pestmanagement


Kitchen catcher can also


Contech finding success testing domestic traps to control drosophila fruit fly populations.


By Judie Steeves W


ild blackberry thickets in the Fraser Valley appear to be a huge reservoir for


harbouring the dreaded Spotted Wing Drosophila, but mass trapping might reduce populations if they can be lured into them prior to fruit ripening.


Entomologist John Borden of Contech Enterprises Inc. in Delta reports they are catching hundreds of SWD in blackberries with their kitchen fruit fly trap, but using different bait than is sold with that trap. The kitchen version is designed to sit on a counter, and comes with a tea bag of ingredients designed to attract fruit flies, which then can’t get out of the jar and die on a sticky card.


Borden says slight modifications have been made to the trap for use in attracting SWD, and so it can be hung from a tree branch instead of standing on a counter.


He notes that two or three SWD were being caught at the beginning of August with the traps, in October as many as 400 were being lured into a


JUDIE STEEVES


John Borden shows how kitchen fruit fly trap can be used in blackberry bushes to lure large number of Spotted Wing Drosophila.


single trap, because there was such a build-up of the insect’s population in blackberries.


Borden believes mass trapping could be effective in reducing populations of the devastating new pest, but it would be important to begin trapping early in the season. Senior research and development specialist with Contech, Ervin Kovacs, says he has also used the larger Contech yellowjacket trap and lured 800 SWD per trap in to their death in one week.


However, Borden said the jars will last for three or four years, while the yellowjacket traps are designed for seasonal use.


They found that apple juice with a dash of yeast worked better early in the year for attracting the drosophila. This lure would combine fruit odour


with carbon dioxide produced by the yeast to accentuate the attraction. However, by the end of September apple cider vinegar seemed to be doing a better job. He speculated that their preferences could be changing later in the season as fruit on the ground builds up a vinegar load. “Someone needs to test different types of fruit juice as attractants,” he commented.


The Contech traps were used this year to monitor and conduct research into the new pest in the Fraser Valley.


Kovacs said both males and females, at a ratio of one to one, are caught in the traps.


Borden speculated the insect may overwinter in litter in the field, or maybe even in the sawdust mulch used around blueberries.


British Columbia Berry Grower • Winter 2010-11 9


lure SWD


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