Wasp Control Products

Traps and lures for reducing wasps in a defined outdoor area, nest killer powders for treating a nest you have located and can safely reach, fast knockdown sprays for wasps you can see, and deterrents for discouraging nesting early in the season. Which you need depends on whether you are dealing with a nest or with wasps arriving from one elsewhere.

Worth thirty seconds before you buy anything. Wasps are bright yellow and black, smooth and narrow-waisted. Honey bees are smaller, hairier and browner; bumblebees are large and furry. Neither should be killed, and a beekeeper will usually collect a honey bee swarm free of charge. If what you are watching is round, fuzzy and largely uninterested in you, leave it alone. Our guide to getting rid of wasps yourself has a fuller rundown on telling wasps, bees and hornets apart.

Wasps at a bin, a table or a fruit tree, arriving and leaving in ones and twos, are foraging from a nest that may be some distance away, and traps and lures manage those. A steady two-way stream in and out of one point on a roofline, soffit, shed or bank means the nest itself is there, and traps will not touch it. Watch the spot for a minute before buying - the traffic pattern tells you which problem you have.

A lure draws wasps into a chamber they cannot find their way back out of. Traps reduce the wasps active in a specific area, such as a patio or around bins, and work best sited at the edge of that area rather than in it. They do not affect the nest producing the wasps.

Traps and deterrents rely on physical capture or non-toxic lures and suit family gardens when placed out of reach. Insecticide sprays and nest powders need more care: follow the manufacturer's instructions, keep children and pets indoors during application and until the area is quiet, and do not treat where food is served. Store everything out of reach.

Fast knockdown sprays act on the wasps they contact. Nest powders take longer - workers carry the powder inside over the following days, so expect activity at the entrance for a while rather than an immediate stop. Traps take several days to make a visible difference, depending on numbers and siting.

Leave it to a professional if the nest is high up, inside a wall or roof void where you cannot see the whole entrance, or somewhere you would need a ladder to reach. The same applies if anyone in the household has a sting allergy, or if the nest is beside a doorway, path or play area where disturbed wasps would have nowhere to go but at people. Our guide to DIY versus professional pest control covers where the line sits.

Probably not. Foragers that were out when you treated keep returning to the entrance for a few days, and a powder needs time to be carried through the nest. Judge it by whether traffic falls day on day. If activity is unchanged after a week, or a second stream has appeared elsewhere on the building, the treatment has not reached the nest and it is worth calling a professional.

Report it rather than treating it. The Asian, or yellow-legged, hornet is an invasive species: look for a mostly dark, almost black body with a single yellow-orange band near the tail, yellow-tipped legs and an orange face. Do not approach the nest. Photograph it from a safe distance if you can, report it through the Asian Hornet Watch app or the online reporting form, and leave it for the authorities to deal with. Nothing in this range should be used on one.

Check eaves, soffits, sheds, garages and bird boxes in spring, when a nest is the size of a table tennis ball and a single queen is building it - dealing with one then is trivial compared with a full colony in August. Keep bins closed and clean, clear fallen fruit, and cover sugary drinks outdoors. Read our guide to getting rid of wasps yourself for the full seasonal picture.