Some tips for a smooth search:
1. It is best to use a glass jar with a lid as a wicker pot. The wick is a piece of fabric (cotton, mop, etc.) that you stuff through the lid through a hole. You can make a sweet attractant yourself by mixing 1/3 beer, 1/3 wine and 1/3 sugar together or by adding the wasp attractant. Trappit to purchase.
2. Mark a hornet with a honey bee queen marker jar. Paint markers are ideal for making a mark. (see picture)
3. Place your spring trap or wicker pot near plants that attract many hornets, such as the flowers of dwarf medlar (June and July), snowberry (summer) and ivy (autumn), or the fruits of fruit trees such as apple trees (summer and autumn). fig tree (end of summer), grapevine (end of summer),…
4. Put a feather on the hornet! In a wooded area it can help to visually track the hornet by attaching a tuft to it. This technique does require some background information and knowledge.
5. From August onwards the wicker pot method runs less smoothly as the workers then have a greater need for proteins to feed the larvae. You can now use fish or chicken to attract the hornets and use the same method as for the wick pot.
6. Please note that the flight behavior of Asian hornets may differ in urban areas. Wondering what effect that has on the rule of thumb of 1min≈100m? Then read the article ‘The flying skills of the Asian hornet’ in the latest edition (March 2024) of Natuur.focus.
7. Try the moving method! This is a variant of the wick pot method in which you ‘move’ a hornet with its wick pot about a hundred meters towards the nest. Only a flight time is necessary at the start of the search as a guideline. Afterwards, you can focus on the flight directions when moving and save a lot of time. After all, a hornet needs time to find a newly placed wick pot. Moreover, this method is more efficient at higher nest densities.
8. Register your wick pots in the Asian Hornet Tracker (Editor), an app offered by the Vespawatchers of the Beekeepers’ Association Sint Ambrosius Mortsel Edegem in collaboration with Telenet and INBO, to make collaboration with other volunteers smoother. An overview of all wicker pots in Flanders can be found in the Asian Hornet Tracker (Viewer).
9. An overview of active outbreaks of Asian hornets can be found here. This map shows where many individuals of Asian hornet have been observed recently and also provides an overview of nests already reported on vespawatch.be this season.
Need more recommendations as a beekeeper?
The partners of the Bee Practice Center have: specific recommendations formulated for beekeepers to efficiently control this invasive species. This report will be revised annually.
Text: Heleen Van Ransbeeck (UGent)
