# Lucky Yellow-jacket trap



## KelpticFest (Apr 19, 2011)

I've been setting out beer traps for slugs, and find some of them full of drowned yellow jackets. Maybe I'll set one up where I see them hanging around in front of the hive. Or might it attract and drown bees?


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## Ben Franklin (May 3, 2011)

What is a bee trap? Details I want to trap some yellow jackets too.


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## KelpticFest (Apr 19, 2011)

*Beer* trap LOL You take small containers, like tuna or catfood cans, and sink them up to the rim in garden soil where you have slug problems. Then you fill them 2/3 full with beer (apparently they prefer Bud over microbrews ...). The slugs are attracted, fall in, and drown. Empty them somewhere away from your garden (some say chickens like marinated slugs) and refill. When I first put them out last week I was getting 25-30 slugs per can per night. The yellowjackets were just a bonus. I seem to get more of them if I refill the traps early in the day.


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## MichaelShantz (May 9, 2010)

I should have started trapping yellow jackets earlier this spring when the queens were emerging. I've been trapping the last month or so and the traps are filling up but the scene in front of my hives is not pretty. Yellow jackets hover over the landing board, then dive on a honey bee and tumble to the ground where other yellow jackets pile on in a feeding frenzy. Blue belly lizards occasionally zip in to grab a feast, then the ants clean up what is left over. My bees are getting picked off one by one but the hives are now a steam engine of procreation that is unstoppable. Nature red in tooth and claw, ..., or mandible and stinger.


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

What are you using to trap yellow jackets? My normal wasp traps also trap bees.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

Have you considered mounting a robber screen on the entrance to your hive.


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

Actually I have considered it, and I built a robber screen this morning around 5 am, to stop the robber bees. But the yellow jackets aren't bothering my hive, as it has no honey. I was going to install the screen tonight, but opted not to. With the hive in sun, temps in the 100's, if my bees can't find their way out they will cook in their own wastes. So, I refilled the "yard" feeder. With a few days peace, perhaps more larva will hatch and my hive will grow stronger. Eventually the temp will drop, and I'll feel better about installing the robber screen then.

The yellow jackets hitting my ponds and flowers do present a significant stinging risk for my grandchildren, lantana surrounds my front porch, so I do spray any wasp/yj nest that I find. A trap would be simpler


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## mrspock (Feb 1, 2010)

KelpticFest said:


> *Beer* The slugs are attracted, fall in, and drown.


Having observed the process, I've seen that it actually goes more like:

The slugs are attracted, have a sip. Have another sip. Get a buzz. Have another sip. Get quite tipsy. Have another sip. Slug is completely hammered, and upon their next sip, falls in and drowns.


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## MichaelShantz (May 9, 2010)

I use the plastic traps that use the yellow jacket attractant. They sell the attractant separately at Home Depot or other hardware stores. You have to add more attractant after a month or so. I haven't seen a single honey bee in them. Here is the exact trap I use and it works better than others I've tried and has lasted several years. http://beesuitscheap.com/store/item/1z91d/Traps_Lures/Yellow_Jacket_Trap.html


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## kevink (Sep 30, 2010)

Im having major problem with wasps the last few days. i found a DIY wasp trap and decided to give it a go, the follow pics are the result of it 

http://i781.photobucket.com/albums/...5778025_213990928614541_1251908_5353209_n.jpg

http://i781.photobucket.com/albums/...82444705_213990928614541_1251906_683153_n.jpg

All them dead wasps in a little over 24 hours!

The recipe, apparently will not only kill wasps but european hornets, paper hornets, wax moths and yellow jackets! not sure about these, but wasps, it'll defo work 

No bee was harmed in the making of these pictures!


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## Katharina (May 2, 2011)

Do you have a link for these traps and what you use in them?


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## kevink (Sep 30, 2010)

I dont have the link right now (im on my phone) but i used a 2 liter bottle, 7up or coke etc would be perfect with an inch hole drilled in to it near the top and put in the following....

