In many ways, summers in Georgia are like a dream come true. They’re often filled with family time, weekends on the lake, backyard cookouts, pool parties, camping trips, quiet walks at sunset, deep conversations on the back porch, and a wide range of other outdoor activities. However, summertime in the Peach State isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. One reason for this is our wonderful state’s wide array of stinging insects.
One encounter with a fire ant, yellowjacket, wasp, or hornet and your dream summer can quickly turn into a nightmare. Unfortunately, honey bees are often lumped in with stinging bugs that are dangerous even though they often don’t pose a threat to most of us and are an extremely important part of our ecosystem that should be protected.
How to Avoid Honey Bees Without Hurting Them
Honey bees are a crucial part of our ecosystem and protecting them should be one our highest priorities. Without honey bees, billions of plants wouldn’t be pollinated each year, which could devastate our entire food supply. Bees are also responsible for producing honey, which is another food source for us. In addition, many of the plants that bees pollinate are wild plants that grow into forests and other types of habitats for wildlife around the world.
Honey bees are an essential part our environment. If you have honey bees around your home, they can be the best thing for your landscaping, especially if you have a garden. This doesn’t mean you should let them build a nest on your home. It just means that if you see a few bees buzzing around here and there, you should try to leave them in peace. In most situations, they don’t pose a threat, and as we have repeatedly pointed out, their importance to our ecosystem cannot be overstated.
However, we understand that there are situations where leaving honey bees in peace isn’t possible, especially if you or a loved one has an allergy. Fortunately, there are several ways to avoid honey bees without hurting them:
- Vinegar – Bees find the smell of vinegar repellant. If you put a few drops of vinegar in jars or cans of water and place them around the area you want to keep bee free, this can help.
- Cinnamon – The smell of ground cinnamon can drive bees away, so sprinkling it around areas of your home where bees normally show up can help keep bees from coming around. Be careful, because the smell of cinnamon can sometimes make bees aggressive before ultimately driving them away.
- Plants – There are certain plants that you can keep around your home that act as natural bee repellants, including red germaniums, cucumber plants, pennyroyal, eucalyptus, neem, cloves, red marigolds, mint, and citronella. Citronella candles also repel bees without hurting them.
- Removal – Honey Bee removal is an extensive process and should always be handled by a professional. Not only the insects, but the wax, the honey, and the honey comb must be removed to avoid a rotting mess.
Tips for Avoiding Wasps, Hornets, Yellowjackets, and Fire Ants
In Georgia, if you’re outdoors and don’t have any pest control measures in place stinging bugs, such as wasps, hornets, fire ants, and yellowjackets, can quickly become a problem during summer. Here are a few tips for avoiding dangerous stinging insects in Georgia this summer:
- Keep sweet drinks and food to a minimum and keep your food and drinks covered. Several types of stinging insects, including ants and wasps, are attracted to food and sweet drinks. If you are having food and drinks outdoors, make sure to limit the number of sweet drinks you have and keep all the food and drinks covered when they’re not being consumed. Doing that can help limit the number of stinging bugs that attempt to join your gathering.
- Avoid wearing perfumes and cologne. Some stinging insects forage for food from flowers, so if you wear sweet smelling perfumes, cologne, soap, shampoo, deodorant, or sunscreen, it may cause stinging bugs to mistake the smell of those items for the smell of flowers. This can lead to stinging insects approaching you in search of food.
- Keep your trash covered and sealed. In many cases, the food and drinks that you didn’t consume and threw in the trash are just as attractive to stinging bugs as they were before you threw them away. This can lead to stinging insects being attracted to your trash bags and trash bins, especially if you don’t properly seal the bags and completely close the bins. Keeping your trash covered and sealed can help limit the number of stinging bugs that will be drawn to it.
- Avoid wearing bright clothes or open-toed shoes. If you will be walking through, working in, or gathering in a grassy area (even if the grass is cut short), it may be a good idea to wear closed-toed shoes, long sleeves, socks and long pants tucked into socks. Stinging insects, especially ants, are often located in grassy areas, and your feet can present an inviting target. Avoid ant mounds. In addition, bright clothes, especially anything with a flowery design on it, can attract stinging bugs. This is because, as stated earlier, many stinging bugs forage for food in flowers, and they can mistake bright clothes and clothes with flowery designs for flowers.
- Removal. Always call a professional to remove nests and insets. We have the tools, expertise, and protective equipment to complete the job correctly.
Tips for a Sting
- If a person has been stung, it is very important they be monitored in case they experience and allergic reaction
- The stinger should be removed by scraping the area to remove the stinger, never squeeze it with tweezers.
- Wash the area with soap and water
- Apply ice to the area
- Try not to scratch the area
Struggling with Stinging Insect Problems? Let Our Pest Control Experts Help!
Red Coat Pest Solutions was founded in 2010. It was originally known as The Bed Bug Answer and was established to combat the spike in bed bug infestations in Atlanta at that time. In the years since, Red Coat Pest Solutions has added general pest control, termite protection, and mosquito control to its list of service offerings.
For more information about Red Coat Pest Solutions, and how we’ve helped customers successfully solve their pest problems, check out our customers’ testimonials.
To learn more about our family, pet, and eco-friendly pest solutions, or to schedule a service, give us a call at (404) 724-8999 or reach out to us online today. Ask about our discounts and financing options!