In this blog we explore the question: "Do Yellowjacket Traps actually work? " We feel they work very well, however we noticed that Yellowjacket Traps work best during late Spring and early Summer months.
While Bees and Wasps are beneficial pollinators, yellowjackets are particularly obnoxious. They seem to be the only wasps that climb onto our hummingbird feeders regularly, they can be found in our terracotta plates full of dried mealworms, and we have even seen them drive away birds from a meal in some situations. Of course, running over a nest with a lawn mower is never fun either. But what can we do about it? How can we reduce the number of yellowjackets and also keep the majority from interfering with your backyard birding adventures?
I strongly recommend yellowjacket traps for this! If anyone asks you the question "Do Yellowjacket Traps actually work?" You'll be able to tell them with certainty - They really do work. In fact, this year so far I have likely dumped out well over a hundred yellowjackets from our single trap. Here’s how it works:
There is a small cotton ball or cotton pad that you pour special, concentrated nectar onto.
This cotton ball/pad is inserted inside the plastic trap, which is essentially a funnel with holes at the bottom which are the exact size of a yellowjacket. Smaller pollinators like bees or even larger wasps will not fit or are small enough that they won’t get stuck and can climb back out.
The 3 pieces of the trap snap together and can be quickly hung from a hook, cable, or low-hanging tree limb. You’ll want to position this someplace fa bit further from your house and feeders. I’d recommend 30-50ft or further from your porch/deck or feeders if you have the space. You don't want to be attracting Yellowjackets any closer to your door!
Here is the direct link to the product on Amazon: Yellow Jacket Traps (2-pack) If you intend to empty out the trap of all the dead yellow jackets, do so at dusk, as they are typically less active at this point in the day and you are then also far less likely to encounter any live ones. The nectar slowly loses its effectiveness and typically you will want to replace the cotton ball, or at least refresh the nectar once each month or month and a half.
The Rescue! brand Yellow Jacket traps allow the insects to crawl inside from the bottom of the trap, but they find it impossible to leave. The hole sizes have been engineered to allow Yellow Jackets specifically, but larger and smaller wasps either won’t fit, or won’t get stuck! In fact, we have tested this and only have found dead yellow-jackets inside of our trap, now in the second year of usage!
This trap has been busy for about a month. (May-June) It is time to take it down, ideally at dusk before the Yellow Jackets are too active, clean it out and refill the attractant concentrated nectar. This is our 3rd or 4th trap full of them this year!
Once again, here is a link to the yellowjacket trap we use, and it has been working even better than we expected!
Direct Product Link: Rescue! Brand – Yellow Jacket Traps 2-pack
The package indicates that this trap is ideally placed in early Spring to eliminate future Queens and prevent them from building new nests. We didn’t catch any queens this time around, but we are hopeful for next Spring. Also, the activity was slow at first. Maybe only 3-5 yellowjackets per week were trapped for April-May. But once the weather became warm, and eventually just hot, there were fewer food sources available and the trap quickly began to fill with these pesky wasps!
Does Rescue! make any other traps for garden pests? You bet! They have an entire arsenal to help get rid of various Wasps, Gnats, Fruit Flies, House Flies, Japanese Beetles, Ants, Moths, Carpenter bees and more! Check out their Amazon store here: Rescue! Amazon Store link.
Have you tried another brand or style of trap from Rescue! or another company?
We’d love to hear about your experience! Please leave us a comment below!
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