2 cups of water
2 cups of sugar
Half a cup of white vinegar
And 3 or 4 piece's of banana skin (about an inch in length)

I placed the trap about a foot from my nuc

Hope this help you Katharina!


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## Bear Creek Steve (Feb 18, 2009)

Kevink,

What is the recipe in the wasp trap?

Steve


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

I've already built this, guess I should go see what I caught. I hung it for wax moths, in the deep shade under the big tree where my old (dead) hive sat.


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## mrspock (Feb 1, 2010)

I haven't read the whole thread, so apologies in advance if this has already been said:

Regarding bait in wasp traps: Sweet liquid is easier to manage, but may also trap bees. Meat, such as a bit of hot dog, in a pool of water/vegetable oil will only catch wasps.


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## jadell (Jun 19, 2011)

I usually just cut the top of the bottle off, then flip it upside down into itself. They can't get out of that either. Then I just put a banana peel into some water on the inside. Works well here.


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## kevink (Sep 30, 2010)

jadell said:


> I usually just cut the top of the bottle off, then flip it upside down into itself. They can't get out of that either. Then I just put a banana peel into some water on the inside. Works well here.


I saw that trap jadell, but the only problem was that rain can get into it so i decided to go with the hole in the side of the bottle instead


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

My yellow jacket trap was someone else's wax moth trap. Water, sugar, vinegar, banana peel, hung in the shade about 25 ft from my hive. Been up about a week. No bees in it. No wasps or moths visible either. But boy did I catch some ants. I did the 2 liter with a 1 inch hole drilled in the side of the bottle just before it curves open. Cap is on. Hung in a tree.


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## kevink (Sep 30, 2010)

mrspock said:


> I haven't read the whole thread, so apologies in advance if this has already been said:
> 
> Regarding bait in wasp traps: Sweet liquid is easier to manage, but may also trap bees. Meat, such as a bit of hot dog, in a pool of water/vegetable oil will only catch wasps.


Vinegar will do the same, it repells the bees but wasps seem to love it


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## kevink (Sep 30, 2010)

Gypsi said:


> My yellow jacket trap was someone else's wax moth trap. Water, sugar, vinegar, banana peel, hung in the shade about 25 ft from my hive. Been up about a week. No bees in it. No wasps or moths visible either. But boy did I catch some ants. I did the 2 liter with a 1 inch hole drilled in the side of the bottle just before it curves open. Cap is on. Hung in a tree.


maybe its to far from the hive or the fact its dead may mean the wasps have no reason to be there. i put mine a foot from my nuc and got what was in the pictures above. the second trap was the same, there was no liquid left in it when i got there the next day!

Maybe the fact that i found the wasps nest about 30/40 feet away helped with the amount i caught


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

heck, if I find the wasp's nest, I go out at 5 am on a windless morning with a can of wasp spray. I was really after wax moth when I hung the trap. Although I won't miss those ants, they greatly contributed to the failure of my first hive. And the beek's advice that it had to be in deep shade up against that tree trunk.


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## kevink (Sep 30, 2010)

I got the plans on this forum actually but there was nothing about where to put it.

I poured 5 liters of petrol down the opening of the wasps nest hoping the fumes would kill them, no such luck. id loved to of set it on fire but im in the middle of a forest!

Im thinking of putting some wasp spray down it now and then just blocking the entrance


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## mrspock (Feb 1, 2010)

kevink said:


> Vinegar will do the same, it repells the bees but wasps seem to love it


You gotta love that... both baits them and drowns them.

Gotta try it.


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## KelpticFest (Apr 19, 2011)

mrspock said:


> The slugs are attracted, have a sip. Have another sip. Get a buzz. Have another sip. Get quite tipsy. Have another sip. Slug is completely hammered, and upon their next sip, falls in and drowns.


I have no quarrel with them enjoying their deaths as long as they leave my peppers and late strawberries alone.


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## jadell (Jun 19, 2011)

kevink said:


> I saw that trap jadell, but the only problem was that rain can get into it so i decided to go with the hole in the side of the bottle instead


No rain here! A little too dry for my and my bees liking.


