SHOO!

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...

Q: How many SHOO!s do I need for my property? A: While there are no calculations or scientific data to figure out how many SHOO! wasp nest decoys you'll need, there are some wasp facts and evidence by experience.  Wasps have low-resolution, wide-field vision, can see 20 feet away & they rely on visual cues and a photographic memory for navigation.  First, place your SHOO! where you have seen nest building in the past. If it can be seen from different directions, that's even better.  I placed my first SHOO! on a SW corner of my house and wasps stopped building their nests in my shed located 50ft away. Yet, they couldn't resist the spider web food source & quieter location (I hardly use the 2nd entrance) on the NE side of the house, so they built a nest. Next season, I hung a SHOO! from the soffit on that side of my house & no more wasp nests! If you leave your SHOO! up in the same location, wasps have a 3D photographic memory that they use to navigate...

Q: Why not use a wasp trap? A: Wasp traps use chemicals or poisons to attract the wasps in the first place (not such a good idea!), then traps them & kills them. They only eliminate the wasps which get caught in the trap rather than acting as a general wasp deterrent to keep them away altogether. A wasp trap needs cleaning out of dead and dying wasps (yecch!), and needs to be replenished with chemicals or poisons. Non-toxic, pesticide-free SHOO! just needs to be hung up, and that’s it.  Why kill wasps if you can just make them go away somewhere where they won’t bother your outdoor activities? There are thousands of wasp species & believe or not, most wasps do more GOOD than harm, playing a vital role in our eco system. In early summer, like their cherished bee cousins, wasps cross-pollinate flowers & plants as they feed on nectar. Social wasps are also voracious predators. They capture & consume sap sucking aphids, caterpillars & beetle larvae. A world with...

Q: Why don’t wasps realize SHOO! is a fake wasp nest? A: They don’t get close enough to it to realize it's a fake wasp nest.  SHOO! utilizes wasps’ territorial nature to discourage & redirect - t hey see a SHOO! from 20 feet away: the shape of a wasp’s nest, the horizontal pattern which makes it look fibrous and layered, and they keep away. Wasps can see for long distances, they cannot see red--good color to reduce your visibility outside & in the garden--and even recognize each other's faces! SHOO! does have to resemble a real wasp nest otherwise it wouldn’t work. A nest can be any color from brown through to silver, depending on what they use to build their nests. SHOO! is best left in one location each season- wasps will remember it's there & may not come back to the area at all.  Polistes dominulus. (Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Tibbetts) Wasps Don't Forget A Face www.ikanartware.etsy.com ikanartware on Ebay

Q: I have a wasp problem around my pool in the summer time. They use the pool as a water bowl. I have been stung a few times now. Will the SHOO! work to keep them out of the pool? Where would be the best place for me to hang them?  A:  Wasps are naturally territorial insects so when one group of wasps sees signs of another group, they usually avoid them. A nother nest is the most obvious sign of another group so u se SHOO! & nature to your advantage! How many SHOO!s depend on the size of your pool- hang a SHOO! (6'-8' high) to see how it works within a certain radius. If the wasps appear on the other side of the pool, you may end up needing 2 or even 3 SHOO!s to cover the entire pool area. Though crucial components of the overall ecosystem,  the best way to keep wasps away is to make your pool less attractive to them. They have a hyper-active sense of smell and are oddly attracted to strong odors like diesel, swamps & chlorine.  To keep them f...

Q: We are interested in trying these SHOO!s, but live in a part of the country where the weather changes constantly. One hour it will be raining, the next it will be sunny and warm. Later it will rain again. I don't want to have to be constantly putting up and taking down the nests. Can you hang these in any weather? A: Yes. I designed SHOO! to withstand rain, snow & wind and they can stay outside year round.  Some of mine have been hanging outside continuously for 4 years. However, they will not last forever. If you take them down after the wasp season, they will last even longer- just make sure to rehang in the early spring! Those folded paper lantern-type decoys can be sprayed with polyurethane, but they typically blow away, wind up with a nest built inside, shred...why bother? SHOO! was built to last and made to look good! www.ikanartware.etsy.com ikanartware on Ebay

SHOO! was designed so it can be left outside - in any weather, year-round. So hang it up 6-8 feet above the ground & leave it up. SHOO! will not last forever, but mine have been hanging out in NE PA for 4 years now & still shooing wasps away. If you take it inside during harsh weather months, it will last longer. Rehang early spring.  Your wasp control mission includes checking your home’s exterior.  Male wasps die off in the fall after impregnating nearby queens. As winter begins,  queen wasps search for a secure and a warm place to hibernate. They will find their way inside through cracks in your siding, foundation, soffits & vents. Making repairs could prevent a wasp colony from building their home in yours. Check your yard for holes and hollows- yellow jacket wasps tend to colonize in or near the ground, underneath your home or in your foundation. SHOO! will NOT deter ground-nesting yellow jackets. SHOO! will certainly deter wasps but I can’t guaran...

How SHOO! decoy nests work: wasps avoid the nests of hornets & other wasps. Its shape and patterns simulate a hornet/wasp nest to deter territorial wasps from building nests in the same area.  Most predatory wasps will avoid building a nest within a few hundred feet of another nest. SHOO! wasp deterrent works without toxic pesticides or bait & you don't have to deal with cleaning out a messy trap of dead bugs. SHOO! will not trap or harm bees and other beneficial insects.  One surprising sting a few years ago sent me into anaphylactic shock and the ER. Suddenly, I was allergic & I couldn't sit outside on my own deck or work in my garden without anxiety. Wasp spray is messy, toxic for my garden edibles & I don't have great aim when freaking out. A pest control tech recommended wasp nest decoys. Skeptical, I hung one up in the early spring. NO more wasp nests! None in my soffit, BBQ lid, or my shed 50' away. The hollow paper decoys disintegrate...