Hot weather creates ideal conditions for wasps in Saskatoon

Warm weather is making Saskatoon a perfect home for wasps.

“It’s a bit early to tell if this is going to be an overall bad year. But usually, hot dry years are pretty bad for wasps,” City of Saskatoon entomologist Jeff Boone said Thursday on The Brent Loucks Show.

Boone said warm weather allows more foraging opportunities for wasps, bees and other nest-building insects.

“We’re really just starting to see the beginning of the bad part of the year for (wasps).  So, through August, the nest sizes tend to get larger — this is when we start to notice them,” he said.

Boone said professional exterminators could handle a problem infestation of wasps, but commercially available sprays make it a relatively easy problem for most people to tackle on their own.

He suggested that in cases where the entire nest is in an accessible area, the best course of action is to spray and then put the entire nest into a garbage bag and toss it away.

In situations where a nest isn’t reachable, he said a foam spray can still be effective.

Boone said the early morning hours are the best time to deal with a problem nest.

“We usually recommend dealing with it in the early morning hours because that’s when it’s the coolest part of the day and the wasps are least active.”