Louisiana Residents Keeping Wasps Away With Paper Bags, But Does it Really Work?

Are you having a problem with wasps at your house? If so, you might want to try this simple paper bag trick to keep them away. But, does it actually work?

Keeping Wasps Away With Paper Bags

No one wants to deal with swarming wasps around their, and certainly no one wants to get stung by one.

There are plenty of wasp sprays that pretty much do the trick, but wouldn't it be great if there was something you could do to stop wasps from setting up shop in the first place?

According to some Louisiana residents, there actually is something you can do.

It's pretty easy to do and it's super cheap too.

All you need to get started is a paper bag, some string or twine or some tape.

What you're going to do is simply crumple up the paper bag into a ball, essentially making a fake, or decoy wasps nest.

The idea here is that other wasps will see the fake nest and move on because the space is already occupied.

From Smart Fox via YouTube -

"Take a paper bag like this and crumple it up until you form a ball out of it. Now you need to make a ribbon around the bag.

Wasps think that this is a wasp nest. Therefore, they will not look for a place in the area to settle down, thinking that there are already other wasps at work here."

We've personally spoken to numerous people in Acadiana that swear by the paper bag trick when it comes to keeping wasps away from their house.

A quick look online also finds many people who say once they put the paper bag decoy up around their home, the wasps disappeared.

Do Paper Bags Really Keep Wasps Away?

However, there are many who say that this paper bag decoy wasp nest trick doesn't work.

The argument made makes sense.

In an interview with USA TODAY, Dr. Michael Skvarla, director of the Insect Identification Laboratory at Pennsylvania State University says paper bag wasp nest decoys don't work because wasps don't perceive the decoys as a actual nests.

From usatoday.com -

"Paper bags lack any smells or chemical cues that would indicate they're nests and do not have worker wasps defending them.

While wasps are highly visual insects, the simple shape of an object isn't enough to deter them."

In fact, Dr. Skvarla says the paper bag decoys could actually make your wasp problem worse by providing a place for them to live.

What do you think? Is this something that actually works?

Let us know!