Late summer and early fall picnics can be marred by the menace of stinging insects, especially yellow jackets that are attracted to sweet foods sitting on the table. but, the problem can be resolved with the use of low priced store bought or even free homemade yellow jacket traps. If you wish to buy a trap, an online consumer website http://www.galttech.com/research/household-DIY-tools/yellow-jacket-traps.php recommends RESCUE Reusable Yellow Jacket Trap. Rescue traps are inexpensive, ($10.00), and reusable. If you use up the bait you can replace it with something sweet like sugar water or mashed fruit or soft drink. A second choice is Raid Disposable Yellow Jacket Trap (81605) - 4 Pack. These traps cost around $35.00. However, the advantage is that they are disposable, and avoid the need to clean and reuse. A third recommendation is Glass Yellow Jacket & Wasp Trap: by Greenfleet . These traps go for around $20.00 they are reusable, decorative and attract wasps as well as yellow jackets. If you wish, you can {create|build a very effective yellow jacket trap, in a short amount of time at no cost at all. The only supplies neededare an empty 2 liter plastic bottle, some tape or staples, some string and a kitchen knife or hole puncher. Simply follow the step by step instructions. 1. Get hold of an empty 2 liter plastic bottle; a mineral water bottle will do just fine. 2. Cut the topof the bottle off, just where the diameter is as wide as the body. 3. You should now have two plastic pieces, an upper funnel shaped piece and a lower wide jar shaped piece with 4. Now half fill the lower open jar shaped piece with bait.. What can you use for yellow jacket bait? a. In the spring and late winter, when the yellow jackets are mating, use hamburger meat or luncheon meat. The macho yellow jackets are attracted to protein during mating season. b. In the late summer or early fall, yellow jackets are more attracted to sweets. So you should use sweet bait. Possible choices include: honey, cut fruit, jam, root beer, mashed grapes, sugar and water. Additional choices include pieces mashed up grapes or banana. Other bait choices include a 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of water mixture, 1 cup of apple cider vinegar, I banana peel, then half fill the bottle. Lemonade or even Pepsi/soda work. You can, in fact, use anything that yellow jackets have been attracted to at one of your outdoor picnics. c. To add to the effectiveness of the trap, squirt in a couple of tablespoons of dish washing liquid d. Yellow jackets are attracted to the color yellow, so some yellow food coloring may be added, as an extra effect. 5. Now you need to assemble the trap. Invert the top plastic piece, so it looks like a funnel and gently place it down into the lower base piece. Don't forget to remove the plastic top. 6. The top piece, once inserted, should hold in place. 6. Tape and/or staple the top together with the bottom of the bottle. Keep in mind, that if you wish to reuse your trap, you will have to open the two pieces, periodically to clean the insides. 7. Cut two holes in the plastic where the two pieces come together, near the top. Put a string through the holes and use it to hang the bottle. 8. Use a slippery substance such as hot soapy water, dishwashing soap or Vaseline and spread it along the exposed surface of the funnel. This will cause the wasps to lose their footing and fall into the trap. Cooking oil may also be used. 9. Place the traps at a distance of around 20 feet from your eating area. 10. Works best at a height of four feet 11. Works best at around 85 degrees. 12. The trap works because once the yellow jackets fly in, attracted by the bait, they can't get out. The transparent plastic confuses them, and their insect logic tell them to fly to the highest place to escape. The yellow jakets will fly around and around, but rarely see the internal opening to the inverted funnel.When they get tired they fall into the soapy liquid. The viscous fluid, then sticks to the yellow jacket body making it impossible for them to breath. 13. When full replace the trap with a new one or empty it regularly making sure the yellow jackets are dead. You can kill them by filling the bottle full of water, or covering it with plastic and placing it in the freezer until they freeze to death. 14. Replenish the bait every few days. 15. DON'T let live yellow jackets escape as they can bring an angry swarm of wasps. DON'T crush yellow jacket bodies as that emits a smell, which might attract other yellow jackets. You can also free the yellow jackets in the wild, however they may return 16. Bury dead yellow jackets or flush them down the toilet as the dead yellow jackets emit a warning odor to living wasps. Good luck and enjoy your outdoor picnics in safety.
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Late summer and early fall picnics can be marred by the the presence of yellow jackets. These nasty little stinging insects are attracted to sweet foods in the late summer, and while they aren't that agressive, no one likes to munch on picnic food while they swarm around within inches of your face. Now you can build a trap and picnic in peace.
This research has been supported by Entymologist Dovis Davis, Director of A #1 Pest Control Exterminator Bed Bugs, Roach, Animal, Fleas Termite Control
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