Relationship Between Fall Catches of Campylomma verbasci (Heteroptera: Miridae) in Traps Baited with Females and Density of Nymphs in the Spring

Abstract

Male mullein bugs, Campylamma verbasci (Meyer), were captured in 27 traps baited with live females in the fall within 10 apple orchards in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. When the catches of males from 14 September to 13 October 1987 were compared with limb tap samples of nymphs in the following spring, the relationships in the trap trees (r2 = 0.61) and trees adjacent to the trap trees (r2 = 0.56) were significant. Similar positive relationships occurred for four shorter trapping intervals but not for the final interval from 3 to 13 October, when trap catches were low. These results suggest that when a synthetic pheromone is available for this mirid, prediction of economic injury levels may be made in the fall, 6-8 mo before egg hatch. Limb tap sampling in the spring could then be concentrated in orchards with the highest probability of damage to the crop.