap sticks to the wasps and eventually dissolves their exoskeleton, killing them.