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## OSafado (Jun 24, 2011)

kevink said:


> 2 cups of water
> 2 cups of sugar
> Half a cup of white vinegar
> And 3 or 4 piece's of banana skin (about an inch in length)


I added a couple of drops of dish soap, and put it in a mason jar, since I didn't have a plastic bottle. I am amazed at how well it worked. within 5 minutes there were 2 wasps, and 24 hours later there is an inch of wasps. There are a few fruit flies, and house flies, but not a single bee.


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

That's it, I'm moving my trap. Ants are nice but I need to catch yellow jackets.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

caught a dozen horse flies, 2 dozen house flies, 2 small moths in 3-4 days in two containers 20 ft from hive.
Filled the soda container half full giving lots of room for stuff to get trapped.


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## lazy shooter (Jun 3, 2011)

I guess one of the blessing of living in West Texas is the lack of yellow jackets. I seldom see a yellow jacket and can't ever remember seeing hornet. My East Texas relatives have plenty of both. I guess our ground is too hard for yellow jackets.


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## suburbanrancher (Aug 5, 2011)

I used the recipe posted to catch yellow jackets and European Hornets. Lots of them!! Yay! The yellow jackets were destroying my raspberries and the hornets were hanging around the beehives.

Instead of using sugar, I used the soda from the bottles. It took a week and half to lure them, it may have needed to ferment a bit. The green bottle is hard to see but all of that darkness is just piles of yellow jackets and about 4 hornets. There were 4 or 5 hornets in the clear bottle. 

One hornet was actually circling the green bottle trying to find a way in. 

So I was finally able to harvest some raspberries. Thanks for the recipe beesource! 
Pictures are on my blog today.


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## kevink (Sep 30, 2010)

delighted it work for you suburbanrancher and for every one else that used the recipe!

i put another one out today after the 2 i had out filled up!

my nuc is after getting a good bit stronger now so they are well able to defend them selves from a few wasps at this stage thanks to the traps keeping them busy! hahaha


EDIT: just checked out your blog...very good, i think that'll be going in to my favourites!


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## suburbanrancher (Aug 5, 2011)

Thanks kevink. I may need to make another trap and place it by the hives. There is one very determined hornet that I would love to take out but they've got me spooked after that horrible encounter! I tried to throw the hive top feeder on top of it today but as it came near I lost my nerve and ran for the hills...


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## kevink (Sep 30, 2010)

suburbanrancher said:


> There is one very determined hornet that I would love to take out but they've got me spooked after that horrible encounter!


im intrigued! would love to know what happened 

why dont you bring out some syrup spray and when you see the hornets, spray them and when they fall to the ground, "dispose" of them lol


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

When all else fails: hairspray. Aim carefully. Do not step on the affected hornet, I think a needle-nose pliers test could be safely done.


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## suburbanrancher (Aug 5, 2011)

Gypsi-I can't imagine getting that close, I would also have to buy hairspray just for this purpose  I wonder if I could use something like molasses dissolved in water, do you think that would be sticky enough?

Kevin, this is the post where I mention my incredibly, incredibly stupid idea of "catching" the hornet to feed to my chickens: http://suburbanrancher.wordpress.com/2011/09/02/stung/

By the way, I updated the hornet count...wait for it...TWENTY hornets!!! In just those 2 homemade traps! And the yellow jackets are completely uncountable, just masses and masses of them. LOVE IT.


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

I got the yellow jackets off my front porch with some aerosol hairspray my daughters left behind a few years ago, Probably from 4 ft to 6 ft distance. Spray paint would also work, but if you hit something you don't want, it's probably going to change color, LOL.

My luck with pump type spray bottles is that some have range, some do not. Molasses water might be sticky enough, but once it's thin enough not to clog up your sprayer, it might not work. Definitely test on a non-stinging target.


