Get Rid Of Wasps: Traps & Tips

If you’ve ever been stung by a wasp, you know they live up to their reputation of being aggressive and having painful stings. When you regularly spot wasps in your yard, chances are there’s a wasp’s nest on your property or nearby. These are not pests that you want hanging about, especially if you have children running around. The best way to get rid of wasps is to find the nest and destroy it, but if you can’t find it or if it’s not on your property, you can use wasp traps to tempt them away from high-traffic areas to another part of the yard to kill them.

Here are directions for two easy homemade wasp traps, they require the same materials and and have the same concept, but two different designs (one’s ideal for hanging, the other for setting on the ground). I used graphics that show soda inside the bottles, but you need to use empty pop bottles (ignore the soda levels shown in the images).

How To Make A Wasp Trap: Ground Version

DIY Wasp Trap

• Take an empty two liter pop bottle or any plastic bottle that has a consistently even width along the sides.
• Using a sharp knife, cut off the top of the soda bottle just below where the start of the bottle sides are at even width.
• Fill the bottom of the bottle with wasp bait about 2″ deep (ideas below).
• Insert the top of the bottle upside down into the bottom of the bottle (remove the bottle cap first). The pieces should fit together nice and snug, but use duct tape along the top edge to secure the pieces together if you need to.
• Set the wasp trap out wherever you’ve seen wasps (in flower beds, close to a hedge, near the bird bath, etc.).
• The wasps will fly into the trap to get at the bait, but have trouble finding their way out. They’ll eventually drown in the liquid bait.
• This trap setup will also work for killing fruit flies.

DIY Wasp Trap: Hanging Version

This trap is well suited for hanging in tree branches or along the eaves of a house (away from entrances since this trap will attract live wasps). The wasps will fly up into the trap from underneath, but have trouble finding their escape by flying down and out.

Homemade Hanging Wasp Trap

• Take an empty two liter pop bottle, tighten on the cap then cut off the bottom few inches of the bottle.
• Taking a second two liter pop bottle, remove the bottle cap and cut off the top part of the bottle right underneath where the width is the same as the rest of the bottle.
• For the bigger bottle piece, puncture two small holes, one on either side of the bottle (at the top) and push through each end of a piece of heavy string or yarn, knotting at each end inside the bottle (this will need to be long enough to hang the bottle and strong enough to hold the weight of the trap).
• Seal the holes where the string runs through with duct tape to prevent wasps crawling out and escaping.
• Place the small piece up inside the bigger piece, securing together with duct tape around the edges.
• Fill the trap with wasp bait about 2″ deep and hang.

Tips:

• Do not fill the trap so full of bait that there isn’t plenty of air space between the bottom (or top) of the pop bottle opening, you want the wasps to be able to fly in with no trouble.
• Empty and refill the wasp traps regularly, wasps won’t be too tempted by a trap filled with drowned wasps. You can submerge the trap in a bucket of water for about 1/2 hour to make sure all wasps are dead before cleaning and refilling.

Wasp Bait Ideas

Just like ants, wasps can be looking for two different types of food sources depending on the colony’s needs at the time: protein or sugar. Set out two different traps to see which bait tempts the wasps best, then continue to fill with that type of bait. Or you could do a sugar & protein bait together (for example: mixing juice with a piece of meat).

• Jam dissolved in water (sweet enough to attract the wasps but diluted enough to drown them)
• Fruit juice
• Beer
• Sweet Soda Pop
• Wine
• Maple syrup diluted with water
• Molasses diluted with water
• If you need protein baits: Try adding a piece of raw hamburger or a chunk of canned tuna, canned dog or cat food to a trap with fruit juices or even plain water (deep enough to drown the wasps but the piece of meat bait needs to be sticking out above the liquid surface to effectively attract the wasps).

Wasp Prevention Tips

• Keep garbage cans and recycle bins covered.
• Don’t leave food or beverages sitting outside, keep beverages covered with a lid. Wipe up spills as soon as they happen.
• If you have water sources in your yard (bird baths, ponds), the wasps could be hanging around for the water (they get thirsty too).
• If you have fruit trees, keep the fruit picked and remove any that have fallen on the ground.

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