Patent Abstract:
this invention relates to novel methods and compositions , wherein chopped dried apple or apple pomace can be used as supplementary lures for trapping wasps in the family vespidae in combination with volatile chemical attractants , including heptyl butyrate , acetic acid and isobutanol . said vespid wasps may be in the genera vespa , vespula , dolichovespula or polistes . when formulated in a porous bag immersed in a water - detergent capture medium at the bottom of the interior chamber of an oak stump trap , either chopped dried apple or apple pomace can increase the capture of said vespid wasps several fold .

Detailed Description:
throughout the following description specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding to persons skilled in the art . however , well known elements may not have been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the disclosure . accordingly , the description and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative , rather than a restrictive , sense . the inventors first hypothesized that dried apples would be a suitable substitute for apple juice or any of the other substances used as lures for vespid wasps . we reasoned that a portion of dried apples could be packaged and sent as a lure to consumers along with the standard heptyl butyrate lure . this hypothesis was tested in experiment 1 . the experiment was run for 3 days in tilbury industrial park in delta , b . c . from 8 - 11 sep . 2006 . large 2 l oak stump traps , with a single transverse entry tube , and 300 - 350 ml of water with 2 - 3 drops of liquid detergent added in the bottom of the interior chamber , were hung at eye level from trees or woody bushes . traps for each of three treatments were deployed in 12 randomized complete blocks , with ≧ 5 m between traps . treatments were : 1 ) a single heptyl butyrate flex lure ( pherotech international inc .) suspended from the trap lid inside the interior chamber , 2 ) 12 g of finely chopped dried apples ( bulk product , save - on - foods , vancouver , b . c .) added to the water at the bottom of each trap , and 3 ) both treatments combined . at the end of the 3 h duration of the experiment , the traps were taken down , the contents emptied through a kitchen strainer that separated solid matter ( including captured wasps and chopped apple ) from the water - detergent capture medium , and the captured wasps counted . almost all captured wasps were western yellowjackets , vespula pennsylvanica . the very few polistes spp . captured ( no more than two per trap , with most traps having none ) were not counted . of the 2 , 568 vespula pennsylvanica captured , only 62 were in traps baited only with chopped dried apples ( table 1 ). traps with heptyl butyrate lures alone captured on average 73 yellowjackets . traps with both stimuli captured significantly more yellowjackets than traps baited with either of the other two lures , thereby demonstrating unexpected synergism between the heptyl butyrate and apple stimuli . this experiment demonstrates that dried apple can be a potential supplement for the heptyl butyrate lure . however , for commercial purposes , the dried apple is fairly expensive . moreover , the pieces rapidly imbibe water and swell , making it hard to see the captured wasps , and adding to the problem of disposing of the trap contents . therefore , the inventors continued their research by investigating apple pomace as a potential supplement to heptyl butyrate . comparison of apple pomace and chopped dried apples as supplements for heptyl butyrate experiment 2 , with 15 replicates , was run at the same location as experiment 1 from 15 - 18 sep . 2006 . trap position , experimental layout and processing of captured wasps were the same as described for experiment 1 . three treatments were tested : 1 ) heptyl butyrate alone , 2 ) heptyl butyrate plus 12 g of chopped dried apples as above , and 3 ) heptyl butyrate plus 12 g of apple pomace added to the detergent - laced water at the bottom of the interior chamber . the apple pomace was obtained from agrisource food products inc ., richmond , b . c . the chopped dried apples and the apple pomace were wrapped in plastic mesh ( 3 mm hexagonal weave ) to separate the bait stimuli from the captured wasps . again almost all wasps captured were vespula pennsylvanica . although 73 % more wasps were caught in traps baited with heptyl butyrate plus apple pomace , the mean numbers captured in this treatment and in traps baited with heptyl butyrate alone were not significantly different ( table 2 ). however , surprisingly , only traps with the combined heptyl butyrate plus apple pomace lures caught significantly more wasps than traps baited with heptyl butyrate plus chopped dried apple . the lack of synergism between heptyl butyrate and chopped dried apple as in experiment 1 may be due to wasps being diverted by the superior attractiveness of traps baited with the heptyl butyrate plus apple pomace lures . however , the results of this experiment definitely show that apple pomace is a significantly better supplement for heptyl butyrate than chopped dried apple . comparison of wet and dry apple pomace as supplements for heptyl butyrate experiment 3 was designed to test whether the apple pomace was equally active when placed in a trap dry , or if it needed to be immersed in the capture water at the bottom of the trap . the experiment ran from 21 - 22 sep . 2006 , at the same location as the first two experiments . all other experimental conditions were the same as above . twelve replicates of three treatments were tested : 1 ) heptyl butyrate alone , 2 ) heptyl butyrate plus a mesh bag containing 12 g of apple pomace suspended dry from the trap lid along with the heptyl butyrate lure , and 3 ) heptyl butyrate plus 12 g of apple pomace in a mesh bag immersed in the water - detergent capture medium in the bottom of the interior chamber . the dry apple pomace had no effect on trap catches ( table 3 ). however , the number of vespula pennsylvanica captured in traps baited with heptyl butyrate plus wet apple pomace was 72 % greater than in traps baited with heptyl butyrate alone , and the mean catch in traps with this stimulus was the only mean that was significantly better than the mean catch in traps baited with heptyl butyrate plus dry apple pomace . this result indicates that immersion in water is necessary for the apple pomace to be activated , and suggests that the water dissolves attractive solutes from the apple pomace that are then released into the air inside the trap , or that microbial activity on the immersed apple pomace releases volatile attractants into the air in the interior chamber . a final 12 - replicate experiment was set up as above , and compared wet apple pomace with apple juice . the three treatments were : 1 ) heptyl butyrate alone , 2 ) heptyl butyrate plus apple juice , and 3 ) heptyl butyrate plus apple pomace . in the second treatment , apple juice ( sun - rype products ltd ., kelowna , b . c .) with 2 - 3 drops of detergent added replaced the water - detergent capture medium in the bottom of the interior trap chamber . in the third treatment , the amount of apple pomace in the plastic mesh bag immersed in the water - detergent capture medium in the bottom of the interior chamber was reduced to 5 g , which is a realistic operational dose . the experiment was set up on 29 sep . 2006 , and captured wasps were removed from the traps and counted on september 30 , october 2 and october 4 . traps baited with heptyl butyrate plus either apple juice or apple pomace captured significantly more vespula pennsylvanica than traps baited with heptyl butyrate alone ( table 4 ). in both cases , the catches with apple - derived supplements were more than double that for heptyl butyrate alone ( 165 % increase for apple pomace and 215 % for apple juice ), thus indicating unexpected synergism between the heptyl butyrate and the supplements . the proportion of the total catch represented by the heptyl butyrate plus apple pomace treatment rose from 32 % in the first collection to 39 % in the latter two collections . surprisingly , the proportion of the total catch represented by the heptyl butyrate plus apple juice treatment fell from 51 % in the first collection , to 49 % in the second and 42 % in the third . thus the added attraction provided by the apple juice may not be sustainable , while the advantage provided by the apple pomace increases or remains constant over time . on the basis of this experiment , a 5 g mesh bag of apple pomace was chosen as an operational supplement to the standard heptyl butyrate lure . while a number of exemplary aspects and embodiments have been discussed above , those of skill in the art will recognize certain modifications , permutations , additions and sub - 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