Light traps

Among various methods of pest control in the IPM mechanical trapping is an important one. Today, for the implementation of mechanical trapping, there is a wide range of devices and facilities, a special place is occupied by light traps for pest trapping.

General description of light traps

The method of using light traps in agronomy is not new. At the beginning of the last century, primitive versions of light traps in the form of kerosene lamps or even fires were used, which were placed near a container of water, where insects attracted by the light fell. Such archaic methods, of course, did not provide the necessary pest control, however, served as sources of ideas for the development of more effective devices for controlling pests.

Modern light traps used in agriculture are somewhat different in their design from insect traps that are used in everyday life or in the service industry (for example, light traps for flies or light traps for mosquitoes, which kill unwanted fauna with an electric discharge), but they have the same basic characteristic is the catch of pests with the help of light.

Today, there are many types of light traps for pests, but they all have a similar device consisting of a light emitter and a water container (or another liquid, such as vegetable oil or insecticide solution) into which the pests attracted by the light fall. The light sources of such traps can be different:

- incandescent electric lamp;

- fluorescent lamp;

- mercury-filled lamp;

- light-emitting diode;

- UV lamp (also called black light lamp, UV light lamp, Wood's lamp); such a lamp emits a special long-wave ultraviolet radiation;

Lately, UV light is the most commonly used light trap used in agriculture, which is attractive to many pests. Light traps for trapping pests are especially often used in organic farming, in greenhouse plants that use the IPM.

Light traps are used on the following crops:

- Cereals (wheat, rice, corn, etc.)

- Grain legumes (peas, lentils, chick-pea)

- Vegetable (tomato, eggplant, cabbage)

- Horticultural crops (fruit trees)

Light traps are used to control the following pests: lepidopterans (moths, leafrollers, fruit moths, hawkmoths, etc.), stem borers, tree beetles and other coleopterans;

Advantages of light traps:

1) Easy to use

2)  You can use them with pheromone lures

3)  Attract males and females of pests

4) Catching one pest leads to control of 300-400 its descendants

5) Catching is carried out during twilight or at night - at the peak of the pest flight

6) Quality monitoring of pest population

Disadvantages of light traps:

1) In open ground traps attract many insects, some of which are not pests

2) Part of attracted pests cannot be caught, they remain near the trap

3) Sometimes it is hard to identify the pest damaged by liquid

Where to buy light traps?

To buy a light trap, contact our managers in any convenient way.