Excuse me waiter, there’s a wasp in my coffee

Well this was an unusual sight to come home to.

Yesterday afternoon I was about to make my way to the back of my house through the narrow pathway that separates mine from my neighbours' house, when I spotted a mug perched on the floor at the side of my front porch. The mug isn’t one of mine so intrigue lured me to take a closer look.

What I saw was a wasp doing the backstroke in a few ounces of what looked like coffee. Huh.

I assumed the mug belonged to my neighbour and would come for it later, so I left it and carried along my way.

Could this be a new trend in homemade wasp traps? Leave a mug of coffee on the porch and wait for the wasps to fly in and drown? It seemed to work. The pesky insects are everywhere this time of year and people can get pretty creative with ways to keep them away. I have a friend who used to hang large balls of paper in the tree above her outdoor dining table. The idea was for the wasps to see another "nest" and stay away. Unfortunately I'm not sure it worked so well, but it did make for interesting tree ornaments. 

My technique is to give the wasps a swat with a tightly rolled magazine. Making contact usually gets them to fly away.

Store bought traps are another option. During a recent trip to Canadian Tire I was browsing the pest control aisle when a gentleman came by and grabbed a Wasp Trap with Hanger from the shelf. "It works best if you put cheap beer in it," he said to me.

"What kind of cheap beer?" I asked. I wasn't looking for a wasp trap, and I don't drink beer, but I was curious about what was considered cheap and works. You know, for future reference. I think his response was "Coors" but by now I honestly can't remember. I do know, however,  that Coors is less on the dollar scale, then say, Creemore Springs.

The gentleman went on to suggest a trap for my own pest issue. But that's another story...

So there you have it. Be it coffee in a mug, hanging papers balls, magazine rolls or store bought traps on a hanger,  there are plenty of techniques to try out to get rid of wasps.