Thanks for all the fabulous peppermint oil info! The sugar ants have been a pain in my neck.

Tried to give Nancy and Linda acorns but I can't for some reason.

Paper Wasps are garden allies, pollinators and helpful predator all in one. I was horrified of them when I was young but we now have a live and let live relationship, as long as they stay clear of the doorways. I get stung at least once a year (mostly at work). The red ones have a brutal sting while the yellow ones ( Polistes exclamans ) don't hurt quite as badly (very relative, don't recommend either) but they're much more aggressive.

I'm going to take a chance with this VERY large bottle. I'll be using it a lot as the wasps get into my walls through small openings they've chewed in the mortar between the bricks by my front door. Also, my shed is tiny--about the size of one small person, and they literally try to build a housing complex in there every spring. They're the brown paper wasps, and I usually end up squishing them one by one with a hand trowel. If you were nearby, you would hear me apologizing to each one as I end their lives. I hate doing it as they are welcome in my garden. But I can't let them infest the shed, or hang their nests off my handrails. So using this will be such a welcome change! No more dead wasps!

So that's three normal eye droppers to one regular-sized spray bottle, fill with water, shake to mix and spray?

joannakat said: So that's three normal eye droppers to one regular-sized spray bottle, fill with water, shake to mix and spray?

Yes, I'm sure I use more than what's recommended, but it not a dangerous chemical to be worried about having too strong. If I remember I think the original amount I read was a tablespoon per 4 cups of water. My sprayer maybe holds 1-1/2 cups.

Murky said: Yes, I'm sure I use more than what's recommended, but it not a dangerous chemical to be worried about having too strong. If I remember I think the original amount I read was a tablespoon per 4 cups of water. My sprayer maybe holds 1-1/2 cups.

All ordered and ready to go. Can't wait to give it a try! I so appreciate you all telling us about this! I was just preparing myself emotionally to start squishing wasps. I'm so glad I won't have to!

I start spraying as soon as it warms up enough, I don't wait until I see the wasps, I don't want them to move in and then have to try and get them to move. And I'd rather not kill even wasps if I don't have to.

If it rains a lot, I'll respray the areas I want to keep them away from, or even if I don't notice a slight peppermint scent anymore I'll respray. Because they seem to like the nooks and crannies of my garbage bins, it makes even those smell nicer in the summer heat, so I don't mind respraying when needed.

Murky said: I start spraying as soon as it warms up enough, I don't wait until I see the wasps, I don't want them to move in and then have to try and get them to move. And I'd rather not kill even wasps if I don't have to.

If it rains a lot, I'll respray the areas I want to keep them away from, or even if I don't notice a slight peppermint scent anymore I'll respray. Because they seem to like the nooks and crannies of my garbage bins, it makes even those smell nicer in the summer heat, so I don't mind respraying when needed.

Sounds wise. I will follow your example!

Another use for the peppermint oil is under the hood of my car to keep squirrels or field mice from nesting in it in the spring or looking for warmth in the fall. I have 2 metal cans with magnets under the hood and I just put a few dropperfuls onto cotton pads inside the cans with slotted holes in them.

One spring my car stalled when I was almost home, it overheated. Opened the hood and there was a nest sitting inside the engine. Fortunately only 2 wires were a bit chewed through and easily reachable to fix. Checked the car the next day and they started rebuilding the nest overnight, it seems they're now attracted to their scent and were in there nightly redoing it. Reading as much as possible on how to keep them out, it seems stronger scents or lights will keep them from nesting. Remember those old Bounce Dryer Bars that had an adhesive to stick on the inside of your dryer drum? I got 2 of those and stuck them on the walls under the hood and that finally kept them out.

I've read horror stories about people having $3-$5k in repairs from damage done. My car was always parked on the street, under lights, not like it was in a dark barn left unattended for weeks. So it's just something I now do 2x a year. No idea how they choose a car, I never eat in my car or leave food wrappers around to attract anything. But now since they stopped making those dryer bars, I found a couple of small cans and use straight peppermint oil in the spring and fall for my peace of mind.

OMG, Nancy! I am so doing that! There is evidence that something nested in the engine of my car as well. Frightening as they really do chew through wires! I will smear pure oil on my hood and hope that keeps them out!

Thank you so much for posting all this!

I remember I was really upset when I found out that they discontinued making those Bounce Dryer Bars, they were so absolutely perfect for under the hood and lasted so long. I had to clean out the nest every morning for the next 2 weeks until I found the info about strong scents keeping most animals away, and it worked the very first night, no sign of any nesting materials ever again after that.

You can also use strong scented soap, like Irish Spring, I used duct tape and taped them to the inside walls of my car for a few years. Fabric softener dryer sheets worked. But I was worried about something flammable under the hood too, and between the engine running and in direct sun, I didn't use the dryer sheets for long.

The peppermint oil now is the easiest and cheapest to redo for me. At least until they bring back the Bounce Dryer Bars! I never did find out why they were discontinued.

I pretty much leave the wasps here alone unless they build their paper nests right by the front door or inside my carport really close to the car.
Of course so many wasps are pollinators so I don't care to go around killing wasps.
They're kind of like birds; some birds are seed eaters as adults but feed insects to their babies, wasps take nectar as food and catch and stun insects to feed their babies.
It's easy enough to clean up the paper nests at the end of the season. I will say that needs to be done, because some enterprising moths will move into an empty paper nest and make it a lot bigger.,

Yeah, if wasps aren't where people will get stung, we leave them alone. I know my neighbors one year kept pointing out in horror that we had a big wasp nest far up over our garage, on the second story. I said the flight path was 20 feet off the ground, no reason to make them unwelcome.

The indigo buntings have returned!

OtherUncleWill said: The indigo buntings have returned!

Oh! Lucky you! I'm so jealous!

joannakat said: Oh! Lucky you! I'm so jealous!

So am I! I used to get them years ago when in SE Wisconsin, but never near Chicago. I used to get a lot more different birds there than here.

We don't get much variety where I am. I'm thinking that it's just getting too built up for them to enjoy it.

I miss the huge storks I used to see catching the up-drifts, gliding, gliding upward in concentric circles. They stopped migrating because there is a super-huge dump that supplies enough food for them so we got to see them year round.

They sometimes seemed prehistoric.

A sad, scary but interesting nature. I found a dead dragonfly stuck on my Psidium friedericstalianum.
The dead body was full of Cordyceps. This the first time I saw Cordyceps on dragonfly. The dragonfly bite and grip the twig before it died, made it stabilize there, even long after the wing falls off, while the fungal fruiting body grows out

Tofi, I think it's wonderful! The dragonfly is still creating life.

And your pictures are wonderful too.

Ow.. Thank you Joannakat, It was very nice how you perceive that, indeed there is cycle of live there. It is truly important to keep that balance as far as we can.

Very cool Tofi!

critterologist said: Yeah, if wasps aren't where people will get stung, we leave them alone. I know my neighbors one year kept pointing out in horror that we had a big wasp nest far up over our garage, on the second story. I said the flight path was 20 feet off the ground, no reason to make them unwelcome.

And let us all not forget that the cycle of life also provides food for birds. I have my self, numerous times, observed the summer tanager, flying up into those eaves and corners and destroying those wasp nest brood. They grab pieces of it bring it down onto the porch or if wherever is convenient and remove either the food that is going to feed the baby wasps before they hatch or the wasp caterpillars before they morph into actual wasps. This summer tanagers eat them and also feed them to their babies.

This is why I to, think very long and hard before I destroy one of their nests. They have to be a real an eminent threat before I will kill the nest.