Kepping Yellow Jackets Away from your Outdoor Table with an Inexpensive or Free Homemade Trap

Late summer and fall picnics can be ruined by the presence of stinging insects, especially yellow jackets that are attracted to sweet foods placed on the table. but, the problem can be resolved with the use of inexpensive 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 low priced, ($10.00), and reusable. If you exhaust 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 build a very effective yellow jacket trap, in a few minutes at no cost at all. The only supplies needed are an empty 2 liter plastic bottle, some tape or staples, some string and a kitchen knife or hole puncher. Just follow the instructions.

1. Take an empty 2 liter plastic bottle; a mineral water bottle will do just fine.

2. Cut the top off, just where the diameter has become as wide as the body.

3. Fill the empty bottle partially full of bait.
a. Yellow jackets like protein in the spring, so if it's springtime you will use a chunk of meat.
b. If it's late summer, when yellow jackets are most aggressive, use something sweet, like fruit chunks. They love 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 killing power of the trap, squirt in a couple of tablespoons of dish washing liquid
d. A little bit of yellow food coloring can also be added as the color yellow attracts them.

4. Now invert the top of the plastic bottle, upside down, so that it resembles a funnel, and place it inside the lower half of the bottle. Remember to remove the plastic top.

5. It should hold in place, depending on the bottle shape.

6. Tape and/or staple the top and bottom together.

7. Cut two holes in the plastic where the two pieces come together, near the top. Put string through the holes and use 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 trap about 20 feet from the picnic table.

10. The trap works best at a height of about four feet.

11. The trap works best at around 85 degrees.

12. The yellow jackets will fly in, attracted to the sweet. When they try and leave, insect logic dictates they should look for the highest point to exit. They will fly around, but miss the inverted opening. When they get tired they will fall into the soapy liquid. The soapy liquid, will stick to the yellow jacket's body making it impossible for them to breath.

13. When the trap is full, you can replace it with a new one or else, empty the trap regularly making sure the yellow jackets are dead. You can kill the yellow jackets by filling the bottle full of water, or covering it with plastic and placing it in the freezer until the yellow jackets 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 insects. The frenzy of the trapped yellow jackets, inside the bottle, will also attract yellow jackets. However, they will be more likely to fly into the trap. 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 yellow jackets.

Good luck and enjoy your outdoor picnics in safety.

Article Source: http://www.free-article-info.com/ArticleDashboard

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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