We have a planter outside our office that our local floralia people plant every year. For the past four years, we have wasps or hornets that have burrowed into the dirt and attack when we are weeding the planter. It is very cold here in Iowa now so wondering what would be the best way to approach this problem so we can kill them before next spring when we plant again??

This is an easy one. Of course you could change the dirt in the planter to remove any eggs or pupae overwintering. You might think this would solve the problem, right? Unfortunately it won’t work. Basically new ones will find the area because there will be marking scent left by previous wasps who will have left the scent to alert others about the opportunity to nest in the area. This scent will attract new wasps next spring and the same problem will develop for sure.

So to stop this from happening, you only need to spray the plants and dirt with a solution of ADONIS. Do this in the spring as the outside air begins to warm. This would be in March or April to start.

Plan on applying 1 gallon of mixed solution to every 500 sq/ft of dirt and/or plant foliage. A single treatment will keep things from developing for at least 3-6 months if not all of the season.

This treatment can be applied to the planter using a 1 or 5 gallon bucket. You can also use a basic watering can. Adonis will work as a systemic and embed itself into the dirt lasting many months. Its odorless too so no one will know its been used. After the application is made, any pest trying to use it for nesting will die and the residual will last 3-6 months.