An evaluation of orange and clear traps with pear ester to monitor codling moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in apple orchards

W. Barros-Parada, A.L. Knight, E. Basoalto, and E. Fuentes-Contreras. 2013. An evaluation of orange and clear traps with pear ester to monitor codling moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in apple orchards. Cien. Inv. Agr. 40(2):307-315. Studies were conducted to evaluate the use of several trap-lure combinations to improve the monitoring of codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), in apple, Malus domestica Bordk. The treatments involved the use of clear, orange, and white traps baited with one or more of the following attractants: the major sex pheromone component of the codling moth, (E, E)-8,10-dodecadien-1-ol (codlemone, PH); a primary volatile constituent of ripe pear, ethyl (E, Z)-2,4-decadienoate (pear ester, PE); and acetic acid (AA). The studies were conducted in an orchard treated with sex pheromone dispensers in Washington State (USA) and in four untreated orchards in the Maule Region (Chile). In Washington State, the PE+AA lures caught more females than the PE+PH lure in both the clear and orange traps. The clear traps caught more female moths than the orange traps when each trap was baited with the PE+PH lure. The two lures caught similar total numbers of moths across trap colors. The clear traps baited with PE+PH caught significantly more total moths than the orange traps baited with PE+AA. In Chile, the clear traps baited with PE+AA caught more females than the orange traps baited with PE+PH over both moth flights during two field seasons. The white traps baited with PH and the orange traps baited with PE+PH caught similar total numbers of moths in three of the four flight periods. The clear trap baited with PE+AA caught significantly fewer moths than the two treatments that included a PH lure in two of the four flight periods. These data suggest that the adoption of clear delta traps with PE+AA lures would allow growers to better track the seasonal population dynamics of female codling moths.