HelpfulGardener.com

Hello everyone! I have a serious bug issue that I am hoping you all can help me with. I have an overabundance of bugs, particularly wasps (of which I am severely afraid). I have been thinking about different options, and I am currently thinking an organic pesticide might be my best choice. I hate the fact that I might kill off spiders and so forth, but when it comes down to it, I still think the positives outweigh the possibility of killing beneficial insects. I have so many insects that I have even seen several assassin bugs lately! I am particularly concerned with the yellowjackets and wasps. At any given time in the afternoon, I can stand in front of my bushes for five seconds and usually see around 5-10 wasps or yellowjackets. My husband and I want to get a dog soon, and I just can't risk us or the dog getting stung. I am wondering if anyone could recommend a good organic pesticide, especially one that kills yellowjackets and wasps? We are going to get one of those yellowjacket traps, but I have all sorts of wasps and I am afraid it's going to take more than that. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Ashley

This very question appeared yesterday at

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16763

I'm happy that interest in organic methods of insect control are catching on with so many people!

Happy gardening.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

Most of what I've seen for wasp control is a variety of different kinds of traps. I'm leery of them, because traps work by luring the insect into/ onto the trap, meaning they have an attractant. Last thing you need is to be attracting more! If you use a trap, I'd put it at the back of your property, to lure them away from where you want to be.

But saferbrand.com has a couple different organic wasp killers. One is base on mint oil and sodium laurel sulfate (an ingredient of shampoo). The other is based on citrus oil, pyrethrins (from chrysanthemums) and potassium salt of fatty acid. I haven't tried them, because so far we've been able to just stomp the wasp nests we've found.

We had a horrible problem with them last year. They were so bad in our strawberries that I couldn't pick ANY of them and lost all of them.
A friend told me this trick which worked like a charm.
Take an empty one gallon milk jug (wash it out) put 2 cups of water and 1/2 cup sugar in and shake. Then take several chunks of raw hamburger meat and put in the jug. Then take 1/2 cup of corn oil (what ever you have on hand) in and shake......That is it Hang in an area AWAY from your house like the barn or the back of the garage (it will smell rather bad) but they will go in because of the rotting meat and sugar and get stuck in the oil and then when it is full just put the lid on and throw away......It was amazing how many of the beasties that we caught that way. We had several of them hanging around. Sort of a trade off, no wasps, yellow jackets or the smell. We had them far enough away that we never smelled them (except for the one in barn) Let me know how it works.......

I think for wasps, yellow jackets, etc. you would just use sugar, meat is for flies. I have similar simple traps, I use meat for flies and sugar for yellow jackets but no in the same trap. Of course the meat one smells, the sugar baited trap does not smell, until it is loaded with yellow jackets.

And by all means stay away from rotenone. There are studies that link exposure to neurological disorders like ms and parkinsons.

I much prefer solutions like the trap being discussed here to some type of poison, even so-called "organic" pesticides.