Does This Fake Wasp Nest Hack Keep Wasps Away From Your Yard?

After spending time making your backyard beautiful, it makes sense that you probably just want to sit out there and enjoy it. However, that can be kind of difficult if your yard is full of wasps. While there are many mistakes you can make to accidentally attract wasps to your yard, it is also true that you can do nothing wrong and still end up with a nest of these black and yellow terrors. When this happens, you will probably start looking for wasp deterrents; however, the problem with commonly used wasp sprays is that they can be both harmful to humans and bad for the environment. Because of this, many people have begun turning to more natural ways to deter wasps from building nests on their property, including hanging up fake wasps nests.

This solution is a great option because it is not only eco-friendly but also inexpensive, with a pack of six fake nests ringing in at around $15. However, the only problem with the fake nest trick is that it seems to produce mixed results with some reviews on Amazon praising the product as something that is able to "really keep wasps away," while others stating that it didn't work for them. So, will hanging a few fake wasp nests really deter these stinging insects from ruining your yard this summer? 

The idea behind the fake wasp nest method is that most wasps are territorial and won't build their homes too close to a nest or hive of another group of wasps. If you already have a wasp nest in your yard, this trick won't make them pack up and leave but it may prevent more wasps from building nests around your home, thereby decreasing the number of these stinging insects hanging out in your yard. Because of this, proponents of the fake wasp nest idea recommend putting the nests out in early spring before the wasps start building in order for them to be most effective.

However, there are multiple reasons why this trick may not work for you, including that there are many different types of wasps, all of which behave differently. So, while some wasps might be territorial, others may not care if they have neighbors. In addition, different types of wasps build different types of nests, which sometimes don't look at all like the fake conical-shaped ones sold online. Furthermore, even if the wasps in your area build nests that look similar to the fake ones, that doesn't guarantee that the trick will work because, as one Redditor found out, the wasps may simply use the fake nest as the scaffolding to build their own very real nest around it.

Because of the lack of scientific evidence and mixed reviews, the only way to really figure out if this trick will work for you is to try it out yourself. You may also get better results if you combine hanging paper wasps nests with other preventative techniques like spraying common nest locations (not nests themselves) with WD-40.