Help, wasps
Here with us in the south of Germany, the wasps are a real plague this year. I do not want wasp traps and they only attract more wasps. What helps without harming the animals?
I stay calm at the approach of a wasp, but now there are so many that I have tried to deal with them with a separate feeding place, a piece of copper and cloves laced with carnations. In July, wasps even stole some of the ham from us. The cheeky robbers cut off so much that they almost could not fly away. When I cooked Bolognese, they came through the tilt window and not just one, but twelve wanted to my pot.
Feeding place does not work
At the moment, however, the pests seem to be more interested in sweets. I tried for 14 days to set up a separate feeding place with ham. That did not work, I was probably too late. High-protein foods need wasps only when they feed their brood. Later, they literally just fly on sweet foods. But even a ripe banana and chopped grapes have not lured the wasps to the planned feeding place.
In spite of a separate feeding place they flew on our cake, on the glasses or bottles, on the jam, on salads and on the sausage platter. I had the impression that I rather invite the wasps to frolic with them. You probably also need to be an expert in order to have the right food at the right time, so that the wasps can make their way to their eating place at the barbecue or at the coffee table and do not bother us and our guests. In the city, wasps may have too much food supply. Maybe it will work better with the dressage of wasps in the country.
Copper shows no effect
The tip from my father-in-law: Put a larger piece of copper on the table! Coins do not help at all. They are far too small and the copper content is much too low. There must already be a real piece of copper, e.g. to be from a gutter. Allegedly, the smell should expel the wasps. My father-in-law had another piece and I took it for my test. This method did not convince. She did not do anything.
Cloves with lemon
Wasps allegedly do not like certain odors. These include the smell of basil, tomato bushes and lemons peppered with lemons. But it is not enough with a lemon and a basil. In order for it to bring something, you need several halves of lemons, which are peppered with carnations and best you have to tomatoes and basil planted. In fact, this reduces the number of troublesome wasps. But they are not gone. So keep calm, because wasps sting only when they feel threatened. And it helps to cover the food. If you do not like wasps, you only have one solution: to eat inside.
