Wasps are feared and hated. Granted they do sting if you disturb them but that is no reason to fear them. In this post I will look at 10 wasp myths that will surprise you. Armed with this new knowledge I hope that you will learn to either like wasps or at least hate them less.
As a general background review of wasp facts have a look at Understanding Wasps – They Are Not Evil!
Wasp Myths
This list of wasp myths are the ones that I was able to find. If you know of others please post a comment and tell us about them.
Wasp Stings Do Not Hurt
When a wasp stings it injects venom into your skin. It is a myth that the venom hurts and causes swelling. The symptoms you see and feel when you get stung are the result of your own body defenses. The human body causes the swelling, reddening, itching and pain after a sting (ref 2).
A small percentage of people have severe reactions, which can be fatal. Death, due to anaphylaxis, is fairly rare.
The average person is stung 2-3 times in their lifetime. I wonder if gardeners are stung more often?
People Allergic to Wasp Stings are also Allergic to Bee Stings
This is a very common wasp myth. The venom from bee stings and wasp stings are quite different and “the vast majority of people that are allergic, are allergic to either wasp or bee but not both.” (ref 2).
The normal reaction of swelling and pain is not an allergic reaction and most people will experience these symptoms from both bee and wasp stings.
Baking Soda – Will it Reduce Symptoms of a Wasp Sting?
One common cure for the symptoms of a wasp sting is the application of baking soda. The claim is that since baking soda is alkaline it will neutralize the acidic compounds in the wasp venom.
The first point to note is that wasp venom is NOT acidic. It does contain alkaline compounds.
The article The Chemical Compositions of Insect Venoms says it so well I will just quote them, “Sadly, this is something of an over-simplification. Whilst it’s correct that bee venom has some acidic components, whilst wasp venom has some alkaline constituents, the venom quickly penetrates the tissue once you’ve been stung. Therefore, topical application of an acid or alkali to the sting area is unlikely to provide relief. Additionally, since the venom is such a complex mix of components, many of which have contributing effects, it’s unlikely that neutralizing a small number of these components would relieve the pain.”
A Copper Penny Placed on a Sting Will Relieve the Redness and Swelling
This is just a silly myth that does not warrant a comment. If you are stung there are some things you can do to help the pain and swelling.
- Do nothing – in most cases it goes away in 24 hours
- Wash with soap and water to remove venom
- Apply cold water and ice to reduce swelling
- Take an antihistamine to reduce swelling
- Apply calamine to reduce itching
If the reaction to the sting is significant seek medical help, especially if the sting is in the area of the throat or mouth.
Is it Easy to Remove a Nest at Night?
Wasps return to their nest at dusk and remain their overnight. It is a good time to remove the nest, but this still has to be done very carefully. If disturbed, wasps will come out at night to get you.
Contrary to popular belief, you can NOT destroy a nest by hitting it with a baseball bat – even at night. How do people come up with these dumb ideas??
Are Wasps More Dangerous Than Bees?
People get attacked more by wasps because they tend to build their nests in hidden locations. As a result people disturb their nest by accident.
With killer bees becoming more prevalent in warm areas, bees may actually be more dangerous than wasps.
The risk of serious complications or death are about the same for wasp stings and bee stings.
Watch a Wasp Build a Nest
This is a real cool video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaX9Hdeg4FU
If the above video does not play, try this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaX9Hdeg4FU
Do Wasp Traps Work?
This one is sort of a myth. If the goal is to reduce the wasps around your table at dinner time than they do work a bit. Wasps are attracted to the traps, they will be captured and then die. The problem is that only a few of the wasps will be captured having little effect on the rest of the colony. There will be more next time you dine outside.
Traps are not designed to get rid of a nest that is close to your eating area.
Artificial Wasp Nests Will Keep Wasps Away
A common solution for keeping wasps away is the artificial wasp nest, usually made out of wire and paper. Does it work or is it a myth?
Wasps are territorial and will usually not build their nest near another wasp nest. If the artificial wasp nest is hung early in the season before nest building starts it may convince the wasp to build somewhere else. However, insect exterminators have reported having several live nests in close proximity of one another. Not all wasps build their nest in isolation.
The other problem is that a single fake wasp nest will not be enough. To keep wasp nests away from your home and your garden you would need to hang dozens of artificial nests.
Yellow jackets build their nest in the ground, so hanging the fake nests will do nothing to keep them away. Most of my stings are from ground nests that I don’t see until it’s too late. Yellow jackets are also the ones that are a pest at dinner time.
Once nest building has started, wasps are very reluctant to move. Hanging an artificial nest near a real nest will not get the wasps to move. One year I collected a large paper wasp nest and the following summer I placed it right beside a live nest. The wasps took no notice of the empty old nest.
In conclusion, fake wasp nests probably do very little to keep wasps from building nests near your home.
Wasp Stings Do Not Stay in You
After a wasp stings it will try to pull it’s stinger back out and fly away. This allows a single wasp to sting several times.
