Entomologists of Bluesky: Has anyone here tried sugaring as a method for attracting moths? If so, do you have any good recipes? I'm talking #entomology not hair removal. It's not an easy thing to Google!
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Thank you so much everyone. I will report back when I've tried some of these methods in New Zealand conditions. I'm looking forward to trying this out.
Perfect! Just what I was looking for. Thank you so much. I wonder if I might be able to persuade a few local winemakers and brewers to support some research like this? 🤔
Always funny when you buy 15-20 l of the cheapest wine. I got the question once what I was going to do with it, and I just went “mix it 50/50 with white sugar and pour it out in the wild” 😃
Also sometimes a wee bit difficult to convince administrators that you should be reimbursed for buying bucketloads of red wine (I once submitted a film of me mixing wine and sugar as evidence) 😃🍷🦋
Then again, sugar bait recipes is a little bit like asking anglers how they attract fish, there are sooo many variants, including a little bit of magic if possible 😃
bananas, beer, yeast and whatever I have in the cabinet for extra fermentation (sugar, molasses, corn syrup). It is really hit or miss here - I'll sometimes get a load of stuff and sometimes absolutely nothing.
Adding "magic" is very important, I have used the same jar at different sites in the same year with success varying from no moths to 100+ at a single tree. No idea why success is so variable.
I've always used cheap wine added with sugar until almost saturated. I put this solution in a plant spray and spray a surface of approx 20 by 20cm on trees, if possible on both sides of a tree and do this on 30 to 50 trees in the afternoon. I control this when dusk has completely set.
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https://boulmerbirder.blogspot.com/search/label/Sugaring?m=0
#VC55Moths #VC55 #Moths
https://butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blog/a-recipe-for-moths-sugaring-wine-roping
Much appreciated!