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Cheap Way to Kill Wasps

Victoria Weinblatt

It is easy to kill wasps cheap. Several effective non-toxic methods are available that use common household ingredients. When you are exterminating wasps, follow standard safety precautions. Plan an escape route, wear long sleeves and jeans and only approach wasp’s nests late at night or in the early morning. Wasps are beneficial to your local eco-system. They are scavengers and eat pesky garden insects. Many cooperative extension offices recommended not killing them if possible.

Sugar and Water

Use an old plastic 2-liter soda bottle baited with sugar and water as a cheap way to kill wasps. Make a liquid mixture using 2 cups of water and ½ a cup of sugar. Stir until dissolved and set aside.

Cut the 2-liter bottle in half so the top forms a funnel and the bottom is a deep bowl. Place the bottom half, open side up, on a flat surface. Invert the top half and insert into the bottom half, so that you are looking down the funnel. Fasten with tape or staples.

Pour the sugar water into the bottle and place it near the wasps nest. Enticed into the bottle by the sugar water, the wasps will be unable to escape and will eventually drown.

Soap and Water, $.99 or Less

A mixture of soap and water is a cheap way to kill wasps. Wasps are suffocated when the soap coats the outside of their body. Liquid soap works best with this recipe. To use bar soap, soak it in a bowl of water overnight and scrape off the soft part in the morning. Gently combine equal parts soap and water. Pour up to 2 cups of this mixture into the home of ground wasps.

Kill individual wasps or above-ground nests with this soap and water mixture, too. Pour it into a spray bottle. Use the stream setting for individual wasps and the spray to saturate nests.

Borax, Under $5

You can kill wasps cheap with Borax. Borax is made of boric acid and has been used as a safe household cleaner for over 50 years. A box of Borax costs about $5 USD, as of 2009. You may already have some in the house. Mix equal parts Borax and honey or corn syrup. Spoon the mixture into some old lids. Strategically place them close to the wasps nest. Wasps are lured in by the sweet taste of sugar, but are poisoned by the Borax.