OT Afternoon BBQ - how to repel wasps

Many thanks for everyone's ideas. We got troubled by a few wasps but then we got a shower and a bit of a breeze and didn't see any more.

Surprisingly this year there seemed to be a huge number in some areas of Cambridge but none at all on the Southend seafront area. Perhaps the risks of being glassed or stabbed outweighed the lure of doughnuts and ice cream?

Reply to
Hugh - Was Invisible
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Wasps have good eyesight and will not usually get close enough to a realistic looking nest to even check how it smells.

OTOH if there is already a wasp nest nearby the wasps will have a closer look and the fake nest will not be effective.

Reply to
Mark

If they have anything like the eyesight of honey bees then they have a very pixelated view of the world biased towards the high frequency end of the spectrum (violet) , they can detect movement, and need a high contrast ratio. I doubt they can visually tell the difference between a wasp nest and a bin liner full of household junk.

I seem to have no problem crushing them (with a finger, not by swotting) when they land close to my hives. They are certainly no better than my bees in the ability to see me approach (I rarely have to crush a bee, I do from time to time when they are damaged during an inspection or have an obvious defect like deformed wings or have had their rear end ripped off by a wasp)

As for wasps not detecting smells, they very quickly pick up on the smell of spilt honey or sugar syrup, the latter is almost without a detectable smell to humans) within a few minutes.

Reply to
The Other Mike

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