Response of Frankliniella occidentalis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) and Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) to fluorescent traps in a cucumber greenhouse

This paper describes the responsiveness of the western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) and the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) to fluorescent and non-fluorescent colored sticky traps in a cucumber greenhouse. As in previous studies, thrips preferred blue, white or yellow painted traps. The fluorescent pigments Horizon Blue, Saturn Yellow and Arc Yellow were not significantly different in attractiveness from non-fluorescent blue and yellow pigments. Whiteflies preferred non-fluorescent yellow, Saturn Yellow, Arc Yellow and Signal Green traps over the other colors tested. Where a single trap color is desired for sampling both pest species, a yellow pigment with high reflective intensity around 550 nm is recommended