Introduction

1. LepTrapTM – a new system for trapping Lepidoptera and other insects Results Timothy B. Johnson, J. Scott Plato and Thomas Plato ‘tmdjohn@msn.com’ Plato Industries, Ltd. Houston, TX 77045 Introduction Insect traps are an integral part of integrated pest management systems. Determining the number and presence of pest insect species often determines the timing of control measures and/or the effectiveness of the measures employed. Traps themselves can serve as control measures. Although insect traps exhibit a wide variety of physical designs, most traps are designed to use pheromones or kairomones as an attractant and are structured in such a way to allow for entry of insects while capturing them in some manner. The LepTrap was designed to serve as a versatile platform for capturing a variety of insect species for monitoring or control purposes. The LepTrap has a unique design that allows for multiple plume formation, is constructed from durable materials and can be manufactured in almost any color. Numerous field evaluations were conducted in 2005 with commercially produced “prototype” LepTraps for monitoring and mass trapping a variety of insect species. Materials and Methods Test 1 – Tabora Farms, New Brittain, PA Pest species – oriental fruit moth, Grapholita molesta Treatments – Red LepTrap, Large Plastic Delta (LPD) trap baited with Trece OFM lure arranged in a RCB design with 4 reps. Trap location rotated weekly with 50 meters between traps Crop – apples Test 2 – Steyer’s Farm – Middletown Twp., PA Pest species – obliquebanded leafroller, Choristoneura rosaceana Treatments – Red LepTrap, wing trap, Intercept A trap baited with Trece OBLR lure arranged in a RCB design with 4 reps. Trap location rotated weekly with 50 meters between traps Crop – apples Test 3 – Steyer’s Farm – Middletown Twp., PA Pest species – tufted apple bud moth, Platynota idaeusalis Treatments – White LepTrap, wing trap, Large Plastic Delta (LPD) trap baited with Trece TABM lures in a RCB design with 5 reps. Trap location rotated weekly with 50 meters between traps. Crop - apples Test 4 – Madison County, KY Pest species – lilac borer, Podosesia syringae Treatments – White LepTrap and Pherocon 1C wing trap baited with Trece lilac borer pheromone lure in a RCB design with 5 reps. 30 meters between traps. Crop – suburban landscape Test 5 – Madison County, KY Pest species – peachtree borer, Synanthedon exitiosa Treatments – White LepTrap and Pherocon 1C wing trap baited with Trece peqachtree borer pheromone lure in a RCB design with 5 reps. 30 meters between traps. Crop – suburban landscape Test 6 – Biglerville, PA Pest species – codling moth, Cydia pomonella Treatments – LepTrap in white, red, green blue and Large Plastic Delta trap baited with Trece codling moth lure in a RCB design with 3 reps. Traps rotated weekly. Crop - apples Discussion Test 1 – The red LepTrap captured a mean of 2.42 OFM/trap/day compared to 1.79 OFM/trap/day for the LPD. Test 2 – The red LepTrap captured a mean of 1.5 OBLR/trap/day compared to 1.8 OBLR/trap/day for the wing trap and 0.9 OBLR/trap/day for the Intercept A Test 3 – The white LepTrap captured a mean of 3.0 TABM/trap/day compared to 3.0 TABM/trap/day for the wing trap and 2.7 TABM/trap/day for the LPD trap. Test 4 – The white LepTrap captured a mean of 0.69 LB/trap/day, significantly more (P=0.05) than the Pherocon 1C trap at 0.56 LB/trap/day Test 5 – The blue, green, red, and white LepTraps captured means of 0.93, 1.08, 0.90, and 1.00 PTB/trap/day compared to 0.79 PTB/trap/day for the Pherocon 1C trap (NS at P=0.05) Test 6 – The green, red, blue and white LepTraps captured means of 0.12, 0.23, 0.21, and 0.20 CM/trap/day compared to 0.11 CM/trap/day for the white LPD trap (NS P=0.05) Conclusions In evaluations for monitoring a wide variety of pest species, the LepTrap consistently captured as many, and often more, lepidopteran pests as the did standard commercial traps (Delta, Large Plastic Delta, and Wing Trap). In evaluations against codling moth and peachtree borer, there were numerical non-statistical differences between different colored LepTraps that warrants further investigation with more intensive field evaluations. The LepTrap is a versatile monitoring device that will be commercially available for the 2006 growing season. Acknowledgements Greg Krawczyk of Pennsylvania State University and Carl Redmond of the University of Kentucky contributed to this study. The authors thank Roger Eatherton of Tabora Farms and Mike Reid of Steyer’s Orchard for their cooperation.