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Insect Traps and Attractants

Insect monitoring traps can be useful tools for determining the activity of some key pests of trees and shrubs. They can also help determine the proper timing of an insecticide application to effectively manage an infestation of a pest. Some traps may even help reduce insect pest populations. Because these traps and their associated chemical attractants are not harmful to animals or humans and do not leave residues, they are suited to environmentally sound arthropod pest management programs in nurseries and landscapes. The effective use of these tools does require species-specific knowledge of the targeted pest's biology.

Insects use different semiochemicals (chemicals that carry messages either within a species or between species) that transmit messages between organisms. Pheromones (chemicals that are produced and detected by members of the same species) are one of these semiochemicals. Effective and practical use of pheromones in a woody ornamental pest management program requires that a specific active chemical be isolated and identified. A synthetically reproduced version of this compound must then be manufactured and made commercially available. Pheromones may be used in several ways. They are used as lures in insect monitoring traps, as lures in traps to remove individuals in a pest population, and to disperse a signal that may disrupt mating in a pest population.

Insect traps may be used to detect the presence of an invasive arthropod pest, to get an estimate of the relative density of a key pest population, or to determine the first emergence or peak flight of an insect pest in an area. The latter purpose is often used to time an effective insecticide application. One example is the use of clearwing borer pheromone-baited traps that assist a plant health care specialist in detecting when adult males are active in a nursery or landscape. When the first male of a particular clearwing borer pest species has been captured in a monitoring trap, application of a registered insecticide host plant should follow 7 to 10 days later.

Two examples of insect monitoring traps that are used in woody ornamental pest management programs include those used to detect new infestations of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, and the large, sticky traps that are use to detect the flight of the smaller European elm bark beetle, Scolytus multistriatus.

Listed below are some sources of insect monitoring traps and pheromones for landscape and nursery pests.

 

Bedoukian Research, Inc. 21 Finance Drive Danbury, CT 06810 Phone: 203-830-4000	Phero Tech, Inc. 7572 Progress Way Delta, BC V4G 1E9 Phone: 800-665-0076
Gempler's P.O. Box 44993 Madison, WI 53744 Phone: 800-769-9225	Scentry Biologicals 610 Central Ave. Billings, MT 59102 Phone: 800-735-5323
Great Lakes IPM 10220 Church Road NE Vestaburg, MI 48891 Phone: 800-235-0285	Trece Incorporated 7569 Highway 28 West P.O. Box 129 Adair, OK 74330 Phone: 866-785-1313