Pilot
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2004
- Messages
- 1,219
- Location
- Oregon
- Tractor
- JD 770, Yanmar 180D, JD 420 (not running), had a Kubota B6200
As soon as the temps start hitting the mid 70's, the queens will be out looking for a home. They will be active for about a month and then workers will start to appear. In northwest Oregon, late May and June are the usual times to catch them, depending on weather. By July 1 it is too late.
Queens are the only yellowjackets that survive the winter. They can be seen for about a month, then all you see are workers. By that time the queens are in the nest where they will live until winter and they will die off with this year's workers. New queens will replace them next year.
If you are catching workers you are too late--the queen will be in the nest pumping out replacements as fast as you can trap them.
Queens look like very large workers.
The best traps are the ones that use pheromones. Yellowjackets change their diet over the course of the summer starting as vegetarians and changing to meat eaters--that's when you see them cleaning up the front of your pickup truck.
You can use fruit juice and meat as bait but they have to be used at the right time and I have no idea which works on the queens. The pheromones work best--by far.
You can buy traps thru Amazon or at a hardware store. I tried about 3 or 4 kinds of traps until I started using those called "Rescue". They really worked, so that's all I have bought for the last 15 years. Other brands may be just as good now, but you take your chances. Hardware stores often don't stock the traps until midsummer when people get hammered by the workers, and as I said at that point it's too late.
Important: If the queens are active and you aren't catching any, move the trap. Don't wait more than a couple days as you only have a short effective trapping season. I usually have 3 or 4 traps out and catch 90% of them in one spot--and that's about 50 queens. Probably related to what is going on at my neighbor's property. But think about those 50 queens: Probably 50,000 workers.
The Rescue traps are not 100% effective. If you watch, some queens will get in and then later escape, but most don't. If the trap is in a sunny location, they will have less time to escape before they get overcome by the heat.
You can make your own traps, but if you do, I strongly suggest you use the pheromone, which you can buy to replenish the Rescue traps.
Trapping yellowjacket queens can make a huge impact on your yellowjacket problems. Until I found the Rescue traps we had lots of the critters around here. We still have a few, but they are only a minor nuisance now.
Lastly, these traps only catch yellowjackets--they won't catch hornets or other stinging insects. New Info: Rescue now has a trap they call a W-H-Y trap which they say will catch hornets as well as yellowjackets and paper wasps. I have not tried one of these so I can't vouch for their effectiveness. Might try one this year.
No, I have no relationship with Rescue. I simply recommend them because they have worked for me.
Queens are the only yellowjackets that survive the winter. They can be seen for about a month, then all you see are workers. By that time the queens are in the nest where they will live until winter and they will die off with this year's workers. New queens will replace them next year.
If you are catching workers you are too late--the queen will be in the nest pumping out replacements as fast as you can trap them.
Queens look like very large workers.
The best traps are the ones that use pheromones. Yellowjackets change their diet over the course of the summer starting as vegetarians and changing to meat eaters--that's when you see them cleaning up the front of your pickup truck.
You can use fruit juice and meat as bait but they have to be used at the right time and I have no idea which works on the queens. The pheromones work best--by far.
You can buy traps thru Amazon or at a hardware store. I tried about 3 or 4 kinds of traps until I started using those called "Rescue". They really worked, so that's all I have bought for the last 15 years. Other brands may be just as good now, but you take your chances. Hardware stores often don't stock the traps until midsummer when people get hammered by the workers, and as I said at that point it's too late.
Important: If the queens are active and you aren't catching any, move the trap. Don't wait more than a couple days as you only have a short effective trapping season. I usually have 3 or 4 traps out and catch 90% of them in one spot--and that's about 50 queens. Probably related to what is going on at my neighbor's property. But think about those 50 queens: Probably 50,000 workers.
The Rescue traps are not 100% effective. If you watch, some queens will get in and then later escape, but most don't. If the trap is in a sunny location, they will have less time to escape before they get overcome by the heat.
You can make your own traps, but if you do, I strongly suggest you use the pheromone, which you can buy to replenish the Rescue traps.
Trapping yellowjacket queens can make a huge impact on your yellowjacket problems. Until I found the Rescue traps we had lots of the critters around here. We still have a few, but they are only a minor nuisance now.
Lastly, these traps only catch yellowjackets--they won't catch hornets or other stinging insects. New Info: Rescue now has a trap they call a W-H-Y trap which they say will catch hornets as well as yellowjackets and paper wasps. I have not tried one of these so I can't vouch for their effectiveness. Might try one this year.
No, I have no relationship with Rescue. I simply recommend them because they have worked for me.
