Wasp Bane traps

[crazy_bull]

Anyone used them?

Are they as good as the marketing bumph would have us believe?

I have already got a problem with wasps at one site that jam jars/ lemonade bottles etc doesn't seem cope with (its an away site that get visited once a week)

Your thoughts please,

At £20+ it ought to work! But if it really does work then £20 is cheap as apposed to loosing a hive!


C B

 

[victor meldrew]

These traps are no more effective than the majority of home brew ones

The only difference is the supposed ease of operation (with no contact between operator and live wasp)
The ubiquitous pop bottle trap is totally disposable therefore no contact risk is involve . IE instead of replacing the bait, simply replace the whole shooting match .

John Wilkinson

 

[crazy_bull]

These traps are no more effective than the majority of home brew ones

The only difference is the supposed ease of operation (with no contact between operator and live wasp)
The ubiquitous pop bottle trap is totally disposable therefore no contact risk is involve . IE instead of replacing the bait, simply replace the whole shooting match .

John Wilkinson

Have you tried one John, I admit I am leaning towards your point of view as i have dozens of traps that trap hundreds of wasps with ease (although they keep on coming!) i think i'll keep on with those ones unless anyone has first hand experience of the Wasp Bane trap and says it is miles better than any bottle/jar contraption!

Thanks

C B

 

[victor meldrew]

Have you tried one John, I admit I am leaning towards your point of view as i have dozens of traps that trap hundreds of wasps with ease (although they keep on coming!) i think i'll keep on with those ones unless anyone has first hand experience of the Wasp Bane trap and says it is miles better than any bottle/jar contraption!

Thanks

C B

No I haven't used one but have seen a video of the product.
The mechanics of wasp traps are self evident , their effectiveness is really down to the attractant , which of course should be irresistible to the wasp whilst being very resistible to the bee .
I'd like to add, that I long ago , ceased putting wasp traps in the vicinity of my hives , I hang them in the trees 20 /30 yards away .
Experience is a great tutor .
One year I put traps around the hives early in the season, reasoning that if I caught enough ,early enough it would be a bonus . In practice it attracted wasps to the apiary in ever increasing numbers, yes I caught thousands but there were tens of thousands , enough to cause the hives to be attacked .

John Wilinson

John Wilkinson

 

[Skyhook]

The mechanics of wasp traps are self evident , their effectiveness is really down to the attractant , which of course should be irresistible to the wasp whilst being very resistible to the bee

What do people find the best attractant? I have a wasp trap with watered down golden syrup and strawberry jam, which I thought would be ideal, but they fly straight past it.

Favourite recipes please?

 

[alex]

about a dozen cherries in water - they can't seem to resist them. They're in season now while the wasps are a problem. I use a 2litre plastic bottle with the top section inverted and replace it weekly (full of dead wasps usually!)

 

[buzz lightyear]

Strong sugar solution, rotten fruit and a bit of cat food with a dash of viniger, irresitable to wasps, never got a bee yet!

 

[victor meldrew]

Recipes are myriad, I must have tried them all . You can pay through the nose for propriety stuff .
To save all the mashing and mixing , simply buy a large bottle of cheapo bog standard super market prune juice, it works just fine .
You can always sweeten it a little .
Also handy to have if you're a little sluggish

John Wilkinson

 

[m100]

Weak sugar solution maybe up to 0.5kg per litre, couple of table spoons of 29p strawberry jam from Sainsburys, and a slurp of 9p vinegar from Asda all chucked in a Robin Dartington design 4 pint milk bottle wasp trap

Unfortunately there are no pictures with this archived copy

http://web.archive.org/web/20060210132422/http://dartingtonhive.co.uk/wasptrap.html

 

[Bosveldleeu]

I've put mine up about a week ago. So far I've only caught three bees in it. The wasps are still trying to get into the hives, and so far the bees seem to be sorting them out thankfully. Maybe I haven't put the right bait into the chamber (beer,thick syrup and mashed up fruit), or maybe it's just to early in the season, but so far it's not been great.

 

[Silly Bee]

Have you tried one John, I admit I am leaning towards your point of view as i have dozens of traps that trap hundreds of wasps with ease (although they keep on coming!) i think i'll keep on with those ones unless anyone has first hand experience of the Wasp Bane trap and says it is miles better than any bottle/jar contraption!

Thanks

C B

Try and find the nest. Cut out the middleman.

Follow a wasp traveling in a straight line, its going back to the nest.

 

[oliver90owner]

Follow a wasp traveling in a straight line,

Cover some with talc, or similar. Sometmes easier to track them as they return to their nest. Problem starts when half a dozen samples all fly off in different directions - you know you are going to get quite a bit of trouble when that happens!

Regards, RAB

 

[grizzly]

Problem starts when half a dozen samples all fly off in different directions - you know you are going to get quite a bit of trouble when that happens!

I had that this morning, NOT impressed. back to ebay to stock up on foam.

 

[crazy_bull]

Latest on the war on wasps, 4 nests located and destroyed, all underground variety.

Still they keep coming to my honey room, so the latest weapon is a big mains fly zapper which is left on permenantly, all i can say is what a spectacular firework display when a wasp flys into it and the dead wasp heap is getting nearly half way up a 30lb bucket that i keep tipping them into. will post pics when i can.

C B

 

[crazy_bull]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100803/tuk-uk-s-biggest-wasps-nest-found-in-pub-45dbed5.html


Glad i haven't any this big around our way!

 

[gregnut]

Anything sweet and fruity will do. I don't think there's any need to have a restricted opening for the wasps to enter, in fact this may put the wasps off from entering. I use a large glass jar (such as a coffee jar) without a top, and I add a drop of washing-up liquid, which means that as soon as they touch the liquid, they are lost. I've caught one or two moths, but no bees.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

and I add a drop of washing-up liquid, which means that as soon as they touch the liquid, they are lost.

Nice touch

 

[Essexgary]

Anything sweet and fruity will do. I don't think there's any need to have a restricted opening for the wasps to enter, in fact this may put the wasps off from entering. I use a large glass jar (such as a coffee jar) without a top, and I add a drop of washing-up liquid, which means that as soon as they touch the liquid, they are lost. I've caught one or two moths, but no bees.

I used an old tuppaware with a large hole cut in the lid - put syrup and vinegar and some dog food in it - the squirrels loved it last night - licked the pot clean-dry. Going to try the rat-glue today with a dollop of jam. How far away from the hive do you think I should put it (imagine if there's a squirrel stuck to it in the morning!

 

[wojciech]

Wasp Bane

These traps are no more effective than the majority of home brew ones

The only difference is the supposed ease of operation (with no contact between operator and live wasp)
The ubiquitous pop bottle trap is totally disposable therefore no contact risk is involve . IE instead of replacing the bait, simply replace the whole shooting match .

John Wilkinson

I have to agree with you John.

I had terrible problems with wasps last year and in desperation I sent of for a Wasp Bane. I can't say that it did'nt work at all but it was no more effective than the home made traps I had already put out with jam in jam jars with pierced lids. It certainly did'nt divert wasps from attacking my hives and I complained to the manufacturers but the manager who was supposed to get back to me never did.

I certainly do'nt think they offer any advantage over home made traps and are expensive to boot.

 

[rae]

Rat glue!!!