During the past few years, we have been attempting to develop 

 effective trapping devices for accurately monitoring adult popu- 

 lation levels of plant bug, sawfly, apple maggot, and plum curcu- 

 lio. 



Most entomologists who have sought to develop insect traps 

 have been primarily interested in uncovering highly stimulating 

 odors, such as sex pheromones, which can attract an insect from 

 a considerable distance. In recent years, this approach has met 

 with outstanding success. Witness the development of sex phero- 

 mone traps for male codling moths, leafrollers, fruitworms, and 

 leafminers by Dr. Wendell Roelofs and colleagues at the New York 

 State Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva. 



In many instances, however, sex pheromone traps are so power- 

 ful that they attract individuals from distances well beyond the 

 borders of the orchard. Hence, it has often proven rather diff- 

 icult to accurately relate pheromone trap captures in an orchard 

 to the number of pest adults actually present within the orchard. 



Our approach has been an attempt to uncover attractive visual 

 stimuli. Such stimuli, when incorporated into a trap, would lure 

 insects only from a distance of a few yards or less. Theoretically, 

 therefore, visual traps would have the advantage of providing 

 estimates of only those pest adult numbers actually present with- 

 in the orchard. 



Thus far, this approach has yielded 2 sorts of effective 

 visual traps for apple maggot flies, one for European sawfly, 

 and one for tarnished plant bug. Some of the research that led 

 to the development of these visual traps has been outlined in 

 recent issues of Fruit Notes: 41(5), 41(6), 43(1), and 43(2). 



In this article, I tie together elements of our previously 

 described findings and present new findings on the relationship 

 of levels of trap captures to levels of injury caused by each 

 pest. 



Specific Ingredients of Our Approach 



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ance patterns with pigments or paints having the same type of re 

 flectance pattern. Fourth, we apply these pigments or paints to 

 objects whose shape and size is similar to that of the correspond- 

 ing tree structures. Finally, the objects are coated with a clear 

 sticky substance (such as Tangletrap*) which captures alighting 

 insects, and are hung in apple trees to assess the responses of 

 the adults. 



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