Wasp traps

[gavin]

OK, here are my thoughts on wasp traps. Nasty business all round, and most of my colonies with entrance reducers over mesh floors look OK, but one on a heather floor has been getting massacred. It had been the strongest colony remaining on the site after I took two off to the heather.

On Sunday evening I set up four wasp traps, and at lunchtime today/yesterday, less than 48 hours later, they had drowned hundreds of them. Really easy to set up.

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The one that worked the best was a clear Tesco Perthshire (of course) Spring Water 2l bottle. The idea came, I think, from the Irish Beekeeping list and involves cutting small holes (about 5 for me) about 1/3 of the way up. Above that, 2/3 of the way up, a couple of bands of duck tape. In goes the magic mix, then screw the top back on and sit on the ground beside the hive or just park it on the roof. The small holes were originally supposed to be the diameter of a thick straw and round, but now I just make two quick cuts with a Stanley knife blade and fold back a triangle to expose a small triangular hole. The clear plastic filled quickly with wasps whereas the green one seemed less effective.

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The idea seems to be that the odour of the mix attracts the wasps in quickly, and when they wish to leave they fly up to the light above the dark bands. Soon they fall into the mix and - until the bodies are too thick - drown.

One of those white rectangular 4 pint milk containers was also tried. This caught wasps, but not nearly as many as the other traps.

I also tried just a water bottle with the mix in and the blue top removed - it worked quite well too.

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A traditional design involves cutting off the top of the bottle and re-inserting it, inverted, then stapling or taping to make it wasp-tight. The trouble with that one is that - unless you arrange a hat of some kind - it also acts as a rain gauge. The other issue with them is that they are not easily emptied and replenished.

The mix? Something fruity (fruit juice, jam, actual fruit) plus a small pile of sugar, plus more water and a good glug of vinegar. Then a couple of drops of washing-up liquid to hasten the drowning and make escape unlikely.

There is a little more in my Blog (http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/entry.php?84-Wasps%21).

The idea was gleaned from the Irish Beekeeping List at Yahoo and contributed by Miroslav Farkaš from Croatia.

http://www.pcelinjak.com/content/view/62/146/

[Alvearium]

Great idea Gavin; years ago I got a job lot of hundreds of external cone escapes for WBC roofs from a business closing down in Leith. These can be inverted and fitted into a hole in lids of old honey jars.
Same idea as wasps can get in but not out. Over the weekend I was really worried about wasps after reading your experiences ......but hardly any when I visiited my apiaries. Why? Are the hives too strong so they've all hot footed it to Errol? Maybe they tune in to the Forum?
Alvearium

[Alvearium]

Sorry gavin for my 'waspish' sense of humour. :)

[gavin]

Hmmnnn ....

Closing down the entrance to the minimum, and doing it early enough so that the wasps don't realise that there is an easy target, is probably a good preventative measure. There were wasps trying to get into every colony but just that one was being overwhelmed. If you didn't catch it in my blog, the idea was posted elsewhere last year, perhaps on the Irish List.

Wasps are reputed to fly shorter distances than bees, so every site will be different. However more people than usual are reporting problems - my apiary has had wasps every year but this was the worst.

[Calumvs]

Slightly off topic, but we had a wasps' nest over summer in the bird box. About a month ago they just vanished. No bike, no wasps now. I didn't realises that wasps flit.

[Gscot]

Hi, Have been bothered with wasps also and the trap looks a good idea. What stops the bees from entering the trap.Was just about to make one and leave it out and a thought came that I could kill a load of bees.At the moment I have been spending some time killing wasps with a swat.

[gavin]

Bees just don't seem to be interested. I've never seen one in that kind of trap. The glug of vinegar probably both attracts the wasps and repels bees, but even when I've left out the vinegar bees don't go in.

G.

[Adam]

I've tried your method, Gavin and opaque bottles - like milk bottles don't seem to work as well.
I think the mix is important to get them interested in the first place.

Post-script

I have done an experiment with three chear plastic bottles, all with the same mixture in it and on the same site. One had sarsons malt vinegar, one had 'non-brewed condiment' which is what fish and chip shops use and the other had no vinegar at all. The one with malt vinegar got less wasps that the other two which were broadly the same.
The mixture per bottle was a dollop of jam, a couple of manky squashed plums which I poked through the neck of the bottle, plus sugar and water.