Flight Activity and Population Estimates of Four Apple Insect Species as Determined by Pheromone Traps 1

Abstract

Traps baited with synthetic sex pheromones were used in one unsprayed orchard and 6 sprayed orchards in 1971–3 to monitor the seasonal flight of the codling moth, Laspeyresia pomonella (L.), redbanded leafroller, Argyrotaenia velutinana (Walker), and the oriental fruit moth, Grapholitha molesta (Busch) in North Carolina. Seasonal flight of the apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh), was monitored using visually attractant traps baited with olfactory attractants. There were 3 moth-catch peaks for the 3 moths studied and one flight period for the apple maggot. Of the total insects captured, 99% of the apple maggot, 71% of the codling moth, 30% of the oriental fruit moth, and 13% of the redbanded leafroller were captured at trap sites in the unsprayed orchard. The sprayed orchards received only 3 early season insecticide sprays for control of the 4 insects studied. In the sprayed orchards, the average weekly codling moth, oriental fruit moth, and apple maggot capture per trap site was less than one. The average weekly redbanded leafroller capture per trap site exceeded 2 only 3 times during the 3-year study.