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## suburbanrancher (Aug 5, 2011)

Good point. I like the idea of immobilizing it and then killing it. So far I haven't been able to "surprise" it, 4-6 ft of distance sounds good to me. I'll stop by the store on the way home. If it works I'll post a picture on my blog. I bet my husband would love to get some action shots...LOL!


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## beehugger (Jun 1, 2010)

Wow, I don't understand this at all. I tried it (just eyeballing the amount of ingredients) and the first day all I caught was bees! I emptied it out and did the receipe again, using the exact measurements, and caught nothing but bees again! I thought about adding more vinegar, but I'm kind of afraid to try it again. Are Colorado bees into the sweet-and-sour tastes? Didn't catch a single yellow jacket.


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

Suave aerosol airspray (not the pump bottle) is usually around a dollar. But I haven't bought it in 5 years. 

I only caught ants in the shade, one yellow jacket since I hung a piece of sausage in mine in the sun near the hives. No bees, couple of moths. Given a choice, bees prefer sugar water. I feed sugar water with hbh away from the trap..


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## suburbanrancher (Aug 5, 2011)

beehugger said:


> Wow, I don't understand this at all. I tried it (just eyeballing the amount of ingredients) and the first day all I caught was bees! I emptied it out and did the receipe again, using the exact measurements, and caught nothing but bees again! I thought about adding more vinegar, but I'm kind of afraid to try it again. Are Colorado bees into the sweet-and-sour tastes? Didn't catch a single yellow jacket.


That's very odd, I have my traps within 25' of the 2 hives and haven't caught a single honey bee. Make sure to add enough vinegar. Let it ferment for a few days too with the banana peel, it took mine over a week before it trapped anything. 
I used soda as my sugar, figured HFCS was good enough for the wasps and hornets. You can try using meat as the bait instead, in water or oil I would think. Good luck.


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## tefer2 (Sep 13, 2009)

I used these traps last year and they did the job. This fall I'm catching a bunch of bald faced hornets along with the jackets.


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

I need to buy fresh bananas. Start over. But I'm sure hoping 64 oz juice bottles will work, I don't drink anything that comes in a 2 liter.


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## allniter (Aug 22, 2011)

[1] CUP of liquid dish soap and [1] gallon of water and a pump sprayer will kill any bee type insect --YELLOW JACKETS ---HORNETS ---PAPER WASP ---


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## delber (Dec 26, 2010)

After finding 5 YJ nests on my 1/2 acre property I started using the traps also. I showed my neighbor and he used it also. It works great. I do it a bit differently than what I've read here, however the principal is the same. What I heard is that apple cider vinegar works better, and also that it needs to be a ripe banana peel. I use 1 cup of all three, sugar, the apple cider vinegar, and water. I mix that up and put in a cut up banana peel. (ripe ones that are black spotted etc) I then let that sit for about 3 days closed up in the container on the window sill of our kitchen. Then I add enough water to fill the bottle about 1/2 of the way and cut the hole in the top and hang it. I've found that the vinegar needs to be fresh (We had some that was about 2 years old and it didn't work for anything), the banana peel needs to be cut up or else it gives them a spot to land and get out, and that it needs to sit closed up for a few days. I was going to take the one down last week and replace it (it's been up for a month or so) until I saw that it was still catching wasps / yj's. They sink after about the second or third day that they're in there so there's room for more to come and "drink until there hearts content".  I hope this helps. I also have yet to find a bee any where near the traps.


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## OSafado (Jun 24, 2011)

delber said:


> I was going to take the one down last week and replace it (it's been up for a month or so) until I saw that it was still catching wasps / yj's. They sink after about the second or third day that they're in there so there's room for more to come and "drink until there hearts content".


I haven't found that mine sink, but I am still catching a few per day. After catching literally hundreds, I don't have nearly the problem I had before, so I haven't worried about refreshing the traps, but every time I am out there, i see one or two either struggling in the liquid, or flying into the trap. I think the only thing i will change next year is I will put these out earlier in the year.


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## suburbanrancher (Aug 5, 2011)

I've updated the results of the hornet and wasp traps on my blog if anyone is interested to see how effective these can be.


