Clove oil is a well-established household remedy to keep wasps away. In fact, the insects have a distinct aversion to its ethereal-spicy odor. However, how strong the effect is and how best to use it is a matter of situational design.
Wasps don't like strong smells like cloves
Clove oil as a wasp repellent
The small, brown buds of the clove tree have a permanent place in almost every spice rack. Their warm, spicy smell betrays their high content of essential oils. These were extracted early in human history and used for medical purposes: for example, to relieve pain, for disinfection purposes, to calm the intestines and to strengthen the mind.
Its repellent effect on insects, especially mosquitoes and wasps, has only recently become known.
How clove oil can be used
In fact, wasps are not pleased with the spicy, ethereal smell of cloves. It can be used in the following ways:
- dried cloves
- Clove oil in a fragrance lamp, disperser or rubbed into furniture
Dried cloves, for example, can be used in combination with other wasp-repelling odor sources, such as citrus fruits, to repel wasps. Put in a lemon, they give off an odor that is very unpleasant for wasps.
The fragrances of the flower buds are particularly intensively enclosed in the clove oil, so that it can also release more fragrance molecules. Therefore, if it is vaporized in an aroma lamp, it also has a good effect. But also mixed with water in the spray disperser, it can acutely wrap the environment in the scent of cloves.
You can create a permanent source of clove scent by rubbing the oil on wooden furniture on the patio.
The alfresco dining thing
The presented methods of using clove oil to drive away wasps are certainly effective. However, only if you want to relax in the garden on a deck chair or a blanket - without a popsicle in your hand.
The yellow and black striped insects are most annoying when eating outdoors. And unfortunately, no amount of clove oil can really do much. The wasps' greed for sweet pastries or jams is simply too great. Especially in late summer, when they have a lot of work and energy needs in the fast-growing wasp colony. When eating at the garden table, it makes more sense not to let the tempting scents flow into the air by consistently covering the delicacies.