What Colors Attract Wasps?

Most pests have colors that they get easily attracted to. So, the colors that attract wasps are listed in this article.

As you read on, you’ll know what colors attract wasps, what color repels wasps,  and also how to get rid of wasps with colors.

 

Why are Wasps Attracted to Certain Colors?

The yellows, pinks, and purples of springtime seem to be particularly appealing to wasps. The presence of wasps around these hues begs the question: Why?

A few of the reasons why wasps are drawn to particular hues were briefly discussed before. However, let’s get into a bit more depth.

What Colors Attract Wasps?

Wasps are attracted to five main colors which are:

1. White Colors Attract Wasps

White flowers like Queen Anne’s lace, hogweed, hemlock, wild carrot, and Pacific Angelica (all members of the parsley family) are beautiful to wasps, as research from the University of Maryland has shown.

White attracts pollinators and herbivore wasps more often than not. The majority of insects, spiders, ants, flies, katydids, crickets, and other prey animals are not white, which is why predators avoid them.

White has no significance other than being a flower’s complement, therefore it makes sense that wasps would be drawn to them.

Wasps can’t get nectar too far inside the flower, as they would on trumpet-shaped blooms, therefore those flowers can’t be pollinated by wasps.

Because wasps lack the length of body parts required to reach them, they are inaccessible. Flowers that attract wasps often have a shallow nectar pool, like orchids.

 

Read also: Plants to Keep Wasps Away

 

2. Violet and Ultraviolet Colors Attract Wasps

As there aren’t many purple/violet prey insects, wasps may be drawn to the color because it’s associated with flowers that provide nectar.

In addition, ultraviolet, a “color” that wasps can see but humans can’t, is located extremely close to violet on the color spectrum.

Some wasps, like the European hornet wasp, are active at night (as if we needed a nighttime wasp) and are drawn to ultraviolet light, which can be found on porches or floodlights.

LED lights on wasp traps like the INORS Outdoor Hanging Wasp Trap lure wasps at night.

Keep in mind that yellowjackets, paper wasps, and bald-faced hornets are nocturnal and cannot be lured into a trap using LED lights.

 

3. Green Colors Attract Wasps

Wasps hunt in green because their prey, including katydids, cicadas, crickets, caterpillars, and even spiders, tend to be that hue. Perhaps this explains why wasps are drawn to the color green.

Green-leaf volatiles (GLVs) may be responsible for the intriguing finding that wasps are drawn to green. When green plant tissue is harmed, such as by a caterpillar or other herbivore, the plant releases GLVs.

This aroma alerts predators, such as wasps, that there is food on the plant, and draws them to the plant. The plant is saved from the herbivore once the wasp comes, and the wasp gets a meal.

The connection between the orchid plant Epipactis helleborine and wasps and GLVs was examined in a recent article published in the journal Current Biology.

To avoid harm from herbivores, this orchid is unlike any other since it can successfully imitate GLVs.

Because it relies entirely on wasps for pollination, this kind of orchid mimics GLVs. The attractive pale green color of this orchid is a bonus.

These flowers could have been a possible entry point for wasps if they were placed near a window.

 

Read also: Best Powder for Killing Wasps

 

4. The Color Yellow Attracts Wasps

Sunflowers, pansies, Black-eyed Susans, and marigolds are just a few of the lovely flowers that are commonly associated with the color yellow. Wasps are also drawn to the color yellow.

Yellow is the go-to hue for scientific wasp collection, but researchers also tried out white, turquoise, and pink.

The fact that only two of the 356 species of bees and wasps caught in the traps showed a preference for colors other than yellow or white is also intriguing.

This indicates that those two species are probably color specialists, either in the flowers they prefer or the animals they hunt.

While most wasps get their nutrition through preying on other insects and spiders, there are a few species that subsist entirely on nectar and other forms of sugar and carbohydrates.

These vegetarian wasps acquire some of their nutrition from honey produced by bees. Another possible explanation for the color yellow’s appeal to wasps.

Yellow wasp traps tend to get the best reviews, so keep that in mind if you’re shopping for any to keep about the house. The included hanger makes it easy to mount the device in high-wasp regions.

 

5. Pink Color Attract Wasps

Our brains mash together red and purple and spit out pink as a result. However, you may recall that we previously mentioned wasps’ inability to distinguish between different shades of red.

What makes this color scheme so intriguing is that very fact!

At the Agricultural University of Athens, researchers looked into several color wasp traps to see which one would be most effective for removing unwanted wasps from bee apiaries.

Most wasps were caught in pink traps, then yellow, and finally white. The Oriental Hornet was the most often caught wasp in this research.

Wasps feed on insects such as flies, grasshoppers, and nectar. Oriental hornets, on the other hand, have been observed feeding on bits of fresh and rotting meat and fish.

The study didn’t look into whether or not this has anything to do with their fondness for pink.

 

Read also: How Long Do Wasps Live?

 

What Colors Repels Wasps?

Bees also pay attention to a single hue. In general, bees avoid dark hues. The closer to black anything is, the less likely a bee is to like it.

For one thing, black isn’t typically linked with the flowers that bees like best. Brown fits this description too. But bees have a much stronger aversion to the color black than they do to brown.

A bee’s tiny brain associates the color black with some of the deadliest predators it would encounter in the wild.

Visualize the worst day of your life taking place in a pitch-black building. This is reminiscent of a bee’s initial reaction to a new hue.

Black does tend to make bees more nervous, wary, or even hostile than they may be in other situations, but this isn’t enough to drive away a bee.

 

How to Use Colors to Repel Wasps

Should you, then take advice from The Rolling Stones and cover your house in black to ward off the wasps?

Avoiding wasps in your garden or on your porch doesn’t require you to plant only dark-colored flowers. Most wasps will avoid contact with humans and only defend their nests if they feel threatened.

Therefore, if you want to utilize color to deter wasps, it’s better to avoid the five hues that draw them in the most: yellow, white, green, purple, and pink.

Your yard will be less appealing to wasps if you use fewer of these colors.

If you really can’t bear to part with your bright pink wind chime or your sunny yellow tulips, you could always try using scent deterrents to keep the wasps away.

 

Read also: At What Temperature Do Wasps Die?

 

Concluding on “What Colors Attract Wasps”

Now that you know the colors that attract wasps, your porch and yard may be humming with wasps because of the colors you’ve chosen for your flowers and decorations.

I hope this article was helpful to you. Drop your take in the comments sections as we’re hoping to hear your view of colors that attract wasps.

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