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

Ok, I hung mine on the front porch near the flowers the yj's have been working. I have had one in the tree by where the old hive was. I have had it hung near my hives. I made fresh solution before I moved it to the porch last monday. I have yellow jackets, but not in the trap. Am I doing something wrong? How large is your entrance hole?


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## kevink (Sep 30, 2010)

the hole i have in mine is an inch in diameter, maybe yours is a bit small but i cant see that been the cause of the trap not working. any chance you could take a few pics an put them up for a look?

try putting the trap right next to the hive, thats where ive put mine and its working great

http://i781.photobucket.com/albums/...9111378_213990928614541_1251905_5114688_n.jpg

and @suburbanrancher

very good, i read ur blog about why u dislike hornets aswell, all ill say is OUCH! lol


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## suburbanrancher (Aug 5, 2011)

The hole is about an inch or larger. I added enough vinegar to where you could really smell it (I was worried about the bees). I hung the traps in the raspberry patch where the YJ's were eating my fruit and about 20 feet away from the hives. It took about a week and half for it to catch anything, I think fermentation was key...
I made up a fresh batch, it's in the house now. I'll put it out in the next couple of days.


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

I make my own traps. Here is a step by step process to make really effective traps for about 75 cents ea.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157627679463823/


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## allniter (Aug 22, 2011)

I didn't like the trap with [1"] hole as good as the one with the top cut off and stapled into the bottom half -remove staples and reload -just like the ones that ALPHA6 made -- [1] C water 
[1[ C SUGAR
[1/2] VINEGAR
[1] BANANA


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## delber (Dec 26, 2010)

I used the above trap also this year and had great success. The key is that it needs to ferment for a little. I would make it up and leave it in a closed container for a week or so, then once I put it out I'd start catching them right away. Other additions I used Apple cider vinegar, and a whole bananna cut up into small pieces. (about 1/2" square) After fermentation the peel will sink to the bottom, then it's ready. It will catch them in my experience for a month at least.


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

I used one cup of each, which means I have twice as much vinegar as I should have. Aha.....It is too sour and may not be fermenting right, although the banana sunk. Got to drink another 2 liter of soda - I bought one just in case. Thank you.


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## delber (Dec 26, 2010)

there's a great ammt. of forgiveness in this. I wouldn't worry. 1/2 cup "extra" vinegar shouldn't matter.


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## suburbanrancher (Aug 5, 2011)

I just eyeballed the amounts, added enough vinegar to make it stinky, chopped up a banana peel. I wouldn't worry about the amounts too much, as delber said, it's a forgiving recipe.


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## suburbanrancher (Aug 5, 2011)

This trap went up before Labor Day weekend, it started trapping wasps and hornets about a week and a half later. This was today:


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## KelpticFest (Apr 19, 2011)

Ick yuck gag barf. It sure seems to work!


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## Intheswamp (Jul 5, 2011)

alpha6 said:


> I make my own traps. Here is a step by step process to make really effective traps for about 75 cents ea.
> 
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157627679463823/


How long do you go between bait changes? 

You use 1:1 sugar water and that is all in regards to liquids?

Have you tried any other meat? Fish, perhaps?

Thanks,
Ed


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## Slow Modem (Oct 6, 2011)

The temperatures here have been in the 70s, the leaves are turning green, the bees are buzzing, the birds are chirping, etc,. etc., etc.

I want to get an early start with yellow jacket traps and get them out before the queens start flying. There's some great information in this thread concerning bait and construction for traps. However, what I'm wondering is when is it time to put them out? Seems to me if all the other bugs are flying, the yellow jackets are probably thinking about it, too. Anybody know?


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## delber (Dec 26, 2010)

If things are popping in your area I'd put them up. I think I'm about 2-3 weeks in my area, but if you put it out "too early" it won't hurt anything. Just make sure you leave them up. (don't take them down in a week or two unless they're full and in my experience they work better with wasps in them) This past summer I left them up for over a month and was still getting wasps in them at that point. They were just absolutely disgusting.


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