How to keep wasps away?

rather than resorting to insecticides that are as harmful to health as they are to the environment, it's perfectly possible to protect our homes against a wasp invasion by drawing on the tricks of the trade and other infallible remedies handed down to us by our ancestors. Herbs, essential oils and other grandmotherly remedies are all highly effective against wasps and other undesirable hymenoptera.

If there's one guest we don't want intruding on our summer evenings and feasts, it's the wasp. A disliked insect as much for its piercing buzz as for its menacing sting, the wasp can nevertheless be kept at a respectable distance from our homes thanks to natural and affordable solutions that have proved their worth time and time again. We'll start by describing the plants and essential oils that are known to keep wasps at bay, followed by a few examples of grandmotherly remedies that are particularly effective in this situation.

How to keep wasps away with plants and essential oils?

If you're a gardening enthusiast with a green thumb, you can build up a real bulwark against wasps by growing the following plants:

• Lacitron, whoseremarkable insect-repellent properties have proved their worth on many occasions.
• Aurone and woodruff are also effective wasp repellents. Scattered around your home after cutting and drying, these plants will deter unwanted hymenoptera from entering your home.
• Chives, garlic and onions: renowned for their culinary qualities, these plants give off an odor not much appreciated by wasps.
• An ornamental plant appreciated for its fragrance, alfalfa not only delights pollinating insects, but also repels many small pests such as mosquitoes and wasps.

In addition to the above-mentioned plants, you can also use certain essential oils whose strong scent acts as a real wasp repellent:

• Lavender

• Geranium

• Lavandin

• Citronella

For optimum effectiveness, make sure you place a diffuser in the immediate vicinity of the places you frequent. Alternatively, you can vaporize them with a spray or soak pieces of cloth in them, then place them in areas likely to be frequented by wasps.

Some grandmotherly remedies to combat wasps

In addition to the plants and essential oils mentioned above, there are many other natural solutions that are as simple as they are effective in keeping wasps away from your home. In your own home environment, you can use a number of products reputed to be hostile to wasps. For example, you can

• Burn freshly ground coffee inside a dish or plate. The odour released by the combustion will repel wasps, who have little taste for the aroma of coffee.
• Burn incense sticks around your dining table or balcony
• Use cloves. Crushed and placed in a container in the right places, they're an excellent repellent against Hymenoptera. You can also use cloves inside an orange or lemon, which you can then place in areas of your home invaded by wasps.

The following inexpensive products are an excellent alternative to insecticides for ecological, low-cost wasp control.