Beyond sticky traps: New developments in attractants, repellents, and smart trapping

Dr Clare Sampson's presentation was one of many from GLAS 2017. Photo credit: Joseph Keogh.

Improvements in colours, patterns, scents, and now with Smart Alert traps, long gone are the days of sticky traps.

Horticulture

14 September 2017 | 0

It is now nearly two months since GLAS 2017 took place. GLAS 2017 was one the most successful GLAS to-date with over 1,000 people attending. According to the exit polls 94% of traders who attended noted their experience as worthwhile or very worthwhile, and 99% of visitors noted their experience as worthwhile, or very worthwhile.

For those of you who attended you will remember the Bord Bia sponsored Learning Theatre; where consummate professionals from all areas of the leisure horticulture sector presented a talk to a sold-out crowd.

For those who couldn’t make it to GLAS 2017 or weren’t able to secure a seat, you will be able to read below, Dr Clare Sampson to offer ever-evolving environmentally-friendly pest control using innovative pheromones bio-rationals trapping digital systems. Dr Sampson now works as Horticultural Development Manager at Russell IPM.

Improved Sticky Traps breaks down into three sectors:

Colours
Patterns
Scents

Colours

Improved colours resulted in greater pest attraction, leading to a 67-98% reduction in adult whitefly.

White flies caught by a trap.
Results on plants without a trap
Results on plants with a trap.

Patterns

White pattern increased thrips trap catch by 25%.
Frankliniella occidentalis and Thrips major.
This was confirmed in pepper and strawberry located in the UK and Morocco.

Scents

2016 results

Adding western flower thrips pheromone to roller traps
30-100% increase in trap catch

2017 developments

Field testing micro-encapsulated pheromone for longer release
Addition of capsid attractants to make a multi-species trap

Integrated solutions: thrips control

Blue Optiroll patterned pheromone traps:

Reduced adult thrips per flower (53-87%).
Increased class 1 fruit (from 67% to 92%).
Increased grower returns (> €2.3k/ha).
Reduced insecticide treatments.
No interruption of pollination or predators.
Combined use of predatory mites and traps prevented major damage.

Repellents, Background

Aim:
Can general repellents be used to reduce the damage caused by insect pests?

Advantages:

Often widely available.
Generally safe.
Repel a range of species.
Do not draw pests into an area.

Small plot (3.5 m x 4 m) proof of principle trials. Results and Photo: Dr Charles Whitfield, NIAB EMR.

Repellents, 2016 results

Repellents reduced pest numbers by 23-55%:

Delia radicum
Plutella xylostella
Aleyrodes proletella
Brevicoryne spp.
Dasineura pyri
Psylla pyri

Repellents, Next Steps

2017 Field Trials

Formulation for a longer release, sprayable application:

Strawberry – Spotted wing drosophila
Tomato – Tuta absoluta
Brassicas – Caterpillars, aphids, cabbage root fly, whitefly
Apple / Pear – Leaf curling midge, pear sucker

Smart Traps

Russell IPM is also developing autonomous, stand-alone traps that count and identify pest species in real time, allowing growers and advisers to go straight to problem areas in the field, heralding a new generation of smart traps. These are the first traps for apple moth pests and fruit flies.

The process of these traps are as follows: