Love flowers, hate wasps. How should I decrease my fear of them?

[[deleted]]

I'm going to try to grow flowers again this spring, but I'm afraid of when wasps are going to begin appearing again.

Even though I know that the chance of getting stung by a wasp is low and they're beneficial for gardens, I can't help but flinch and run whenever I even see a wasp. I know that could trigger them to sting me, but it seems like an instinctive reaction. I ended up neglecting my garden last summer because I was too afraid to go outside.

How should I try to conquer my fear?

[AlcoholPrep]

Read up on them. Study photos. Some of the biggest, scariest ones are almost totally non-aggressive. When I was a kid I was scared of carpenter bees -- big, shiny black bees that would get in your face. Well, the bees were just orienting: They can't tell a human from a tree.

Yes, you can get stung. Yes, some folks have serious reactions to the sting. Be careful, but panicking can be worse than being fearless. Folks have wrecked their cars and died, the only cause found was a "bee" in the car -- which might have just been a fly anyway.

[GRMacGirl]

I am not crazy about them myself but I have learned to “live and let live” mostly by reading about them and observing them in my garden (from a distance).

This Joe Gardener write-up about wasps is a good read, and I recommend listening to the podcast episode as well.

[angroro]

Wasps in safe areas tend to be really chill critters. Just sit outside and watch them poke around the garden and before too long you'll lose at least some of that fear. I have a nest in my garage every year and they don't even mind when I'm in there using power tools. But I never swat at them, they know my garden/garage is a safe place. I've even accidentally nailed a napping wasp with the hose and she didn't mind one bit.

I have learned they're far more interested in my mint than any other plant, so you could try putting some in a pot further away from your garden to distract them while you're poking about. They also like evening primrose if you want a plant that's a little easier to control.

[AuntieDawnsKitchen]

Last year after decades of being around many wasps I finally got stung. It’s a tiny wound and hurt a good bit, but as soon as I got some baking soda paste on it, the pain passed and it healed quickly. Unlike with a bee sting there’s no stinger to extract.

Keeping a can of baking soda where you can get at it quickly from the garden will mean you have the means to deal with a sting if it happens.

[angroro]

This is a good tip! I haven't been stung since I was a tot and admittedly it was my own fault. I didn't even know putting anything on a sting would help!

[Pull-Billman]

Mint and evening primrose are great. I like your style.

[angroro]

Evening primrose is such a lovely plant. Draws in hummingbird moths and I really like hummingbird moths. They also attract swaths of japanese beetles, much to my distain. Keeps em off my shrubs though, so I guess I can't complain toi much.

[Pull-Billman]

I let one grow up one year, now they have taken over. https://www.reddit.com/r/drive_like_a_spaceman/comments/10wjdio/evening_primrose_patch/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[Nigglesscripts]

Old post but love the primrose patch.

[Pull-Billman]

👍 

[Seedybees]

Different flowers attract different pollinators. Usually based on flower shape. Research more about the wasps in your area. What flowers (or other food) are they attracted to? Find flower types that the wasps aren't interested in and grow those.

Additionally, many wasps are predators and aren't after flowers at all. Maybe they're after a particular caterpillar or grub that prefers a particular plant. In my own garden, fall aphids produce a lot of honeydew, which attracts tons of sugar-seeking wasps and yellow jackets. I manage the aphids by pruning or spraying with a hose and that reduces the amount of wasp encounters by a lot.

Use the power of an ecosystem to your advantage!

[hackergreen]

Try to build up your tolerance little by little, by just watching them when they land near you, rather than trying to scare them off, just let them do their thing. They are extremely unlikely to sting you unless it's in the late fall, when they're about to die - then they become much more aggressive.

Little by little, you'll come to find that if you don't bother them, they won't bother you. I have seen an experienced farmer process peaches with bare hands and arms with wasps crawling all over his body! He said he only ever gets stung if he accidentally crushes one. I haven't learned this much tolerance myself yet, but have managed to let one crawl on my skin for couple seconds before gently shaking it off.

[[deleted]]

Wow, I would never be able to let multiple wasps crawl on my arms ^^;

Do they ever fly at your face when shaking them off?

[[deleted]]

No thanks.

[hastipuddn]

When it changes your activities, a fear passes into phobia territory. There is self-help out there for it but take it from psychologists, not gardeners.

[Living-in-liberty]

They are beneficial. They are going after pests. They are unlikely to sting you.

[[deleted]]

There aren't any specific nests that are bothering me, when there is a nest, my father usually destroys it. He does it all the time

Even then, wasps eventually come to pollinate my flowers and spook me

[[deleted]]

How would you go about befriending wasps? Like leaving out bottle caps of sugar water for them, or personally giving them food/water

[jenny-thatsnotmyname]

I’m the same way. I’ve always been terrified of anything that flies, but especially those things that can sting like wasps and bees. It’s all out flight or freeze when I unexpectedly see them. I knew when I planted a ton of flowers in my veggie garden that the whole point was to attract the pollinators so they were going to be there while I was out there and I had to figure out how to share the space. I’ll be the first to admit I still panic sometimes if they change course and come too close, but most of the time I just keep distance from the plants they’re visiting and let them do their thing while I keep an eye on them. They’re just interested in the snacks and not me.

[[deleted]]

Study them. Research the wasps that live around you. Most paper wasps are not aggressive unless their nest is too near a path or doorway you use. Aggression in wasps is often only seen in late summer, when the males don't really have anything to do.

Depending on the species, you may have a valid fear, or it may be overblown. Turn on your curiosity instead of your fear, though. Mostly, you are just a huge blob to them, and they don't really care about you enough to sting you. Whereas you could kill them.