The terrace is the living room of the garden, the transition between the house and the green oasis. Here you want to feel comfortable and enjoy sociable barbecues and coffee parties. It's just stupid when loudly humming, tabby stinging insects show up as unwelcome guests without an invitation.
Wasps love meat
Wasps that share our culinary preferences
There are an incredible number of wasp species - most people in our latitudes only associate them with those that are most present to us. And these are mainly 2 species from the subfamily of real wasps, namely the German and the common wasp. They are the ones who, loudly and without much shyness, eat our Danish pastries, our rolls with jam and our grilled meat at the garden table.
Unfortunately, these large, social wasps are also the ones that can become not only a nuisance but also dangerous to humans. Because of their very vehement conservation efforts in large wasp colonies, they also behave much more offensively compared to the many other, predominantly solitary wasp species.
To remember:
- Social, more dangerous wasp species are usually a nuisance on the terrace
- The much larger group of solitary wasps is much less present
German and common wasps can be particularly annoying at the garden table. Because the wasp workers have a lot to do with satisfying the hunger of the 7,000 or so larvae in the nest - and their own - with both sweet and savory foods. Disdaining a table set with cake, fruit and meat is not in their unfazed nature.
How to deal with the wasps on the terrace?
The basic rule when dealing with wasps is to overcome any potential revulsion towards them. Because an annoying, dogged fight with animal-damaging wasp spray or wild waving around only means stress for both parties. Accept that animals are a perfectly normal, natural part of reality to live with.
In order to be less disturbed while eating, you should rely on passive methods: For example, by distracting the wasps with lures at the other end of the garden. This can be overripe fruit or a bowl of sugar water.
Sweet and hearty-smelling food should be covered as consistently as possible so that the scent molecules don't get into the air in the first place.