SHOO!

The queen wasp wakes from hibernation in the spring. She begins to build a nest in warm, dry place like your attics, roofs, eaves, walls, BBQ lids or under decks and she can fly up to 50 miles searching for the perfect nest site. This is a great time to fake it-  hang your SHOO!s early in the spring & let those queens know they need to move on!   She builds a honeycomb-like cell structure out of wood fiber, chewed & glued together with wasp saliva to form a sort of paper mâché material.  In each cell of the new nest, the queen lays a single egg, which takes approximately 28-48 days to become an adult worker wasp force.   Sometimes  (when the queen is still working alone)  another queen tries to steal a nest instead of working to make her own. This is one of the reasons why you may find a few starter nests that were never established. Once the queen has five to seven worker wasps to help her, she stays in the nest and lays eggs...

There are a lot of products out there that deal with wasps. Most of their methods involve death & chemicals for the creatures that have moved into our spaces.  Eww! And those sticky traps capturing unintended wildlife is  heartbreaking!! I learned nest decoys persuade territorial wasps to move along & get busy somewhere else. The internet was full of ideas-- I started with DIY paper bags (disintegrated in days), duct tape (ugly), plastic bags (also ugly), balloons & paper mache (what a chore that was!) even chicken wire (pain to work with & useless).     The yarn/felted wool versions were interesting but I don't crochet & also not weatherproof or mold-resistant. So, w hat could I buy? The paper lanterns were flimsy and fragile, and obviously wouldn't do well in the wind or rain. There's a polypropylene version that also has no patio appeal.  I really wanted to enjoy my great outdoors-- FYI  don't wear clothing that attrac...

Q: Is SHOO! a general repellent? What about bees? Will SHOO! scare away the hummingbirds? A: SHOO! is not a general repellent--I often hear people refer to any  yellow stripey,  sting-ey flying insect as 'bees'. Ground-nesting wasps, like Yellow Jackets, will not be affected. Carpenter Bees bore holes right next to my SHOO! Bumble bees will continue to visit & carry on their pollination. Be sure to positively identify your insects because you won't want to inadvertently destroy the nests of beneficial bees.    If you have a large/medium sized garden you may still get wasps carrying on their job as natural pest controllers in the periphery of your garden. Beekeepers can use SHOO! to help protect their hives from wasp attack.  SHOO! will not disturb the hummingbirds. Try hanging the SHOO! in a suitable location nearby and take the feeder down for a couple days.  Wasps imprint food sources, returning to the source even after you remove it, and f ood...

Q: Why should I buy your SHOO!?- I can make my own with plastic bags & duct tape! A: You sure can! There are YouTube videos, Instructables, Lifehackers, Pinterest, crochet directions, paper bag teaching tools, chicken wire how-to guides....that's how I began making SHOO! wasp nest decoys.  Many prototypes later, my SHOO! is weatherproof so I don't have to make new decoys every few weeks (mine have been outside- year round -for 3 years), they look realistic (enough to scare the wasps AND pest control people), and last, but not least--SHOO! has decor appeal for us humans.  For those of you who enjoy the whole DIY process, buying a SHOO! is not for you. But let's face it- there's only so much time in a day to devote creative energy to landscaping, gardening, outdoor living spaces, and these wasp nest decoys are going to be hanging out with you all spring & summer!  I've done the designer decoy work for you- SHOO! is made to function & look good while ...

Q: I have a raised outdoor deck & have seen 4 nests under construction within 6 feet of each other under the deck. Will SHOO! work if territorial avoidance of competing nests hasn't stopped the development of those other nests? A: Typically, a queen builds her nest in a protected area- there's no way to tell for sure, but she might have been disturbed in the process and restarted. Also, there are many wasp species with varying behaviors & different nests- it's possible SHOO! may not be as effective on those wasps.  If you knock down starter nests enough times, that queen could become persuaded to build elsewhere. Hang a SHOO! or two and see what happens. SHOO! also resembles a hornets nest, and as hornets are aggressive nest defenders, the queen may be discouraged enough to seek a less risky location.   www.ikanartware.etsy.com ikanartware on Ebay

Q: Will SHOO! get rid of wasps if there's already a live wasp nest nearby? A: If you didn't hang your SHOO! e arly enough in the season, you can knock down newly started nests & the queen will start again elsewhere. There isn't much activity around these new nests,  so they can be hard to find.  Wasps are more likely to be noticed after nests and populations grow.  If there's already an established wasp colony, SHOO! will not persuade them to move away.  Hang your SHOO! anyway & see what happens-- I've had feedback that SHOO! worked with an existing nest nearby-- nature can be tricky! Wasps will not usually bother us until late summer – they are too busy foraging for building materials and food for the colony,  but they're more of a problem when their nests are located near doors, windows, or other high-traffic areas of human activity.  If you have an established wasp nest where you want to spend time outdoors, there are only two practic...