2: CANCELLED: Comparing the suitability of BMSB traps for monitoring and management

Brown marmorated stink bug is a critical pest of tree fruit prodcution in the US. In Michigan, BMSB populations can fluctuate dramatically from severe outbreak-level pest to nuisance in consecutive years. As a result, accurate monitoring of the year-to-year variations in BMSB populations is critical for effective management. The need for accurate population estimates is especially crucial in locations like Michigan near the maximum northern limit of BMSB environmental suitability. However, several monitoring tools, in the form of pheromone-baited traps, exist for this pest. The sticky panel trap is favored by many BMSB researchers but despite this, the utility of sticky trap data in Michigan is unclear. I have tested the efficacy of several alternative BMSB trap designs over the past 3 growing seasons at Michigan tree fruit sites and have conducted BMSB damage surveys at a subset of these. In this talk, I will present the results of this trapping work, and using correlation analysis, show that current BMSB trap designs are not effective at predicting damage in conventional apple production. New tools for monitoring BMSB and possible explanations for the absence of a trap count: damage relationship will be discussed.