How to Keep Hornets Away from Your Back Yard This Summer

Here we are at the end of May and there’s no question that summer is just around the corner! The temperatures are steadily climbing and it won’t be long before the smells and sounds of barbeques fill the air. If you’re looking to host parties and barbeques in your back yard this summer, here are some helpful tips for how to keep hornets away!

Wasps & Hornets are Looking to Survive

Just like every other type of pest, insect or wildlife, wasps and hornets aren’t out to make people’s lives miserable on purpose: they’re simply looking for the best place to build a nest for their babies.

Unfortunately for us, our homes and back yards are great sources for much of what they need.

Primarily, wasps and hornets build their nests near a source of food and water. If you have sitting water in your back yard, you’re more likely to find yourself dealing with hornets or wasps. Many species of wasps and hornets prefer sweet things in their diet, including fallen fruit and nectar. Some species prey on other insects such as spiders, caterpillars, ants and flies.

Hornets and wasps make their nests out of a paper-like substance that they create by chewing small pieces of wood and mixing it with their saliva. Soft, damp or rotting wood is easier to chew, so more likely to be the target of wasps and hornets in search of material for building a nest. If you have an older deck, patio, shed or wooden lawn furniture in your yard, there’s a higher chance that you’ll find yourself dealing with a nest.

How to Keep Hornets Away from Your Property

Here are some quick and easy tips for how to keep hornets and wasps away from your property this summer:

1. Clean Up Any Food Garbage – Anyone who has left a can of pop sitting outside on a warm summer day knows that wasps and hornets love sweet things. Keep your yard clear of any old food and drink, especially sweets, and seal any garbage cans or bags that you do leave outside. Don’t make your home and yard a bountiful source of food for wasps and hornets!
2. Clear Away Old Wood – Clear away any old wood or dead bushes or trees. If you have any old lawn furniture that feels soft or is showing signs of rotting, replace it with new furniture.
3. Seal Up Any Holes in Your Homes Exterior – In looking for a protected place to build a nest, wasps and hornets will crawl in through holes or cracks in your bricks, roof, soffits and eaves. Inspect the exterior shell of your home a few times a year, and if you find any cracks or holes that could be entry points, seal them up.
4. Keep an Eye Out for Wasps & Hornets – If you see a wasp or hornet flying around your property, see where it goes, it just might be heading towards a nest. If you can catch a nest when it is small, you might feel comfortable enough removing it by yourself. However, wasps and hornets can become very aggressive if they feel their nest is threatened and can deliver multiple painful stings, so if the nest is larger than a baseball then it’s definitely worth calling in the professionals!
5. Be Especially Alert During the Spring – Wasps and hornets make their nests during the spring months, so if you can make your home and property less desirable during April and May, then you might be fortunate enough for them to nest somewhere else for the summer.

Call the Experts For Your Hornet Nest Removal Needs!

We hope that those tips for how to keep hornets away from your back yard this summer are helpful. Remember, wasps and hornets are just looking for a place to nest that is protected and near food and water, so if you can cut down on these essentials then they’ll be more likely to build their home somewhere else.

If you’re reading this article too late and you already have a wasp or hornet nest on your property, call the experts at Pest Protection Plus. We offer fast, affordable 24×7 service wasp and hornet control service. We also guarantee our work, so if wasps or hornets build a nest in an area that we’ve treated within six months we’ll come back and remove the new nest, at no additional cost!

Trust the experts at Pest Protection Plus, and always remember …

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