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

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: