SHOO! FAQ: Don't Fall For A Trap

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 without wasps would be a world with a much larger problem of insect pests on our crops and gardens.

Image result for wasp eating caterpillar

Image result for wasp eating caterpillar

wasp vs. tent caterpillar

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orchid lures the wasp

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SHOO!: Faux Sure!

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...

Good * Better * Best in SHOO!

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...

SHOO! FAQ: You Can Never Have Too Many SHOO!s

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...

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