-4- 



In commercial orchards, the great majority of apple maggot flies 

 are immigrants, and apparently are more in search of mating and 

 egglaying sites than in search of food. Hence, the greater effect- 

 iveness of the spheres for monitoring apple maggot flies in comm- 

 ercial orchards. 



European Apple Sawflies 



European apple sawfly adults make frequent visits to apple 

 blossoms, where they feed on the pollen and lay eggs in the recep- 

 tacles. Some mating and resting also occurs on the blossoms. They 

 make comparatively few visits to the leaves and branches. 



Certain white paints which reflect little or no light in the 

 ultraviolet part of the spectrum closely mimic the hue reflect- 

 ance pattern of apple petals, although they reflect at a higher 

 intensity, than tlic petals. Medium size rectangles (6 x 8- inches) 

 coated with such paint plus Tangletrap attract and capture large 

 numbers of sawfly adults. Evidently, the sawflies perceive the 

 white rectangles as being super-bright or super-normal clusters 

 of apple blossoms. However, not just any white surface will 

 attract sawflies. For example, white paper, white cardboard, and 

 lead white paints reflect considerable amounts of ultraviolet 

 light, which, although not visible to humans is readily visible 

 and in fact quite repulsive to sawflies. Fortunately, the white 

 rectangles attract and capture few honeybees. 



Tarnished Plant Bugs 



Tarnished plant bug adults make frequent visits to apple 

 buds and blossoms, where they feed. Less frequently, they visit 

 leaves and branches, where they rest. Mating and egglaying seem 

 to be rather infrequent on apple trees, principally occurring on 

 ground cover vegetation. 



Just as they mimic the hue reflectance pattern of apple 

 blossom petals, certain non-ultraviolet-reflecting white paints 

 also approximate the hue reflectance pattern of developing apple 

 buds. As with sawflies, 6 x 8-inch rectangles coated with such 

 paints plus Tangletrap capture considerable numbers of plant bug 

 adults. However, our research indicates that plant bug adults are 

 substantially less visually specific in orientation to the hue or 

 form of apple tree structures than are apple maggot flies and 

 sawflies. Hence, visual traps may ultimately prove of somewhat 

 more limited value for precise monitoring of plant bug populations 



Where to Purchase Visual Traps 



These visual traps for apple maggot flies, sawflies, and 

 plant bugs can be purchased at modest cost from New England Insect 

 Traps, Leyden RFD, Bernardston, MA 01337 ($1.25 per 3 1/2-inch 

 red wooden sphere with accompanying Tangletrap; $1.00 per non- 

 ultraviolet white cardboard rectangle, pre-coated with Tangletrap) 