If you slap at a wasp as it stings you it is quite possible that you will squish the wasp, leaving the stinger in your skin. Larger species like hornets are also more likely to leave their stinger behind.
Do Wasps Produce Honey or is it a Myth?
Some species of wasp do produce small amounts of honey. An example of this is the Mexican honey wasp.
Only about 5% of bees produce honey.
Do Wasps Re-use Old Nests?
Normally wasps use a nest for one year. At the end of the year, all except the queen die. In spring the queen starts a new nest and rarely uses the old one.
In some cases the wasps will either reuse an old nest or build a new nest right on top of the old one. I have had a small colony of wasps living behind the bricks on my home for 3 years now. Each year they have used the same entrance crack.
Will Wasps Chase You?
Wasps will not chase you unless you disturb them. You can stand a few feet away from a wasp hive and as long as you don’t make a sudden move, they will leave you alone.
If you disturb their nest they will attack and sting you. In the process of stinging they mark you with a chemical odor that makes it easy for other wasps to find you. If you run, they will chase you and they are faster than you. Yellow jackets and paper wasps will not chase you very far, unless you have destroyed their nest. Hornets can chase you up to 300 feet (100m).
Wasps Eat Mostly Sweet Things
This common wasp myth probably exists because people and wasps usually meet over the dinner table where wasps are attracted to sweet things and fermented things like wine. Late in the season they do like these foods, but early in the year they hunt for meat. Wasps are exceptional insect hunters. They play a very important role in keeping the garden free of pest insects.
Best Way to Remove a Wasp Nest
There are several ways to remove a wasp nest, but not everything you read on-line is a good idea. Be careful.
Burning
Nests are made from thin paper-like material. It is flammable when dry and the inside of the nest is usually dry. There are two problems with burning. Nests are always attached to something like a tree or house. Both of these are also flammable. Don’t start a big fire trying to get rid of a wasp nest.
The second problem is that even if this is done at night when the wasps are inside, the fire will probably not kill all the wasps. The remaining ones will likely attack you. After that, they’ll go and build another nest.
Drowning
Nests that are in the ground can be flooded with water. It is not likely to kill all the wasps and the ones that get away will come after you. It can be done using a long garden hose which will keep you at a safe distance.
If the surviving wasps move to a new location you might get stung by accident because you don’t know where the new location is. It might be best to just leave them where they are or use a commercial pesticide spray designed for wasps.
Use a Professional
For nests that are hard to get at, or inside building walls, it is best to contact a pest control technician and let them do the job properly.
Insecticide Spray Can
An easy way to kill a hive is with wasp and bee spray. The can is designed to spray 8 ft or more and the chemical kills them on contact. Wait until dusk when all the wasps are inside the hive. Then spray the opening. Keep spraying as the wasps come out. The product is easy to use and very effective.
Bounce Fabric Softener Sheets Keep Wasps Away
This is a very popular recommendation on blogs and social media. Does it work? I don’t know. There are lots of anecdotal claims saying it works, and lots of claims saying it does not work. None of the claims include any comparison tests so the comments are quite meaningless.
In one case they put the sheets right next to the wasp nest and the wasps were unaffected.
Like so many common stories about DIY pest control, it probably does not work, but we need some real data on this one.
Getting Rid of Flowers Will Keep Wasps Away
Wasps do visit flowers in search of food, so it might seem like a good idea to get rid of the flowers. Unfortunately, wasps will look for the safest place to make their nest. That is usually an area next to or on your house, regardless of the presence of flowers. Besides, nests are usually built before flowers show themselves in the garden.
Spheksophobia – the Fear of Wasps
If you are not allergic to wasps, and most of you are not, there is no reason to fear wasps. Next time you see one, stand still and just watch it. It is very unlikely that you will be stung when the wasp is away from the nest. Spending more time beside them will help to reduce your fear.
A lot of fear is learned from parents. An adult screaming at the sight of wasps ends up teaching the child to have a similar reaction. Stop the cycle of fear. For more information on Spheksophobia, have a look at Fear of Wasps Phobia – Spheksophobia.
References:
- Top 10 Myths About Wasps De-bugged; http://bristolpestcontrol.blogspot.ca/2014/03/10-wasp-myths.html
- Wasp and Insect Allergy; http://www.allergy-clinic.co.uk/more-about-allergy/wasp-allergy/
- Wasp Nest Removal; http://www.rentokil.com/blog/wasp-nest-removal/#.V9XJ_TX2XYg
- Photo source;
Wasps love our house. And it’s not nice when they are territorial about our front door, one of their many favored nesting places. Once I was stung simply for sitting on my front porch quietly. Their sting feels like getting hit by a baseball bat. Again, not nice. I got chased again the other day because they took exception to my small leaf blower. I typically only knock down the nests when they are located in a high traffic zone and are behaving aggressively with people in the space. I found that soap kills them pretty quickly, dish soap, or miracle 2 soap, barely diluted. Using a hit and run approach, and a spray bottle that can produce a long distance stream, I spray to soak the nest as long as I can before seeking refuge inside. Wasps hit with the stream drop to the ground and don’t usually fly again. I wait until all is calm again and repeat. When there’s no more activity, I typically wait overnight to see if anything else is happening before knocking down the nest.
