In the first months of Summer, several types of wasps start becoming active in gardens and fruit orchards, getting on the way of plants, hummingbirds, or pets. But when you are a beekeeper, the results of a wasp infestation can be devastating. The first thing to do, is to detect where the wasp hive is, and find a way to kill the whole wasp colony. If you don’t have a way to find it, you can also set traps to get rid of these little nuisances. Here is a simple and inexpensive trap made of recycled plastic bottles.

Materials:

  • 2 liter plastic soda bottle
  • Paper stapler
  • 1 cup of water
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • Wire of string to hang it

Procedure:

  1. Empty the plastic bottle and rinse it.
  2. Cut the upper part (neck) with a knife or scissors.
  3. Place the upper part inverted, inside the other part of the plastic bottle.
  4. Staple both pieces together around the edges.
  5. Boil the water with sugar for about 3-5 minutes, to make a syrup.
  6. Place it inside the trap.
  7. Hang it with the string or wire in a place where wasps have high presence, avoid to place it close to areas of bees of hummingbirds, to avoid them to drown in the trap.
  8. Move it around from time to time, to trap more wasps.