6 Things That Attract Wasps to Your Yard—and What to Do Next

Mosquitoes may be among the most dangerous insects to humans, but most people fear wasps a lot more—especially if they’re building a nest in the eaves of your house or swarming around your burgers or hummingbird feeders. So if you’re finding a lot of wasps around your yard, you’re probably wondering what’s attracting them—and what you can do to keep them at bay.

Here’s everything you need to know about wasps—and how to minimize them in your garden.

Benefits of Wasps

Wasps do a little bit of pollinating, but they serve other purposes in your garden, eating pests like aphids, beetles, and larvae. “Paper wasps and yellowjacket adults feed their larvae insects, particularly caterpillars and other fleshy insects,” says Lynn S. Kimsey, PhD, distinguished professor emerita of entomology, University of California, Davis. “They will also take pest insects, such as houseflies. This is generally beneficial unless you are trying to keep some caterpillars thriving, like those of butterflies.”

“Wasps are good at cleaning up dead things,” says Theresa Rooney, Hennepin County, Minnesota, master gardener and the author of The Guide to Humane Critter Control: Natural, Nontoxic Pest Solutions to Protect Your Yard and Garden. “If we didn’t have these critters, up to our eyebrows in dead things—we need these cleanup crews.”

6 Things That Attract Wasps to Your Yard

Dead animals or vegetation

Because wasps help break down dead things, leaving dead bugs or even dead vegetation around your yard can attract certain types of wasps. (Paper wasps love vegetation, while yellowjackets are drawn to dead animals.) Keeping your yard clean of dead or decaying organic material can help keep the wasps away.

Hummingbird, butterfly, or oriole feeders

Any bird or butterfly feeder that features fruit, sugar, or jam will draw in wasps, too. “Hummingbird feeders are a strong attraction because the adult wasps need sugar, so I strongly recommend against feeders,” Kimsey says.

If you do have a feeder in your yard that attracts wasps, Rooney recommends taking it down at night, once you’re sure that the wasps are all in for the evening.

Fruit garden

Yes, your tomato plant or apple tree (especially if you have apples that fall on the ground and start to ferment) are prone to drawing wasps, Rooney says. You’ll want to ensure that you harvest your fruits promptly, and clean away any rotting fruit.

Food

Wasps can be a very unwelcome guest at your backyard get-togethers—and they’re often drawn to sugary and fruity drinks or desserts, or grilled meat. “Cover food and drinks,” Kimsey says. “It’s not unusual for someone to get stung in the mouth by a yellowjacket that crawled into their soda can for sugar. The common yellowjacket is attracted to meat, so this needs to be covered as well.” You can use screened cloches to cover food during a picnic.

Rooney also says that cleanup after a cookout is essential. “You don’t want to leave food laying around.”

Pine sap or certain flowers

If you have pine trees in your yard, you might find some wasps enjoying the sap for the sugars, Rooney says. Some flowers, such as asters, goldenrod, and coreopsis, also tend to attract wasps.

Compost pile

That compost pile is great for enriching your garden soil, but there’s a lot to love there, from a wasp’s perspective. “There’s a lot of stuff to eat, and it’s a nice fluffy area they can live in,” Rooney says. She recommends watching out for any wasps coming in or out before you flip your compost, in case you might accidentally disturb a wasp nest in there.

How to Deal With Wasps in Your Yard

If you have a lot of wasps in your yard—either from a nest you can see, or coming from the ground, you’re probably trying to figure out how to get rid of them. Rooney recommends doing a bit of research to find out exactly what kinds of wasps you’re dealing with and the most effective ways to deal with them. The garden extension websites in every state can be an excellent resource for getting good, research-based info on what’s happening in your state and how to deal with wasps in your yard.  

Leave the nest be if you can

Because wasps do serve a purpose in your yard, Rooney suggests leaving the wasp nest alone if it’s not near a doorway or an area of your yard where people or pests frequent. “If the nest is 40 feet up in a tree, they’re not going to bother you if you’re not bothering their nest.”

Wasps are most likely to be aggressive if you seem like you’re a danger to their nest—and less likely to attack otherwise.

Create a trap

To help siphon off some yellowjackets, you can create a homemade trap with things you probably have around your house—an empty two-liter bottle, a banana peel, and some apple cider vinegar and sugar.

Welcome their predators

If you want to get rid of wasps, make your yard a bird paradise—as they’re the animal that tends to eat the most wasps, Rooney says. “Bring in the birds—lots of birds.”

Remove the nest if necessary

Nest removal can be a little bit of a tricky proposition—especially if it’s an aggressive wasp species. You’ll want to undertake the operation at night, when the wasps are all together in the nest and dormant, Kimsey says.

You can physically take down the nest, spray it with a hose from 15 to 20 feet away, or use a commercial wasp spray, Rooney says. You should wear protective clothing to help minimize the chance of stings if the wasps attack.

There is a decent chance that the wasps will look to rebuild in the same spot, so Rooney recommends watching for any signs of a new nest so you can stop them before they become entrenched.

Call in a pro

If you have an allergy or are at all concerned about stings—or if the nests are actually inside your home—you should leave the job to the pros, Kimsey says. “Yellowjacket nests can be in the ground or in wall voids or attic space. They must be removed only by professionals.”

Avoid sealing up holes that the wasps are using to enter and exit your home until you’re sure that they’re all dead—otherwise, there’s a risk that they’ll break through your drywall and into your home, Rooney says.