Long pants and a hoodie on a 95-degree day?
You bet, if you’re trying to get rid of bees.
At least, we thought we were trying to get rid of bees, which is what we call everything that buzzes and threatens to sting, but really it’s most likely that we were aiming to get rid of a wasp nest.
Last summer we noticed a softball-sized wasp nest above our garage door, with plenty of angry wasps swarming around. My husband wanted to go buy some wasp spray, and he even tried but was a half hour too late for the local hardware store’s small-town closing time.
Providence, I thought.
I was just certain my homemade insecticidal soap that we use to kill ants naturally would work awesome as a natural wasp killer, and after a little bit of Swagbucks searching which yielded positive results for soapy water killing bees, hornets and wasps, he agreed to try.
Donning the proverbial wasp killing outfit, with his sweatshirt hood pulled up
around his face, my husband wielded our weapon of choice: a hose-end sprayer filled with hot water and dishsoap. (image at right from Zoysia Farms)
around his face, my husband wielded our weapon of choice: a hose-end sprayer filled with hot water and dishsoap. (image at right from Zoysia Farms)
I crossed my fingers as he exited the door, hoping I wouldn’t be eating foot for dessert. (As in, “Open mouth, insert foot,” because I was so very wrong.)
He returned in one piece and in awe.
“That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” he stammered. “They just…died.”
He strongly emphasizes that the power of the water gave him an advantage over the bees wasps, who were stunned and then died before they could chase him.
Read more at:
http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2013/05/29/natural-wasp-spray-we-got-rid-of-our-wasps-no-raid-required/#cMjs7Ub7JakUfwVH.99
- Use a good amount of dishwashing liquid in a hose-end sprayer, about 1/4 cup.
- Get the water going until the suds begin.
- Blast the nest from as far away as you can be (bee? ha!) while still maintaining a powerful spray.
- Do the deed in the evening (dusk or later) after all the wasps have come home for the night.
- And wear long pants and sleeves, just in case…especially if you have low water pressure.
The soapy water works, by the way, because insects of all kinds wear their skeletons on the outside. The cohesive property of water generally prevents the water from entering their exoskeleton, but soap breaks the surface tension of water. Soapy water ultimately drowns bees, wasps, hornets (and ants, if you’re battling them in the house).
Well, I hope you found this as interesting as I did, and I hope that it helps you! HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE!
Read more at http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2013/05/29/natural-wasp-spray-we-got-rid-of-our-wasps-no-raid-required/#cMjs7Ub7JakUfwVH.99
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