HORNET TRAP

Japanese giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia japonica) is a large insect and adults can be more than 4.5 cm (1.8 in) long.   It is known as the Ohsuzume-bachi (オオスズメバチ, literally "giant sparrow bee") in Japan.  It usually becomes very active in early autumn and comes to our garden every year.  Because it can be very aggressive if provoked and dangerous to us, we use a trap made of a plastic bottle.

Four square holes with flaps are made at the upper part of a plastic bottle, and flaps are bended outward.

Then pour 100% grape juice into the bottle.  That's it.

I hanged the bottle at a branch of a tree at the height of 1.5 meter.

Hornets are strongly attracted by a flavor of grape juice, and enter into the bottle.  Once they enter, they cannot go out and are exhausted and drowned.

A large hornet (4.5 cm) and medium-sized are trapped today.

They said that being stung is extremely painful and can require hospital treatment. Asian giant hornet stings in general can cause anaphylactic shock in allergic people, and can be lethal even to people who are not allergic if the dose is sufficient.....  Ohhh, it's awful :(

TRAPS FOR SUMMER VEG

Some mini tomatoes and cucumbers are ripening in the kitchen garden, despite the relative lack of sunshine during this summer.

Mini fruit tomato 'Aiko' 

Mini fruit tomato 'Yellow Aiko'

We are using traps for these vegetables instead of insecticides.
The first trap is a sticky trap.  Because yellow color attracts many kinds of insects, the trap is full of insects stuck on it in a few days.

A yellow sticky trap over cucumbers

The second trap is a yellow bucket filled with water and a little of oil and vinegar.  Yellow color and vinegar smell of the bucket attracts insects and they drown in the water with surface oil.  The nursery in our town recommends and sells this yellow bucket.

A yellow bucket trap between tomato and basil

The last one is a measure coping with crows.  A simple inflatable crow is hung, and crows fear it (they think it a dead crow), and keep away from it.  It's workink, I think.  

 An inflatable crow repellent in tomatoes