Eating lunch outdoors during yellowjacket season: an impossible pipedream?

July 19, 2011 6:47 AM

Any way I can get yellowjackets to leave me alone while I lunch in the park?

I bring my lunch with me to work, and during the warmer months I delight in taking it to the park across the street. Except from late July through September, however. As soon as I bring out my food, a yellowjacket or wasp comes to investigate and I have to put it away or move if I don't want to share.

Perhaps I am doomed to failure, but is there anything I can do to put them off me and my meal? I am not really scared by them (have never been stung), so when they approach I move my food or myself quite calmly, but they persist in hanging around me until a while after the food has been put away.

I don't wear perfume, though I do wear nail varnish. My clothing varies - bright, dark or light, they always come. But I guess these things are irrelevant since it's the food smell that brings them?

Any tips about places to sit in parks that are less frequented by the wee beasties? Any smell I could create which would ward them away? Any easy to use, portable bug repellents? If I put a bowl of sugar out would they be distracted by that and leave my sandwich alone? If there are more around me, but they leave my lunch in peace, that's fine.

Or am I resigned to scarfing my lunch at my desk? Halp!

posted by guessthis to Pets & Animals (14 answers total)

Maybe you can keep a jar of sugar water (or some other attractant) at work, then leave it open a good distance away from you while you eat? It may be tricky getting it closed back up though!
posted by orme at 6:52 AM on July 19, 2011

I worked at a restaurant once with a garden terrace full of wasps. Customers varied a lot in their reactions to this - from screaming and flailing to acting oblivious. The ones who paid no mind whatsoever to the wasps seemed to be the ones who enjoyed their meal the most. I recommend just trying to go about your business as if there were no flying-stinging things buzzing around you.
posted by whalebreath at 7:00 AM on July 19, 2011

Are you drinking soda with sugar/HFCS? My guess is they're after that.
posted by brujita at 7:03 AM on July 19, 2011

A rechargable battery powered fan moving a little air past your head ought to do the trick.
posted by paulsc at 7:24 AM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

supposedly, sliced fresh cucumber is an effective wasp repellent; several slices on a plate or scattered around the perimeter of your picnic area might help.
posted by jjoye at 7:24 AM on July 19, 2011

Surround yourself with citronella candles. Or lemon juice.
posted by devnull at 7:47 AM on July 19, 2011

Yellowjackets like meat. When camping, I put some of my chicken leg (or whatever) several feet away from me in a open area, and hope that they'll accept the offering.
posted by Specklet at 8:57 AM on July 19, 2011

These people say the answer is to hang up a fake wasp nest nearby. If you try this and it works, please report back.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 9:17 AM on July 19, 2011

Looks like there's quite a few positive reviews on Amazon for ManyLeggedCreature's solution, the Waspinator. Do you eat under a shelter where you could hang it near you? Sit by a tree with a low hanging branch you could hang it on? For the money it seems like it's worth a try!
posted by Falwless at 9:26 AM on July 19, 2011

Some people swear by dryer fabric softener sheets, even to hanging them on their hats/clothing when outside. I also have found leaving a bit of meat aside for yellowjackets helps. Try to avoid bringing anything containing sugar outside to eat.
posted by Lynsey at 11:15 AM on July 19, 2011

I've noticed that waving them away while they are flying doesn't seem to really piss them off. so as long as they're not actually in your food (OR SODA!) and flying around, you could try that.

or you can make a trap out of a soda bottle by leaving some in the bottom, cutting off the top (making a funnel), inverting it and sticking it in the bottom. They really, really like mountain dew.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 12:05 PM on July 19, 2011

Yellowjackets are unlikely to sting unless thoroughly provoked as long as you're not too near their nest (which might be hanging somewhere or in the ground under a bush or something). Blow on them. They don't like the CO2, and the puff of wind points them in the desired direction.
posted by cmoj at 1:10 PM on July 19, 2011

The Waspinators worked well for me, effectively deterring wasps from setting up housekeeping on my porch like they did last year. (Freaked out a few neighbor people, too.) It fell apart in the sunlight and rain after a few weeks, but by then the nasty buggers had a new address. I'm not sure how it would work as a temporary lunch-time deterrent, but for the price it might be worth a try.
posted by Corvid at 4:21 PM on July 19, 2011

Response by poster: Oh my goodness, actual solutions! Thanks so much guys, I will be trying out as many of these ideas as I can, and will report back to let you know which are the most effective!
posted by guessthis at 1:56 AM on July 20, 2011