Efficacies of Four Pheromone-Baited Traps in Capturing MaleHelicoverpa(Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Moths in Northern Florida

Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a serious pest of grain, row, and vegetable crops throughout much of the world, although it is currently not established in the United States. USDA-APHIS and the Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey program are charged with the responsibility to monitor for this insect pest. The adult stage is the easiest to monitor using pheromone-baited traps. Traps must be easy to handle, portable and cost effective so that they can provide high quality specimens for identifiers. This study was conducted from spring through the fall in 2010 and 2011 to compare the trapping efficacy and cost-effectiveness of 4 pheromone-baited traps for male Helicoverpa moths. Over 11,600 Helicoverpa moths were captured, all identified as the corn earworm, H. zea (Boddie). The Pherocon® 1C “sticky” trap generally captured the fewest number of males, while equal numbers of moths were captured in a wire cone, ScentryTM Heliothis, and Universal (Unitrap) Moth “bucket” trap when moderate populations were present. Wire cone traps performed statistically better when high populations were present. The sticky traps captured the highest number of non-target insects, most being ants, flies, and beetles. Overall, the average corn earworm per trap vs. cost ratio for bucket traps was higher than the other traps, suggesting that more moths per dollar would be captured using these traps.