The best bug zappers for wasps

Why a hanging zapper does not catch wasps

A bug zapper is a UV light over an electrified grid. It catches insects that fly toward UV light at night. That describes moths, midges, caddisflies and a long list of small flies. It does not describe wasps.

Wasps are diurnal. They forage during the day and return to the nest at dusk. The hours a zapper is doing its work are the hours wasps are not flying.

Wasps hunt by sight and smell, not by light. A social wasp is looking for protein in spring and summer and sugar in late summer — caterpillars, aphids, carrion, your drink, the barbecue, fallen fruit. UV light is not part of that search.

The well-documented zapper problem applies here too. University of Florida IFAS testing found that the overwhelming majority of a zapper's catch is harmless non-target insects, with mosquitoes a tiny fraction. The same reasoning that makes a zapper a poor mosquito product makes it a poor wasp product, and for the same reason: no lure the target species actually tracks. Do bug zappers work has that testing in full.

So if the question is "which hanging zapper kills wasps best", the truthful answer is that none of them do it well, and we would rather say so than sell you one on a false premise.

What does work on wasps

A handheld electrified racket. This is the genuine zapper answer. It is aimed, it is instant, it works in daylight, and for the specific problem of a wasp in the kitchen or circling the table it is the correct tool. A racket with multiple mesh layers is what you want, because a wasp takes a deliberate swing and you do not want a finger reaching the live layer.

A baited wasp trap, sited far away. Wasps respond to lures — protein early in the season, sugar late. A trap works, and like any bait trap it must be hung well away from where people are, because it pulls wasps toward it. Thirty feet or more, downwind.

Removing the food. Late-summer wasp aggression around a patio is a sugar problem: open drinks, fallen fruit, an uncovered bin, a sticky table, a barbecue. Covering the food and sweeping the fruit changes the situation more than any device. The same logic and the same measures as keeping flies away from food outdoors.

Leaving the nest alone, or calling someone. A nest in a wall cavity, a soffit, a roof void or underground is not a DIY job. Wasps defend a nest collectively and sting repeatedly, and an aerosol fired at a nest entrance in a wall often provokes exactly what you were trying to avoid. If anyone in the household has a sting allergy, that is not a judgement call — call a professional.

Not sealing the entrance. Blocking a nest's exterior entry hole makes the colony chew its way inward, which in a wall cavity means into the house.

What to look for

Multi-layer mesh on a racket. The one specification worth paying for. Outer shield layers mean a finger — yours or a child's — cannot reach the charged mesh. On a wasp, where the swing is deliberate and the insect is large, that matters more than on a mosquito.

A rigid frame. You will swing harder at a wasp than at a midge. Bargain rackets flex and crack.

AA batteries rather than a charging cable, so it works when you pick it up in August.

For a mains zapper, build quality and a replaceable bulb. If you are buying one for the general flying-insect load, a durable housing and a bulb you can replace for a few dollars is the difference between a seasonal product and a disposable one.

Stated coverage, read as a maximum. Both mains units here state up to an acre or half an acre. Those are open-ground figures under favorable conditions.

Honest expectations about the catch. A grid with no lure catches what flies into a light. If you are content with that — fewer moths and midges around the porch — a zapper is a reasonable purchase. If you were buying it for wasps or mosquitoes, it is not.

How the four compare

Built from each product's own stated specifications.

The table makes the recommendation for you. For wasps, the top two rows are the only ones that say yes.

Where to put a mains zapper, if you buy one

Away from where you sit. It is a lure for whatever it does attract. Twenty to forty feet from the patio, not above the table.

Away from food. An electrified grid drops insect fragments. That rules out above an outdoor kitchen, a barbecue or a feed store.

Not above a stall or animal housing, for the same reason — best fly traps for barns covers the livestock case.

Where it can run in the dark. A zapper competing with a porch light or a street lamp catches almost nothing.

Not as mosquito control. If mosquitoes are the actual problem, the products that work are a repeller for the seating area and BTI larvicide in standing water — DynaTrap vs Thermacell lays out that choice, and bug zapper vs mosquito trap explains why the trap category is different.

What to skip

• Buying a hanging zapper specifically for wasps. The premise does not hold.
• Aerosol wasp spray at a nest in a wall, soffit or roof void. Provokes a defensive response in a confined space you are standing next to.
• Blocking a nest entrance. The colony chews inward, often into the house.
• A bait trap near the table. Correct product, wrong place — it concentrates wasps where you are sitting.
• Swatting a wasp near a nest. A crushed wasp releases alarm pheromone, which recruits others.
• Any device claiming to repel wasps with sound. No credible evidence, same as every other ultrasonic claim.

The short version

Hanging bug zappers barely touch wasps, because wasps fly by day and do not track UV light. If you want a zapper for wasps, buy a handheld racket with multi-layer mesh and keep it by the door. If you want a mains zapper for the general moth-and-midge load around a porch, the Flowtron is the durable choice and the GOOTOP is the cheap one — just buy either with honest expectations. For wasps around food, cover the food and hang a baited wasp trap thirty feet away; for a nest in a structure, call someone.