MSU Fruit pest management newsletter Michigan State University's Fruit Crop Advisory Team Alert Vol. In this issue Effective use of pheromone traps Insect update Reminders on planting trees Michigan Internet sites featured in fruit resources article Weather news Regional Reports Southwest Region Southeast Region Peach Ridge West Central Region Northwest E ffective use of pheromone traps Larry Gut and John Wise Entomology Sex pheromones are chemical messages that many insects use to facilitate mate location. The production of synthetic copies of sex pheromones has led to the development and widespread use of pheromone traps for monitoring insect pests in fruit and many other cropping systems.
Pheromone traps are available for detecting most of the moth pests in fruit crops in Michigan.
In some situations cumulative male catch in traps can also be used to determine the need to control a pest. The way you use information from a pheromone trap will to a certain extent determine how careful you need to be in positioning and maintaining it. If, however, you intend to use capture of moths in traps to determine if treatments are needed, then it becomes necessary to pay careful attention to every factor that could affect catch. Care of traps is important Careful servicing and maintenance of pheromone traps is essential for a good monitoring program. Only a small proportion of the moths in an orchard will be attracted to a trap.