Interesting?

[paul]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...-Asian-hornet-threatens-native-honeybees.html

 

[Bcrazy]

If it aint one fing its anover.

 

[Rosti]

If they eventually rob the hive can they be attarcted to a wasp trap like common jaspers then? Just got mine out ready for this season as it happens, best make the entrance holes bigger!

 

[Midland Beek]

Those traps will attract wasps from miles around.

 

[Rosti]

Those traps will attract wasps from miles around.

Yep, then trap them and then kill them. The trick is putting them close enough to hives to attract the wasps by preference and then deal with them but not so close the hives are put at risk, a few litres of dead wasp soup a year and no hive attacks from wasps says I'm right! For info I protect with three of these at a radius of about 20-25m from the hives.

 

[Mike a]

Rosti

Can I ask what you are using as bait. It looks like orange juice ?

 

[ryan_220]

I did the same works well
And oneday after haveing a bad day i tracked the wasp nest down and one cup of Petrol = no wasp nest

 

[Rosti]

Cheap orange juice and a couple of small pieces of cut soft fruit to get it to ferment, attracts the wasps but the bees don't go near. You must shield the entrance or it gets diluted by rain

 

[jezd]

had wasps already around hives here, i like those traps

 

[Midland Beek]

Yep, then trap them and then kill them.

But what about the ones you attract from miles around to your apiary, but what don't end up in your traps?

I am not much into killing things. But there are some people who never grow out of that mindset.

I try to keep strong and healthy colonies, and I have never had a problem with wasps. Even when one year I could spit from my apiary to a wasps nest in the ground.

We are supposed to be beekeeepers and kind of enlightened in some small way. You lot sound like the neonicitoid brigade.

Kill. Kill. Kill.

 

[Rosti]

There is room for differing opinions and differing management strategies here which will reflect a persons values and objectives and I venture how succesful their apiary is. Most of the UK countryside and it's fauna is as it is because of mans manipulation, like it or not!

Wasps have their place of course, they are one of the major natural scavengers, and they eat insects such as flies and caterpillars, when the insect protein sources run out apiaries can be a one stop shop for them.

If food sources for wasps are plentiful then I do not accept that my traps will attract from miles around - they are afterall no more or less attractive to a wasp than a rotten apple on the ground would be - or a rubbish bin - a dropped ice-lolly etc! If they are in range and attracted then there is no question that I want them in my traps not in my hives.

If you are looking for an 'eco' balance to assist your decison which does more good to the general environment, pollinating bees or predatory wasps?

I'd enjoy reading alternative view points. R