Pheromone Trap Counts, June 1, 2016

It is once again time to start posting pheromone trap results to assist you in making insect management decisions. This year we have 3-4 bollworm and 3-4 tobacco budworm pheromone traps in 5 Delta counties and 3 Northeastern Hill counties of Mississippi. These traps are placed adjacent to agricultural fields and will be checked weekly and reported here with average catch per trap per county each week. When viewing these data, it is important to remember that we are catching adult moths, so the peaks reported here will not line up with the peak larval populations in your fields. A large catch in pheromone traps should be used as an alert to scout more intensely for eggs and small larvae in susceptible crops. However past experience has shown us that low trap counts do not always correspond to low insect pressure. Trap catches are also impacted by the attractiveness of plants in the environment, so when nearby plants are highly attractive, pheromone trap catches can be misleadingly low.

The catches for the last week of May show substantial bollworm moth activity but little tobacco budworm activity. Bollworm trap catches this week are much higher than last year, but similar to slightly higher than the long-term average catch for this time of year at most locations.