Wasps have a propensity to build their nests in places where we humans wish they did not. Wasps are usually attracted to homes for various reasons, and when they find a place they like, they will almost immediately begin building a nest.
So, how do you stop wasps from building nests?
Preventing wasps from building nests can be challenging, but you can try and remove any wasp food source around your home, you can plant wasp repelling plants, patch up cracks in the exterior of your home, or make a wasp trap to stop them, to name just a few of your options.
When dealing with wasps, you need to ensure your safety, and you need to be extremely careful as they can become aggressive. Let us go through the best method of preventing wasps from building nests.
Ways to Prevent Wasps from Nesting
Wasps cannot only be a nuisance for many homeowners as they like to build their nests near and around buildings, but wasps can also be extremely dangerous, especially if you have an allergy to them.
Preventing them wasps from nesting in the first place is easier than ridding your house of an established nest. So, let us go over how you can prevent wasps from nesting near and on your home.
1 – Remove Any Wasp Food Sources Near By
When wasps are flying around your home and garden, they are generally looking for a good food source, such as a bunch of flowering plants or fruit trees. Wasps will also feed on hummingbird feeders.
Some of their food sources can be things that we humans use too, for example, soda cans and glasses of fruit juice that may be out during a barbeque. These food sources will not only attract wasps to your location, but they may also encourage the wasps to nest close to your home.
Wasps will build their nest close to their food sources to have easier access to their food and do not need to travel long distances to find food. So, you need to ensure there are no food sources for wasps close to your home.
Move hummingbird feeders further away and plant your flowers in the bottom half of your garden. When you have a barbeque at your home, ensure you clean up sugary drinks and marinades quickly, do not leave them lying around.
2 – Seal Your Garbage Cans And Cover Compost Piles
Garbage cans and compost piles are usually not something most people will relate to wasps, but these two things are some of the biggest factors that attract wasps to your home.
Generally speaking, homes with a large number of recycling bins, compost piles, and exposed garbage around them tend to have a higher population of wasps.
The reason for this is that garbage bins and compost piles also act as a food source for wasps and offer them a nice shelter to build their nests in. you need to ensure that any garbage bins around your home are tightly sealed and have no entry points for wasps to get in.
If your compost pile is the thing attracting the wasps to your home, you need to consider composting indoors or removing your compost pile completely.
3 – Plant Wasp Repelling Plants Around Your Home
An excellent way to stop wasps from building nests near your home is to plant some wasp repelling plants around your home and in various places in your garden. Luckily, there are some nice plant varieties that repel wasps but smell great for us humans.
Some plants that repel wasps include thyme, spearmint, citronella, eucalyptus, and wormwood. These plants are generally easy to find in your local gardening stores or plant nurseries.
You should plant a mixture of these plants in your garden around your home if you want them to be highly effective at repelling wasps from around your home.
Alternatively, you can plant a mixture of these plants in a long plant pot and keep them on your windowsill or near your front door to stop the wasps from going into your home.
4 – Patch Up Cracks in Walls
When you want to stop wasps from building nests in and around your home, you need to go and do a sweep of all the buildings on your property and search for any cracks or holes in their exteriors.
If you find holes or cracks in the exterior of your home, you need to seal them, as this is an entry point for the wasps to get into your home.
While doing this external sweep, you should also check your screen doors and vents of your home, ensuring they are not broken in any way as wasps can use these to get inside your home too. If there are holes in them, you need to replace them as soon as you can.
5 – Use a Blend of Wasp Repelling Essential Oils
Another excellent way to stop wasps nesting by your house is to spray a mixture of wasp repelling essential oils in common nesting areas for wasps. The best method for this is to mix your essential oils into a spray bottle with some water and spritz the mixture around areas of your home.
The best essential oils to use for repelling wasps include clove, lemongrass, geranium, and then place some drops of dish soap into the mix as well. Ensure you shake the mixture well before using it to ensure the oils and soap are incorporated into the water properly.
Spray this mixture around the bottom of your porch or deck, in the eves of your home, on tree branches near your home, and any other ledge or crevasse that your home has that may be appealing for wasps to nest in.
6 – Make a Wasp Trap
To help ensure that wasps do not nest in and around your home, you can set up a wasp trap to either kill the wasps that come close to your home or trap them, so you can release them somewhere else.
You can either go and buy a wasp trap from your local garden store, or you can make your own trap at home. Both options are effective and will help with the wasp problem around your home.
To make your wasp trap, you can use items you may already have in your home. You can make a wasp trap from a soda bottle that you cut in half. Then you stick the top of the soda bottle upside down into the bottom half, so the bottle’s neck is facing down in the bottom half of the bottle.
Place some sugar water into the bottle to attract the wasps, and the wasps will fly into the bottle and will not be able to get out.
