I have a lot of wasps visiting my pond to drink and pick up mud. Most are mud daubers and paper wasps. I don't want to kill them as they are non-aggressive but one of my kids in the wrong place at the wrong time could change their mood. Killing them would be pointless because they appear to be flying in from all over the neighborhood.
Any ideas to encourage them to get their mud and water elsewhere?
I used to remove any paper wasp nest found in the spring, before they could multiply. Ortho home defense, a wasp spray intended for that, or a splash of gasoline on the nest at night while all wasps are inside and won’t attack kills them before they can spread the poison to beneficial insects or your pond. I heard they were pollinators and killed other bugs so this year I didn’t remove any nest except by my doors. As I was moving vines aside to reach a water faucet, I was violently attacked by a basketballs worth of massed wasps, which stung both hands and arm as I ran to house. I didn’t know any were around. My husband took out the nest and all occupants that night in the usual manner ( this time with prejudice). My pond has at least 20 wasps floating at once each day. I can’t harm them without harming my fish or peaceful hunny bees. I was swollen and in pain for 2 weeks, and itched for days after the swelling went down enough to use my hands again. Next spring no paper wasp nest will escape removal. Any floaters in the pond can then be sunk with a fish net and squashed, since there won’t be so many to fight back. I have other pollinators, I don’t need these (now) enemies. They also bother my hunny bees, which water at the pond peacefully and let me work beside them without menacing me as the paper wasps do. My advice, remove as many as you can safely to protect your kids and pond. They reproduce so rapidly you won’t endanger them by this crowd control.
