SHOO! FAQ: Faking It?

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 - they 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

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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: I've Got A Nest-calation! Help!?

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

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