North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[tanis cuff <tanistanis@hotmail.com>]

Speacking of experiments, I'm interested in which of the traps described in 
this string catch the fewest non-target species.  Would be a shame if we're 
reducing beneficials along with the yellow jackets.

The ground-nesting y.jackets I see-- in sWI yard in the woods w/ light soil-- 
are all in old mole tunnels.  I never tried to reduce the mole population 
(life is too short), and the hollows they make just below soil surface seem 
preferred by y.jackets.  And the softened soil is preferred by skunks for 
digging up the nests.



> From: jfruth
> To: nafex
> Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2008 07:46:58 -0500
> CC: jakuehn@verizon.net
> Subject: [NAFEX] Catching Yellow Jackets
>
> I use yellow jacket traps that I bought at a local farm store. They are
> a canning jar at the bottom and a special cap that has three tubes that
> extend an inch, or so, below the top of the cap and there is a (black)
> shield covering the top of the holes, about an inch up so that the critters
> can't see anything but blackness if they look out the tubes they entered
> with. The very top of the cap is a bright yellow to attract insects as they
> fly by.
> For bait I use 1/4 cup honey and 1/4 cup hot water - hot is needed to
> dissolve the honey to obtain a dilute solution. I place the traps in the
> sun which continually propels the honey aroma out of the jar even after
> there is an inch, or more, of dead bugs in it.
> I use these traps when I pick blackberries and they RARELY catch a honey
> bee and have never caught a Bumble Bee.
>
> Jim Fruth
> Brambleberry Farm

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