Wasp traps

[JOhnH]

Does anyone know of any GOOD wasp traps? I have made a couple of them using 2 liter soda bottles with sugar water, but have never trapped a wasp.

I can kill the nest and knock it down, but they just make another nest. And I hate spraying all that poison around.

I was on a ladder trimming some tree branches and put my hand on a hidden nest. I almost fell off the ladder, but fortunately, I didn't, but I almost decided to go to the hospital when my hand swelled up to more than double its normal size and it burned like fire.

My wife is on a mission to propagate native Milkweed to attract Monarch butterflies to lay eggs, but the wasps keep killing the caterpillars.

I need to selectively kill wasps and not randomly kill all other pollinators in the process.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I can't help with the wasps, but sugar water is for yellow jackets.
Are these paper wasps/hornets?

 

[GaryM]

Does anyone know of any GOOD wasp traps? I have made a couple of them using 2 liter soda bottles with sugar water, but have never trapped a wasp.

I can kill the nest and knock it down, but they just make another nest. And I hate spraying all that poison around.

I was on a ladder trimming some tree branches and put my hand on a hidden nest. I almost fell off the ladder, but fortunately, I didn't, but I almost decided to go to the hospital when my hand swelled up to more than double its normal size and it burned like fire.

My wife is on a mission to propagate native Milkweed to attract Monarch butterflies to lay eggs, but the wasps keep killing the caterpillars.

I need to selectively kill wasps and not randomly kill all other pollinators in the process.

Wasp sprays are pretty much all pyrethroid based (permethrin, cypermethrin, cyfluthrin, bifenthrin, etc). Those are synthetic analogs of the pyrethrins that chrysanthemums make to ward off pests. Pyrethroids are remarkably safe to mammals, and they break down fairly quickly when exposed to sunlight and oxygen.

If you aren't spraying over flower beds, you're unlikely to cause a problem for pollinating species. Pyrethroids are pretty toxic to fish, so don't spray over the koi pond...but they are very lipophilic, so they won't move with surface or ground water. They stick where they first land.

 

[SoonerAviator]

Best wasp spray I have ever used is the Spectricide Pro brand. No fancy colorful labels, you can usually pick it up at your local HD or Lowes. It will leave a bit of an oily residue for a few days, but it stops the wasps from rebuilding in that area for months. We have TONS of them that love the east-facing adobe brick/brown cedar siding on our house. Before I spray, I can go out at 10am when the sun is heating up the side of the house and see 30+ wasps swarming around it with no nest in sight. I think they like residing in our oak trees and black walnut. I recommend going to tractor supply or similar to get a bottle of Permethrin to use in a weed sprayer and that should be good to treat problem areas without leaving oily residue anywhere and is much less expensive/messy than the cans of wasp spray.

 

[bnt83]

wasps killing caterpillars are after proteins, bate traps with chicken.

Take a board and nail a piece of chicken it, lay board over a bucket or tupperware full of water so that the chicken is suspended over the water (very close to the water) under the board. Wasps land on the chicken take a big bite and when they try to fly away they fall into the water and drown.

 

[JOhnH]

wasps killing caterpillars are after proteins, bate traps with chicken.

Take a board and nail a piece of chicken it, lay board over a bucket or tupperware full of water so that the chicken is suspended over the water (very close to the water) under the board. Wasps land on the chicken take a big bite and when they try to fly away they fall into the water and drown.

Thanks, that makes sense. I'll have try that. I'll also add a few drops of soap to the water to break the surface tension. That keeps many insects from being able to walk on the water and escape.

I'm sure there are many good insecticides, but I'd rather not use them. For one thing, I find wasp nests all over the yard. I'm not going to saturate the whole yard. And for another thing, my wife refuses to let me broadcast pesticides (except in very specific conditions), especially since we live on the edge of the intracoastal waterway.

 

[UngaWunga]

Keep your soda bottle sugar water traps and add some chicken or bacon suspended inside above the water.

 

[AggieMike88]

 

[JOhnH]

Thanks for posting that Mike. It helps to see how the chicken and the board trick works. I was also glad to see that he agreed with me about putting a little dish soap in the water.