Wasp traps: helpful or harmful?
By Wespenprofis.ch · Reviewed by:Fachbewilligung Schädlingsbekämpfung VFB-S · Updated: 3 July 2026
At a glance
Homemade wasp traps filled with sugar water or cordial attract more wasps than they catch, and they also kill bees and other beneficial insects. Instead of a trap, covering food, offering a decoy feeding station at a distance and fitting insect screens are the more effective and more humane choice.
The idea behind the wasp trap
A plastic bottle with the top cut off and inverted into the lower half, filled with sugar water, cordial or beer – this design for a wasp trap is widespread online. The idea: wasps fly through the narrow opening towards the sweet bait, then fail to find their way out again and drown. In practice it sounds convincing, but looked at honestly the effect is problematic.
Why the trap often achieves the opposite
The sweet scent carries over a considerable distance and attracts wasps that previously had no interest at all in your garden or balcony. Some of them end up in the trap, but a large proportion miss the opening and keep circling the source of the scent – and therefore your seating area as well. The net result is that wasp presence often rises measurably at exactly the spot you wanted to keep wasp-free.
The price paid by other insects
Sugar-water traps are not selective. Alongside wasps, they also kill bees, bumblebees and hoverflies, which matter for pollination, as well as peaceable wasp species such as paper wasps, which pose no real danger and could simply be tolerated. Death in the liquid is also anything but quick – the insects drown slowly. Anyone who wants to treat insects with respect should avoid this type of trap.
What actually helps instead
It is more effective and gentler not to attract wasps in the first place: cover food and open sweet drinks, clear away windfall fruit promptly and set up a decoy feeding station with overripe fruit at a distance from your seating area – more on this in our guide What attracts wasps. Sound, sensible measures against wasps in general are summarised in the pillar guide Deterring wasps, with practical tips for the dining table in the guide Wasps at the table. If large numbers of wasps keep returning to the same spot despite all these measures, that points to a nest nearby, which a professional should assess (/wespennest-entfernen). To find out which species you are dealing with, see our overview at /arten.
Frequently asked questions
Don't sugar-water traps at least catch some wasps?
They do catch individual insects, but the scent simultaneously draws additional wasps in from the surrounding area. On balance, wasp activity around the trap tends to rise rather than fall.
Do other insects really die in wasp traps as well?
Yes. Sugar-water traps are not selective and also catch bees, peaceable wasp species and hoverflies, most of which drown slowly and painfully.
Is there a sensible alternative to the classic trap?
A decoy feeding station with overripe fruit placed some distance from your seating area draws wasps away deliberately, without attracting or killing them in large numbers.