If I wanted to remove a wasp from my backpack or body to keep it from walking into a pocket or something, how do I do it without provoking it? Should I just lay a finger in front of it and have it crawl on then put it somewhere else or would that still provoke it? I want to deal with it peacefully, but also I’m in a hurry sometimes. Sorry if this is a stupid question.
Wasps don,t stick around very long, just wait.
I have destroyed a number of different wasp nests using a number of methods including just hitting the whole thing to the ground and running away to get shelter. Off course I have been bitten on several occasions during the act. An interesting observation is that when I returned to the nest site after a few minutes/hours there were a few wasps still flying around but they were docile, not as aggressive as they had been before I destroyed the nest. My thinking is that wasps have inherent tendency to defend nest, queen and eggs/maggots. Surely not a myth, but a practical experience worth testing by other dare devils like me when it comes to encounter with wasps.
“I wonder if gardeners are stung more often?”
I had to laugh when I read that. It seems like those little goobers have stung me so often, the swelling is gone within a day or so. I keep away from their nests when I can, but I sometimes wonder if they think I’m a giant caterpillar of some sort. In any case, I’m a lot less frightened of them now…
Gardeners are certainly stung more often than the football couch potato. 🙂
“The human body causes the swelling, reddening, itching and pain after a sting.” This is absurd. It’s like saying that it’s the human body that causes the bleeding and pain after you are cut with a knife. Being cut with a knife still hurts. So do wasp stings.
True, both hurt, but for different reasons.
I am no expert, but we’ve been hit by these cursed pests. A neighbor gave a good tip that works. Place a small container around your home/garden with 75% filled with water and some dish soap. Then place a small skewer across the top of the container and bait the underside of the skewer with a tiny piece of raw fish, meat or jam. Flies and wasps will follow the scent and feast on it upside down. Once they are gorged many fall into the soapy water and drown. This idea is quite effective but it does not replace removing nests that need to be removed or whacked with a pesticide. Try it, we’ve found about 100 dead wasps and flies in one container….
I’m even more afraid of wasps now I’ve read this
In the summer I sleep outside, under an alcove of my house, as it’s to hot. This year, The first time I did this I found that in the morning, there were wasps going in and out of a hole above my head. I decided to leave them there, But now the nest site has got quite big and I’m a little worried if they do decide to attack I would be in my sleeping bag I’m not able to run away. What do you think I should do?
Wasps go into their home at sunset, and sleep – so probably not a problem. But if their nest is somewhere people get close, it is best to remove the nest. The sprays designed for this work well.
I have a paper wasp nest growing inside outside my kitchen window underneath my roof. I also have a occupied bird house about a foot away with baby birds chirping away. I get nervous when I see the wasps going in and or around the bird house. Will they sting the babies? What do I do in this situation? Can I safely remove the nest without disturbing the birds?
By now the birds and wasps know they are both there and have learned to live with it.
Last year we had a Robin nest and a Dolichovespula nest in close proximity among Grape vines over the front door of our porch – both failed – the Robins after laying 2 eggs, and the wasps when the nest had gotten about 15 cm across. I don’t know if it was some interaction between the Robins and the hornets, or disturbance of both from us coming and going through the door.
I spent the spring killing all the female wasps i could find on my property and thought i had succeeded yet it turns out one got away and has a nest 3 feet from where i park my van every night.
For some reason i never noticed them UNTIL TODAY when i pulled part of the roof off their nest. I was literally standing ontop of them yet managed to escape without a sting. I am in disbelief that i managed to escape the HUNDREDS if not thousand plus German wasps that emerged when i disturbed them. From what i have read i had a very very lucky escape.
How do you identify the wasp as to male or female?
As always Robert, and other contributors, an interesting discussion . It is amazing to me ( though I am old enough to know better) that various non-sensical solutions to a given problem will be so tightly clung to. Having grown up as a boy whose taught solutions, like making a saliva and dirt paste to apply to a sting, or letting a dog lick a bleeding wound or scrape, seemed to help — psychological suggestion can be a powerful tool– I can only rejoice in not having developed an infection from these practices. Perhaps they strengthened our autoimmune systems? Anyway, I completely agree with those who said relax, stay still, you’ll be ok when wasps or bees are buzzing around. I have seen yellow jackets remove, small piece by small piece a quarter of a large, ripe honey dew melon over the course of an afternoon ( and several glasses of wine by me),and have also seen wasps feeding on harmful garden insects. So, I’m glad to have them around.