4 tips to keep wasps at bay
We’re right in the middle of summer and although it takes quite a lot to distract me from my food once I’m comfortably settled in, these bastards are still incredibly annoying: wasps. They can seriously ruin the fun of an outdoor dinner when half your party keeps getting up and trying to back away, and swatting doesn’t help. So we put our ears to the ground and came up with these tips to chase them away!
Of course, using natural products to get rid of wasps is a bit of a Klazien uit Zalk-style remedy, or at best a homegrown household tip, but hey – this is exactly the kind of problem that calls for it! And as long as we’re in peak wasp season, all tips are welcome as far as we’re concerned. Here are a few:
How to keep wasps at bay
Cloves
I now understand better why so many kretek cigarettes (tobacco with cloves) are smoked in Indonesia. Probably to ward off the little beasts! Besides the fact that plenty of people would also run a mile from that smell, wasps apparently hate the strong scent of cloves. We do love cloves in our food, by the way. I strongly recommend that you never smoke those disgusting cigarettes, but here’s what you can do: fill a bowl with water and add a few cloves. Change both from time to time and watch those stupid wasps fly away.
Burn some coffee
Don’t do this with small children nearby, but if you’re safely sitting in an open space, try lighting some ground coffee in an old cup with a match. Wasps apparently find the smoke absolutely disgusting. And to be honest, I can see why…
Spray away
Keeping a plant mister filled with water nearby is also said to work. I think I’d be too scared to rile up a wasp like that, but some people swear by it. Just be careful it doesn’t come back furious after drying off in its nest!
Purely natural
The branches of tomato plants and mint plants (which you can use for all sorts of things) are also said to give off a scent that wasps don’t appreciate. Breaking off a small sprig and putting it on your table seems like an easy, natural way to try to keep them at bay.
And otherwise? Pray for rain… or do you have any indispensable anti-wasp tips?
Also read:
- Bye bye little pests
- EWW: apparently bugs come out of your strawberries when you put them in salt water
- This man found caterpillars in his broccoli and let them grow into butterflies
