Pheromone Tips

Trapping for Two Insects with the Same Trap

One way to increase the efficiency of your pheromone trapping program is by using two lures in one trap. Keep in mind that this method should only be applied when the two insects have similar habits.

You would not want to put a lure for an insect that does not fly into a trap with the lure for an insect that does fly. This would bias your catch results. We commonly use the same trap to monitor for both Indian meal moth (Plodia interpunctella) and Warehouse beetle (Trogoderma spp.).

They both fly and are often found in the same types of locations. By using this method you can significantly reduce the amount of time you spend checking your pheromone traps.

Maximizing Trap Life and Replacing Lures

In order to make sticky traps last longer, clean out the insects after recording the count. This works especially in areas that catch small numbers of insects.

Bring a Popsicle stick and a paper towel with you to inspect traps. Use the Popsicle stick to remove the insects, and wipe them on the paper towel. This will allow the extraction of the sticky insects with minimal mess. This also helps make it easier to keep track of counts from one week to the next.

When replacing lures in traps that don’t need replaced, it isn’t necessary to pull out the old lures. Just add the new one to the trap. This can enhance the effectiveness of the lures and also helps to keep your hands from getting sticky.

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