# swarm lure recipe



## Pat Brady (Jan 18, 2005)

>Is this good, or is there another recipe any better?

It's may be ok, but a couple of drops of limon-grass oil works good for me.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I've had as good of luck with the straight Lemongrass essential oil as the commercial lures and it's the easiest to make.







But the recipe I learned was:

Geraniol, Nerolic acid and Citral in 1:1:1

I've also seem simply Citral to Gernaiol at 2:1

Guessing from the smell of it naturally and the mixtures I've seen people use, I'd say Citral, Geraniol and Nerolic acid in 2:1:1 would be a pretty good mix.

My guess is the one you have will probably work fine too.


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## Murphy (Jun 7, 2005)

Hi,

Does'nt Citral come from Lemongrass oil, or citrus oils? To distill it they use Gernaiol I believe, I also may be totally wrong.
So in that case, it seems to me straight lemongrass oil would be just as good with less work.

Kieran

[ November 10, 2005, 10:15 PM: Message edited by: Murphy ]


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## Barry Tolson (May 26, 2004)

Bjornbee,
I put out just one bait hive this past year in my back yard with a few drops of lemongrass oil dobbed on the inside and was so surprised that a swarm found it and adopted it as their home. So...I am convinced that just the lemongrass oil is all I need. What were those other ingrediants...citrol and geronial... from that recipe? And...what might those other ingrediants do? I'm not sure I've heard of them before.
Barry
Indianapolis


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## naturebee (Dec 25, 2004)

Bjornbee,

Nasonov Pheromone used for swarm lures is:
1:1:1 mixture of citral: geraniol: geranic acid (geranic + nerolic). 

Geranic acid, is a mixture of the two isomers
geranic + nerolic and can be difficult to find. 

I make up swarm lures using the recipe. 

1 part geranic acid (geranic + nerolic)
1 part citral
1 part geraniol

It's interesting that each of the components doesn't seem to work in swarm hives, but the three of them together serves well as a settling pheromone.

Lemongrass oil also works remarkably well as a settling lure and is much cheaper.

Make sure to keep your ingredients and lures refrigerated.

[ November 11, 2005, 06:40 PM: Message edited by: naturebee ]


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

Anyone have any experience with using Au De Queen (dead queens steeped in alcohol)? If so, how does it stack up against the lemon grass citral stuff?

George-


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## TwT (Aug 5, 2004)

were do you guys find this stuff???? I have never heard of citral or Geroniol!!!!


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Anyone have any experience with using Au De Queen (dead queens steeped in alcohol)? If so, how does it stack up against the lemon grass citral stuff?

I've always used either the lemongrass oil by itself or the queen juice with the lemongrass oil. The queen stuff helps.

>were do you guys find this stuff???? 

It's MUCH easier and cheaper, and in my experiece, just as effective, to get the lemongrass oil essential oil.

If you search the web for geraniol, nerolic acid and citral and perfumery. Lots of places have the citral and geraniol. The Nerolic acid seems to be harder to find.

You might look for geranic acid as it's an isomer of nerolic and they actually are usually together and hard to seperate anyway. Anyone with geranic must also have some nerolic.







And, odds are, if they are selling one it already contains the other.

http://www.gmpct.com/products/essential_oils_perfumery_chemicals.php


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## naturebee (Dec 25, 2004)

Mike wrote:
"Geraniol, Nerolic acid and Citral in 1:1:1"
The Nerolic acid seems to be harder to find."

Harder to find??? Nerolic acid is darn near impossible to find!!! 
Besides, your recipe is missing geranic acid. 

BUT you do not need to find nerolic!

Geranic acid can be purchased in the technical, mixture of isomers, which also contains nerolic acid 

see here:

Geranic acid 
(E)-3,7-Dimethyl-2,6-octadienoic acid 
(technical, mixture of isomers, which also contains nerolic acid)

Nerolic acid
(Z)-3,7-Dimethyl-2,6-octadienoic acid

The recpie is:
1:1:1 mixture of citral:geraniol:nerolic + geranic acids as described previously (Schmidt and Thoenes, 1992) 

To rewrite so it is not confussing: 
The Schmidt Thoene recipe is:
1 part geranic acid (geranic + nerolic)
1 part citral
1 part geraniol


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## Ronnie Elliott (Mar 24, 2004)

I have only used lemongrass oil for the last couple of years, and have caught swarms. 1-2 drops is plenty, and 1-$8.00 bottle will last several years.


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## golddust-twins (Sep 8, 2007)

Pulled this one up from the archives. My question is how does one apply the lemongrass oil or swarm lure? Spray it on a frame of foundation, or in the box or what?

