# Is Apple cider vinegar necessary to attract SHB into a Beetle Blaster?



## JustinH (Nov 11, 2013)

Is Apple cider vinegar necessary to attract SHB into a Beetle Blaster filled with Food Grade Mineral Oil or will the bees just herd them in there?


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## apis maximus (Apr 4, 2011)

I don't think it's "necessary"...although the SHB do like aromatic compounds, and are attracted to some of them.

It is a bit more complicated, but it is a very interesting topic.

Here is a link with Dr. Teal, presenting some really good/interesting approaches to dealing with this nasty bug. I was going to try some of the methods he talks about.

Particularly making the trap with pollen baited with beetles, outside the hives, where the beetles would go. But like a lot of other projects on my list, it just got on the back burner.

The quality of the presentation is not the best, but the info in it is GREAT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G__D8rlqdoU

Also, in print, by the same author a very good resource and information on the same topic:
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4494154?sid=21105105009071&uid=3739256&uid=2&uid=3739776&uid=4


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## AL from Georgia (Jul 14, 2014)

I used beetle blaster traps for the first time last year with no apple cider vinegar, just FGMO. They seemed to work great with no vinegar in my experience.


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## JustinH (Nov 11, 2013)

Thanks Apis. As a treatment free beek, I want to disturb the delicate hive ecology and microbes in the bees' gut as little as possible. I wonder if the vinegar and FGMO will have any adverse effects on the colony? My hives have not been run over by the beetles but I do see quite a few (20?) each time I inspect. I've just been crushing them with the hive tool and sometimes I'll squish them inside a cell with tweezers. 

I want to be more proactive this year. The Beetle Blasters are cheap and I've only got 4 hives and I've got lots of time to spend with the bees.


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## AR Beekeeper (Sep 25, 2008)

Since the vinegar and oil is in the trap and the bees don't have access to it unless it is spilled it should not affect the bees gut. The odor of the vinegar would mix with the pheromones in the colony, but some use vinegar in syrup or sugar cakes and report no problems.


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## apis maximus (Apr 4, 2011)

JustinH,

I understand. If you really want to get on a SHB killing campaign, without disturbing your hive ecology, then Dr. Teal's approaches would achieve that hands down. You get those SHB that you currently whack with your hive tool or catch with your tweezers and they become your seed material...for the trap(s) outside the hives.

Can't comment on the FGMO...I have not tried it...don't care to either. 

On the other hand, a strong, healthy hive would have no issues at all, kicking some SHB butt. No traps, no nothing. Them SHB would have to reproduce in order to do damage to the hive. 
They do that very well on the weak, stressed out hives.

Good luck!


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

I have used old french fry oil...... works just fine as an attractant....


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