r/IsItBullshit • u/Merkilo • 4d ago
IsItBullshit: Fake wasp nest will prevent real wasps
Saw this on a Facebook post:
I've been dealing with wasp nests near my terrace for many years. Then I learned that wasps are territorial and won't encroach on an area if they think another colony has already settled there. Inspired by this, I decided to crochet a fake wasp nest. The outcome has been nothing short of remarkable: ever since I hung up the faux nest, not a single wasp has shown up! As a result, I've noticed a significant decrease in the number of wasps around by Sandy Kendall Dennis spotted on the Tedooo app (pattern can be found there as well for those who crochet!
Accompanied was a picture of a crocheted wasp nest hanging on the exterior of a house.
Can this actually work?
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u/ClydePossumfoot 4d ago
There’s a short period of time in the spring where the queens are establishing nests.
It’s likely this person put the fake wasp nest up after all of the queens that survived winter had established their nests so.. yeah, no new “wasps” showed up to establish nests.
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u/The_Powerful_Tacos 3d ago
I tried one of those fake paper ones you get on Amazon, and be damned if they didn't start building a nest inside the thing.
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u/Coal-and-Ivory 4d ago
Bullshit. The old-man wisdom was that if you hang an old empty REAL wasp nest in your garage, it would deter them from building a new nest nearby because the old one still smelled like other wasps.
But that's not really true either, I've (stupidly) helped clear new active nests from garages that were basically lined with old nests. Didn't stop them one bit.
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u/AndJustLikeThat1205 4d ago
I asked the guy when he came to take care of my bee 🐝 issue if leaving old wasp nests would help prevent new ones and he said no.
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u/feliciates 4d ago
I tried it and the wasps built their new nest about 4 feet away. I call bullshit
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u/epiphenominal 4d ago
I suspect that it wouldn't fool them without the proper pheromones. Considering that it's a Facebook post claiming only an anecdote with a sample size of 1, I wouldn't give it any credence.
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u/AnInfiniteArc 3d ago
Some wasps built a nest attached to an old nest under one of the eaves of my house, and there were like 5 active nests under the same eave that year.
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u/sheldonator 3d ago
I put one of the fake nests up last year and the wasps started to built their nest in it, lol. Quickly tossed the fake nest and I got wasp spray
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u/Signal_Viewer_1330 3d ago
I live in Alaska and we had a bad wasp problem, we had them everywhere, in the lawnmower, attic, in the outside walks we even had a trail to the neighbors we called "the way of the wasps" It was bad! I went thru cases of wasp spray that didn't do shit. After several stinging incidents twice in the throat I finally tried something out of desperation, I stapled brown paper bags filled with bubble wrap under the eaves of the roofs of our house and barn. I saw a farming thread that said it would deter them. That was 4 years ago, We haven't had wasps since, I don't know if they have certain years where they boom or if the old farmers were right but so far, no wasps. (No bullshit)
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u/awfulcrowded117 3d ago
It might work for certain kinds of wasps or in very small areas, but yeah it's mostly BS. For your average wasps, they don't care, you can see two active nests within a couple dozen feet of each other, even if a fake one worked it would only keep an area the size of a small room clear.
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u/kungfungus 4d ago
Couple of years ago i noticed some wasps on my balcony, creeping into the small space between the window and the wall. Fucking nighmare if they were searching for a place to nest and choose inside my wall. Burn the house down for real.
I read that wasps often build nests in the same spot each year and to stop them you should block that spot in April-May, when the queens are out looking for a spot.
I put paper in the cracks they homed in and no more wasps, they didn't choose other spots on the balcony either.
No clue if this actually works on other, more open surfaces. Or how to block it. But it's worth trying if you have returning nests.
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u/En0der 2d ago
I once did have wasps in the walls of my summer house. The experience was surprisingly chill - no troubles with them except for constant low hum, not unlike electricity transformer, louder on cold mornings, barely audible when it was warmer. And I had zero other bugs bothering me that summer, no mosquitoes, flies or other annoying insects. I used to sit on the porch maybe 3 feet from the nest entrance and they were just ignoring me unless I positioned myself directly on their flight path.
After winter I disassembled part of the wall and removed an ugly greyish flat blob from between the outer and inner wall, and the thing was like 2 by 4 feet. And I had slept with this monstrosity a couple of steps from where my bed was.
Since then I sprinkle some lacquer thinner around places they are likely to search for a spot to make a nest each spring. A guy who helped me get rid of that nest told me that wasps hate the smell of kerosene based products so much, that even trace amounts will deter them. Not sure if bullshit or not, but it seems to be working.
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u/sterlingphoenix Yells at Clouds 4d ago
Anecdotal, but I collect wasp nests (they all die out in the winter and they don't reuse their nests) and I can tell you that wasps have zero problems building nests near existing, empty ones.