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Insects

Fact check: Paper bags and other decoy nests do not deter wasps

The claim: Paper bags resembling wasp hives can deter the insect.  

For those seeking to enjoy a wasp-free summer, a July 5 Facebook post advises to look no further than a crumpled paper bag. 

"Wasps ... I learned this trick long ago. So there are wasps infiltrating my deck. Take a paper bag and blow it up make it look like a hive. Set it wherever you want to deter the wasps. They will think another group already created a hive and leave the territory alone. I set it out yesterday they are gone. Non-toxic, non killing of other species LOL cheap easy solution!"

Paper bags as a wasp deterrent is a claim that has been circulating Facebook since May. In addition to the July 5 post, there are similar ones predating it. Many commentators either reported positive anecdotes with the paper bag method or expressed great interest at trying it out themselves.

"Thanks for sharing! (emoji) going to try this around my pool deck .." Carolyn Smith commented. 

Jean H Spin, who created the July 5 post, told USA TODAY via Facebook Messenger that she had come across the information several years ago and through her own personal experience, found the method helpful in discouraging wasps.  

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The wasp family

Larger and less genial than the black-and-yellow bumblebee, the image conjured at the thought or mention of a wasp is one that does little justice to their complexity.

Wasps are classified as arthropods — animals with segmented bodies, exoskeletons and lacking backbones (includes crustaceans, spiders, centipedes, and other insects) – and are further subdivided into four superfamilies, the best known of which is Vespoidea. Wasps are further divided into two primary subgroups: social and solitary. 

Social wasps account for nearly 1,000 of the nearly 30,000 wasp species worldwide. And as the name suggests, they live in large colonies consisting of a queen and her workers, a population that the queen starts anew each spring. Social wasps include yellow jackets, hornets, and umbrella wasps. Solitary wasps are loners with the females largely building and provisioning the nest. Cicada killers, tarantula hawks, spider hawk wasps and steel blue cricket hunters are among the well-known of the group. 

It may come as a surprise to learn that not all wasps sting. Among solitary wasps, the females are the only ones equipped with a stinger, which they use to inject venom into their prey. Female wasps prefer to avoid humans, but male wasps, who lack a stinger, can be territorial by flying aggressively into an unwitting person's face.

Social wasps do sting, and theirs is all about defense. If a wasp nest is disturbed, whether by human or other animal, an individual within the colony will sound the alarm by releasing a pheromone that rouses all other colony members into a defensive, stinging frenzy. It is important to note that unlike bees with barbed stingers that cannot be used repeatedly, a wasp has a multi-use stinger. As anyone who has been stung by a wasp knows, the pain can be quite intense, but the adverse reactions vary.    

Perception matters 

The papier-mâché look and feel of a wasp nest is what easily distinguishes it from that of its bee counterpart. Unlike bees, which secrete a waxy substance to create their abodes, wasps chew up wood, foliage and cellulose-containing debris, spit it out and mold the pulp into various architectures ranging from umbrella-shaped to spherical or cylindrical.

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Human interventions to rid their unwanted guests – recently building nests as palatial as a Volkswagen Beetle – include ultrasonic repellers, sprays and home remedies like decoy nests or paper bags. These deterrents, however, are not as effective as many would believe.        

"Paper bags and other devices don't stop wasps from nesting because they don't perceive such objects as nests," said Dr. Michael Skvarla, assistant research professor of arthropod identification and director of the Insect Identification Laboratory at Pennsylvania State University, in an interview with USA TODAY via Twitter.     

"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," Skvarla emphasized. 

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And because wasps chew up materials like paper and wood to make their nests, Skvarla said a paper bag represents just another construction material for nest building.

"With regards to commercial products, there are several anecdotes of wasps nesting in such products, so it's possible they may make wasp issues worse by providing habitat to wasps rather than deterring them," he added. 

Pesky but useful

Wasps may appear irritating, but they serve a very beneficial role for humans. As predators, wasps act as nature's very own pest control, hunting down every known pest insect on the planet. 

"Paper wasps preferentially hunt caterpillars, while some yellowjacket species and baldfaced hornets often hunt flies. So when wasp nests are out of the way and not likely to be disturbed (e.g., on a second story eave), it's often a good idea to leave them be and let the workers hunt and control insect pests," Skvarla advised. 

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He did concede, however, there is a time for when wasp nest needs to go.  

"If they're in a high-traffic area (e.g., right over a door) or someone in the home is allergic, it's always best to remove the nest," he wrote. 

Our ruling: False 

We rate the claim that paper bags resembling wasp nests can act as deterrents against the insect as FALSE because it was not supported by our research. Wasps do not perceive objects like paper bags as nests and instead may use the bags as construction material for nest building. Commercial products like decoy nests may actually provide a habitat for wasps instead of deterring them.  

Our fact-check sources:

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