Wasp Traps

An attractant, usually a non-toxic lure, draws wasps into a chamber they cannot find their way out of. Traps reduce the wasps active in a defined outdoor area; they do not affect the nest producing them.

3-5 metres from where you actually sit or eat, not on the table - a trap pulls wasps towards it, so siting it in the area you want to protect makes things worse. Place them near bins, fruit trees, garden edges, or on the flight line you have watched wasps using, and in sun rather than deep shade.

A formulated wasp lure is more selective than sugary bait, but no trap is entirely specific, and sweet baits late in the season do draw bees and hoverflies. Two things reduce it: use a proper wasp lure rather than sugar water, and site the trap away from flowering plants. It is also worth checking what you are trying to catch in the first place - wasps are bright yellow and black, smooth and narrow-waisted, while honey bees are smaller, hairier and browner and bumblebees are large and furry. Neither should be killed.

Many wasp lures are non-toxic and suit gardens where children or pets are around. Hang or place traps out of reach and follow the instructions on the individual product.

Reusable traps can be emptied and refilled as needed. Disposable traps typically last several weeks before they need replacing. In practice the lure runs out before the trap does, and a trap full of decomposing insects stops attracting wasps - so empty and refresh rather than waiting for it to look full.

No. Traps reduce wasp activity in a specific area but do not affect a nest, which produces workers far faster than a trap catches them. To deal with a nest you have located and can safely reach, see our wasp nest killer powders. If the nest is high up, inside a cavity, or anyone in the household has a sting allergy, call a professional.

That means the trap is working and the numbers are simply larger than it can keep up with - a nest nearby, or several. Add traps around the perimeter rather than closer in, remove what is drawing wasps to you in the first place (open bins, fallen fruit, uncovered sugary drinks), and if you can locate the nest, treating that is what actually reduces the numbers.

Usually the lure or the position rather than the trap. Lures dry out and are diluted by rain, and a trap in shade or off the flight line will sit untouched. Refresh the lure and move it to a sunnier spot on the route you have seen wasps taking. Early in the season, low catches can simply mean there are few wasps about yet.

From spring, to catch queens and early workers before a colony establishes - that does more than trapping at the peak. Wasps become most troublesome around people from July to September, when colonies are at full size and workers switch to seeking sugar.