7 – Use a Peppermint Oil Mix
If you are not able to buy any of the essential oils mentioned above, then another great wasp repellent is peppermint oil. Peppermint oil has been shown to be one of the best products to help prevent wasps from nesting in and around buildings.
Peppermint oil is also generally cheaper than the essential oils mentioned above, so peppermint oil is a great alternative if you need to be budget-conscious.
You can add a few drops of peppermint oil into a spray bottle with two tablespoons of dish soap and fill the bottle with water. Shake the mixture well before using it and spray it around your home, where wasps may want to build their nests.
8 – Chase Wasps Away Rather Than Killing Them
We all know that wasps can be extremely annoying, especially if you are trying to have a barbeque with your friends and family, and they come buzzing around and will not leave you alone.
This annoyance that you feel may lead you to want to kill the wasps by squishing them or may way want to start swatting them away.
However, killing or swatting the wasps is not a good idea; not only can this anger the wasps and can make them more prone to sting you, but if you kill the wasp, this will release a chemical or pheromone that will attract and incite the other wasps nearby.
These new wasps may stay in the area and potentially start building nests. In this scenario, the best thing to do is to remain calm and spray the wasps with your essential oil or peppermint oil spray to make them fly away.
9 – Use t Chili Spray to Repel Wasps
If you do not want to pay a large amount of money on stopping wasps from nesting in and around your home by buying different types of oils, then you can use chili peppers to help prevent them from nesting as they can repel wasps from your home.
To do this, go and buy some hot chili peppers; you will need about two cups worth and cut them up into small pieces. Then place two cups of water into a pot and boil the water.
Once the water in the pot starts to boil, place the cut-up chili peppers into the boiling water, and leave them to boil for two minutes. Once the two minutes are up, turn off the stove and leave the pan on the hob until the mixture has cooled.
Pour this chili mixture into a spray bottle and spray it on the surfaces of your home that wasps are attracted to for nest-building purposes.
10 – Fill Any Holes in Your Garden
Filling up holes in your garden may sound like a strange suggestion to stop wasps nesting, but there are certain types of wasps, yellow jackets, in particular, that will build their nests in the ground.
So, just like you made a sweep of the exterior of your home, you need to do the same in your garden to look for holes in the ground. If you find any holes in your garden, plug them up with some sand or dirt and pack it down into the hole tightly.
This is an important step in stopping wasps from nesting around your home, especially if you have dogs that like to dig holes, as wasps will take advantage of pre-dug holes.
11 – Hang Up a Fake Wasp Nest
Hanging up a fake plastic wasp nest is an excellent way to confuse the wasps in your area. Wasps are territorial by nature, and if they think there is another colony already at your home, they will usually move on and look for a place to build their nest somewhere else.
When hanging up your fake wasp’s nest, ensure it is somewhere outside where it can easily be seen. It would help if you also hung it up in locations of your house where wasps like to nest, so in the eves of your home and by porches and decks, as these areas will offer the most protection for your house.
12 – Block Off Porches and Decks
When most people think of a wasp nest, they usually picture it somewhere high up, like in the eves of a roof or a tree, but if wasps find a space that is covered, dark and warm in any location of your home, even close to the ground, they will nest there.
Spaces underneath porches and decks are the perfect place for wasps to build their nests. The wasps may build their nests in a corner underneath your deck or porch, or they may even make their nest out of the ground and up a pillar of your deck or porch.
It would be best if you blocked off the underside of your porch or deck to stop wasps from nesting there, and it is a good idea to place fencing between the ground and the bottom of your deck to prevent them from building from the ground.
13 – Avoid Clutter Outside Your Home
Wasps will always search for a location to build their nest where there is already some form of shelter. They are attracted to shady and covered areas and places with a lot of little hidey holes for them to crawl through as they feel safer.
The more hiding places they have to move between, the more comfortable the wasps will feel, so you need to give them as few hiding places as you possibly can. You should trim down shrubs and bushes that are close to your house, shed, and deck.
If you spot any fallen debris that may have fallen close to your home, pick it up and throw it away. You should try and keep your home, especially the exterior, as clean and tidy as you can.
14 – Call a Professional for Help
If you are struggling to prevent wasps from nesting close to and near your home, the best option for you is to call a professional to come and help you. The professional will be able to advise you on what you can do to make your house less attractive to wasps.
Final Thoughts
Wasps can be very scary creatures, as they can be extremely dangerous, especially if there is more than one flying around. Thankfully, there are a plethora of methods you can use to stop these creatures from nesting near or in your home.
Some of these methods are easier to do than others, but they are all worth trying when dealing with wasps, but remember to always be careful. Good luck with the wasps around your home!
Ben has a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering. When not constructing or remodeling X-Ray Rooms, Cardiovascular Labs, and Pharmacies, you can find him at home with wife and two daughters. Outside of family, He loves grilling and barbequing on his Big Green Egg and Blackstone Griddle, as well as working on projects around the house.
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