Wasps do not necessarily avoid any colors although there are some colors that they cannot perceive very well. White and light shades are almost invisible to a wasp’s compound eyes.
If you are looking to avoid attracting attention from wasps, wearing white or pale colored clothes is your best option because they will most likely ignore you – unless you provoke them, of course.
What Colors Make Wasps Aggressive?
Wasps react defensively to dark colors such as brown, black, and red. According to study by the United States Department of Agriculture, wasps are more likely to be aggressive towards people wearing colors that match the fur coats of their natural predators such as bears and skunks.
Wasps cannot see the color red as we see it because their eyes are unable to perceive that side of the light spectrum. To them, it appears as black – one of the trigger colors that tells a wasp you may be a threat to them.
What Colors Attract Wasps?
Wasps are attracted to bright colors especially blue and yellow because those are the colors that lead them to their food source. When searching for nectar, wasps rely on the bright colors of flowers to show them that their food is near.
Beware if you wear a bright colored shirt especially with a floral print because a wasp may not be able to tell the difference between you and a real flower until its landed on you to gather food.
Can Wasps See in the Dark?
Most wasps do not have the ability to see when the sun goes down which is why they are active during the day. If they need to navigate in the dark, they rely heavily on their sense of smell and memory to remember where certain landmarks are to find their way home.
Their eyes are not equipped with night vision so they are essentially blind without the sun or artificial light by which to see.
Are Wasps Attracted to Light?
According to the School of Bees, since wasps possess compound eyes like most insects, they are more sensitive to light that tends toward the ultraviolet end of the spectrum. Wasps will fly toward UV lights and even some yellow lights.
Since, they cannot see well in the dark, light may also attract them to help them find their bearings in order to get home – although said lights may be more of a trap than a help if they throw them off the path.
What Scents Attract Wasps?
According to Earth Easy, wasps depend on protein rich foods in the beginning of the summer and can swarm to most places with food waste especially meat leftovers, open garbage cans, and pet food. During the late summer and early fall though, they go for the sweeter scents.
Sweet smelling perfumes, flowers, and anything with sugar in it will attract wasps as they are making a last ditch effort to feed before the weather turns cold and they start to die off.
What Scents Do Wasps Avoid?
If you’re looking to repel wasps, try using scents they do not like as scent is the primary sense they use to find food. Wasps tend to avoid the natural scents of a lot of common garden herbs such as peppermint, lemongrass, eucalyptus, wormwood, thyme, basil, and citronella.
They also do not like geraniums, clove, vinegar, bay leaves, and cucumber. Try spraying some of these essential oils or vinegar or planting geraniums and cucumbers to help repel unwanted wasps.
How Do Wasps Smell?
A wasp’s sense of smell comes from tiny receptors in its antennae. Wasps “feel” the air around for scent particles to determine where food is, if there is something to be avoided, or how to get home.
Their sense of smell is much keener than ours so they can fly long distance from their home nest to acquire food and still be able to return, relying on the pheromones given off by their family group.
What Are Some Other Wasp Repellents?
Wasps do not like the scent of dryer sheets or mothballs and will avoid them at most costs. Keeping a dryer sheet in your back pocket or hanging a mesh bag or pantyhose with moth balls in it are surefire ways to make sure wasps won’t bother you.
Wasps will also avoid brown paper bags that are filled with air and hung up to imitate rival nests. Wasps can be very territorial so they will not want to mess with what they perceive as another group’s home.
What Flowers Attract Wasps?
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, wasps are excellent pollinators for flowers that produce high-energy sweet nectar such as asters and goldenrod. Flowers with purple, yellow, and blue blossoms are most attractive to wasps for food.
Since wasps are most active in the morning and during the day, evening blooming flowers such as honeysuckle and jasmine are not very attractive wasps even if they do smell sweet.
What Fruits Attract Wasps?
According to a study done by Iowa State University, wasps love most fruits because they are attracted to the sweet scents and taste. Any ripened fruit that falls to the ground is a haven for wasps.
Figs and apples are two fruit tree species that are especially attractive to wasps since the fruits are high in sugar and trees can be quite abundant allowing some of the fruit to fall to the ground before being picked.
Are Wasps Attracted to Water?
Especially during the hot summer months, wasps will gather near large open sources of water in order to keep hydrated and bring water back to the hive for those that can’t leave. Since their food source is liquid, most open pools of liquid, water included, are highly attractive to wasps since they could be a potential source of nutrients.
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Curious about the sights and smells that attract or repel wasps? Click here to find out everything you need to know!