How to Make a Yellow Jacket Trap

You can limit your yellow jacket population with a homemade trap.

Yellow jackets are an aggressive wasp, widely disliked as they are responsible for many painful insect stings. The workers are about a half-inch long, with a black body and yellow markings on the head, thorax and abdomen. Unlike a bee, the yellow jacket body does not have a hairy body. You can take advantage of yellow jackets' feeding preferences to trap them.

Things You'll Need

• 2-liter empty pop bottle
• Dishwashing liquid
• Juice, piece of fruit, or chunk of meat
• Petroleum jelly or cooking oil
• Skewer

Instructions

1. Cut the top third off a two-liter pop bottle. Turn the top part upside down so that it resembles a funnel. Add water to the bottom of the bottle and squirt in a couple of tablespoons of dishwashing liquid. As an option, add a bit of yellow food coloring to attract them.

2. Rub petroleum jelly on the top of the funnel and the rest of the bottle.

3. Poke a barbecue skewer across the middle of the bottle bottom to create a pair of holes so that the stick is under the funnel opening. Remove the stick to place your bait in the trap. Thread a chunk of meat, such as turkey, ham or fish on the skewer in the spring, and in late summer, switch to a sweet bait, such as fruit chunks, mashed-up grapes or banana. Work the skewer back into the holes.

4. Fit the top funnel down into the bottom portion of the bottle. Poke holes into the upper sides of the assembled trap. Tie a wire hanger through the holes.

5. Hang your trap away from where you spend time outdoors, such as on the outer perimeter of your yard. Place these traps close to where yellow jackets have been seen. The wasps consume the bait, move down to the water and drown. Remove the dead wasps and replace the bait every few days.

Tips & Warnings

• Put out the traps in early spring and you might catch some queens. This will stop a nest from being built close by and result in fewer yellow jackets during the summer and fall.

• You will need multiple traps to really eradicate large numbers of yellow jackets.

• Do not hang traps close to where children play.

References

• Texas A&M System AgriLife Extension: Southern Yellowjacket
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Stinging Wasps and Bees
• University of California IPM Online: Yellowjackets and Other Social Wasps