Haint Blue milk paint, wasps and hornets

[Captain Anne Flint]

Well, folks - I was watching a home and garden show about sleeping porches, and they mentioned in passing that painting the ceiling with ‘egg blue’ milk paint was a wasp and hornet deterrent. I know that people have had problems with wasp/hornet nests in their dishes, so I looked up a little more: 

Wasps, hornets, bees, etc. do seem to be attracted to darker colors and avoid lighter ones (that’s why beekeepers’ suits are white) but I didn’t find any real studies about this, just anecdotal information. 

One paint company said that the milk paint used so much in the South was made with lye, which is also an insect repellent. It needs to be reapplied periodically, as the lye leaches out of the paint over time. Wonder what that would do to the dish surface? Nothing good? 

I think they were trying to contrast ‘logic’ with the Gullah Haint Blue paint tradition, which talks about not trapping spirits under your porch. But often folk traditions just describe things that work, not why they work. Like, “Don’t go down to the swamp because there are evil spirits there,” and now we know about the dangers of stagnant water, disease vectors, mosquitos … 

At this point, I have more questions than answers. Really, no one has ever studied color response in wasps? Why blue? People still make milk paint? Northerners don’t have wasps and hornets? Is there a dang haint lurking under my porch? Is this a productive use of time? 

Wende 

[Mike Otte]

Last five years, wasps have built nests in my feed horns and the framing under the dish during the heat of summer in August.

Northerner?  42 deg N

WD 40 and wasp wash ,  weapons of war.

mike

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Mike Otte W9YS

[Captain Anne Flint]

Mike: 

The references said that Haint Blue paint was much more commonly used in the South[east]? 

Some other ideas for you to try: 

1. Since wasps are territorial, leave the old nests there (this has kind of worked for us) or wad up a small brown paper bag and attach it up there (supposedly this looks like a wasp’s nest to a wasp). 

2. Spray periodically with peppermint soap solution. Run. 

Is this like your wasp wash, or is that something different? 

Attached is some info from Bob Vila’s website. 

Wende 

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