Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
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Post by Aardvark on Jul 23, 2023 11:24:44 GMT 1
Today was the last straw. I was setting up a new Red Top fly trap and as I always do, having a right pain getting the red top to snap into place. I have had this bother for years and don't know why I didn't do something about it before today. Maybe it was the brief thought that while struggling to get it to stay in place I would drop the freshly loaded device and spill the noxious mixture all over. Anyway, the reason it is always so difficult is down to either faulty design or manufacturing tolerances.
For those who haven't used one of these (expensive) contraptions I will explain. You add a sachet of dry powder that is then activated by adding a litre of warm water. This is done through an opening in the top and to stop rainwater overfilling it there is a little red cover to snap in place with four pegs that (supposedly) snap into corresponding holes in the top. The pins are always too large for the holes and one or more either refuse to go in or pop out shortly after you insert them.
Here's the fix. Drill through the holes with a 3mm drill bit. It doesn't matter if you go all the way through. If the hole ends up over-sized you can always secure it with a little glue but a 3mm drill should be fine.
This is such a no brainer I think maybe I should get a slot on YooToob wearing an NRA T-shirt and baseball cap and take half an hour showing how to do it.
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Post by houpla on Jul 23, 2023 17:35:22 GMT 1
LOL..I bet in the time it takes you to.modify your expensive Red-top I can mackle up a free funnel trap using an old pop bottle, 2 staples and a bit of wire. With cheapie plonk and past-it's-sell-by-date jam they're supremely effective...
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Post by cernunnos on Jul 23, 2023 18:18:11 GMT 1
too expensive for us , we just use a fly swat.
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Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
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Post by Aardvark on Jul 23, 2023 21:28:18 GMT 1
It would take a fair bit of time and effort to kill over a kilo of flies like a Red Top does with no attention.
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Post by houpla on Jul 23, 2023 21:53:36 GMT 1
What has been impressive the last few days is the number of frelons in my funnel traps. I hang them in the trees and shrubs that the frelons strip the bark off, and got 5 x 1.5l traps full. They must be bored with peaches and the pears and figs aren't quite ready yet  |
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Post by annabellespapa on Jul 24, 2023 10:21:19 GMT 1
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Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
|
Post by Aardvark on Jul 24, 2023 11:59:04 GMT 1
Around here it would be more useful to have a petrol powered leaf blower/vacuum for the job.
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Post by Polarengineer on Jul 24, 2023 16:21:59 GMT 1
Around here it would be more useful to have a petrol powered leaf blower/vacuum for the job. maybe with a supercharger too. |
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Post by jackie on Jul 24, 2023 17:49:19 GMT 1
What has been impressive the last few days is the number of frelons in my funnel traps. I hang them in the trees and shrubs that the frelons strip the bark off, and got 5 x 1.5l traps full. They must be bored with peaches and the pears and figs aren't quite ready yet European or Asian? European hornets are very valuable pollinators. |
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Post by cernunnos on Jul 24, 2023 19:29:04 GMT 1
The last asian hornet nest we had , got ripped apart by some beast that ate the grubs , we think it was a Pine Marten, pretty brave little thing to do that!
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Post by ajm on Jul 26, 2023 21:00:41 GMT 1
LOL..I bet in the time it takes you to.modify your expensive Red-top I can mackle up a free funnel trap using an old pop bottle, 2 staples and a bit of wire. With cheapie plonk and past-it's-sell-by-date jam they're supremely effective... You're obviously having great success. What quantities of wine /jam do you use? |
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Post by houpla on Jul 26, 2023 23:01:15 GMT 1
It's not a precise art, but around 25cl of cheap red, 4 teaspoons of jam diluted in a drop of water to enable easy pouring into the trap. The mixture needs to be 2cms or so below the level of the end of the funnel. It's yukky, but once there are a few corpses in there, it seems to attract more, so I just top up with water if required. The record at the moment is 6 at a time in one trap. When it's solid, I dismantle the funnel, tip the gunge onto the compost heap and re-assemble. It seems unkind and anti-social to put it into the recycling bin |
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Post by glazedallover on Jul 26, 2023 23:14:46 GMT 1
Hmmmmm, that's an awful lot of cheap red to waste on flies.
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Post by houpla on Jul 27, 2023 7:59:43 GMT 1
It's not wasted, is it? When you consider that the alternative 'bait' sold in jardineries is around €9 or €10 per litre, 10l of spanish plonk is quite a bargain. In fact, I used to use the home-made rotgut that my neighbour produced from her vines, but thankfully she gave them up. I'm using a cubit of Côtes de Duras leftover from a party about 10 years ago. The frelons don't seem to mind  The same goes for slug/snail traps. OH used to make lager and it went through a bad patch, resulting in about 30l of dodgy beer. The molluscs die happy..... |
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