Thanks 
Corinne


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## yoyo (Jun 13, 2007)

ok, where is a source for lemmongrass oil?


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## golddust-twins (Sep 8, 2007)

>ok, where is a source for lemmongrass oil? 

Yoyo, try your health food store or look on the net -- lemongrass essential oil.
My bottle came from my health food store $4.50 for 1/3 oz , company name Wyndmere Naturals, Inc. Can also try Now Foods on the net and see if they have it. Can also try e-Bay...

Corinne


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

you can buy essential oil from Whole Foods or any natural fodo store. You can buy it online too. Just type it in at google.com.


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## kbee (Mar 6, 2005)

Corinne, I just place a few drops of lemongrass oil on the topbars in the swarm trap. I may freshen it with another drop or two as the season progresses.


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## sierrabees (Jul 7, 2006)

I am starting to think that the size of the swarm trap is just as important as the bait. I have about 25 traps out using everything from five frame nuc boxes to 8 frame double deeps and I have more than twice as many nucs. I get about 3 swarms in the double deeps for every one that occupies a nuc. I also use a combiniation of marinade of queen and lemongrass oil.


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## golddust-twins (Sep 8, 2007)

Doug, Thanks for that last post--great info on size of trap. I have heard that size does make a dif but wasn't sure what size. Apparently you must trap quiet a few swarms if you have 25 traps out. This is encouraging because I want to try my hand at trapping this year. I've also heard the marinade of queen and lemongrass oil works real well.

Thanks 
Corinne


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

Doug: do you use nail on a bottom board to the deeps? And do you drill a hole in the box instead of using a landing board?


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## sierrabees (Jul 7, 2006)

Some of them are nail on bottoms with a hole drilled for and entrance, some of them I just tie together with ratcheting straps. I always try to make the entrance really small because I read somewhere that the swarms prefer entrances less than 15 cm sq. I usually depends on where I am going to put them. I have one on the headache board of a friend's old dump truck that I keep secured real tight so he can take it off and put it back on if he needs to use the truck. Some of the ones on low pitch roofs I leave loose enough that I can inspect them if I need to. I tend to use a lot of deck screws to hold things together since they have come out with such great portable drills. Mostly what I do depends on what the landowner finds acceptable and what suits the situation. I have a couple on bee trees where I can take the swarms but can't touch the parent hive and I just mount them on shelf brackets a couple feet above the existing entrance with a little strip of burlap hanging down almost to the entrance to the main hive. If the bees decide to swarm, the burlap makes a great place to hang up and once they get there it is so easy to climb inside. When the box is occupied, I just take out the screws holding the box to the shelf brackets, remove the ratcheting strap that holds it against the tree trunk, and off we go.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

doug: you got pics?


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## sierrabees (Jul 7, 2006)

I have one that the landowner is letting me leave in place over the winter. I'll try to get some pics next time I check it, but being slightly technilogiclly compromised I'm not sure I'll be able to figure out how to post them. It's an interesting tree because the entrance is at ground level and nearly a foot square with the comb showing in the opening. Right now the bees are all in the box above it because the owner wants to develope the property and wanted them extracted.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

Doug:

Maybe I read into this too much but I somtimes find it hard to figure out how to attach the swarm box to a tree.


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## pcelar (Oct 5, 2007)

Ronnie Elliott said:


> I have only used lemongrass oil for the last couple of years, and have caught swarms. 1-2 drops is plenty, and 1-$8.00 bottle will last several years.


Back home, Europe, we always used Lemon Balm. Every beekeeper grows it. I love Lemon Balm tea.


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## Konrad (Oct 7, 2004)

I had good success when placing them high up.
Have a old fuel stand I bought, originally wanted to make a water tower first for the garden but bees came priority, have placed a old hive on top this year and when I noticed some days later after a swarm went in that it was sooo...heavy! I had a terrible time getting it down because there was only some old pallets up as a floor. 
This fall I put a nice floor up and later decided well...it could have a roof. 
As it stands right now it looks like this. 
..
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c97/fruitnut_/Honeybee/IMG_8417_1_4_1.jpg
..
Konrad


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## max2 (Dec 24, 2009)

Nature bee wrote:

"Lemongrass oil also works remarkably well as a settling lure and is much cheaper.

Make sure to keep your ingredients and lures refrigerated.


I wonder why Lemon grass oil needs to be refrigerated?
If kept in a closed bottle, what would be lost?
It does not seem to go "off" 
Just curious as I can get lemon grass oil at a good price in Cambodia nut the other ingredients are expensive.


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