hopefoot
Well-known member
I have an entomologist friend that specializes in moths. He gave me this easy recipe to make moth bait.
Bananas
Brown sugar
Take how ever many bananas you want. Without peeling and without breaking the skin, smush them. Leave them alone for 3 days. Peel and put the mush in a container. Leave that for 1 day. Then add an equal amount of brown sugar and stir it up.
On a night where the temperature will be above 44 F for at least a half an hour after sunset go paint some young trees with your mixture. I don't know why young trees work better but my friend said that when he tried putting the bait on the older, larger trees he didn't have as much success. Try to find trees that are at the edge of a path or the woods. Do your applying about 3 or 4 hours before sunset. Go back just after sunset and viola, your bait will have attracted many, many moths. The moths will only be there for about 20 minutes. Just did this tonight and it worked!
When you're painting your trees I advise bringing some Wet Wipes or some such because if you do like me and use leaves for a paintbrush and get it all over your hands you will realize how incredibly sticky this mixture is.
You may say, why do this when you can use a light and a sheet at night? This is for the nights when it's too cold to get many moths to come to your light, at the end of fall and even the beginning of winter. My friend said he's caught moths in January!
Bananas
Brown sugar
Take how ever many bananas you want. Without peeling and without breaking the skin, smush them. Leave them alone for 3 days. Peel and put the mush in a container. Leave that for 1 day. Then add an equal amount of brown sugar and stir it up.
On a night where the temperature will be above 44 F for at least a half an hour after sunset go paint some young trees with your mixture. I don't know why young trees work better but my friend said that when he tried putting the bait on the older, larger trees he didn't have as much success. Try to find trees that are at the edge of a path or the woods. Do your applying about 3 or 4 hours before sunset. Go back just after sunset and viola, your bait will have attracted many, many moths. The moths will only be there for about 20 minutes. Just did this tonight and it worked!
When you're painting your trees I advise bringing some Wet Wipes or some such because if you do like me and use leaves for a paintbrush and get it all over your hands you will realize how incredibly sticky this mixture is.
You may say, why do this when you can use a light and a sheet at night? This is for the nights when it's too cold to get many moths to come to your light, at the end of fall and even the beginning of winter. My friend said he's caught moths in January!
