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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Wooster, Ohio » Application Technology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #415537
Research Project: Sustainable Production and Pest Management Practices for Nursery, Greenhouse, and Protected Culture Crops

Location: Application Technology Research

Title: Influence of trap types and ethanol release rates on captures of ambrosia beetles in apple, peach, pecan and ornamentals

Author
item GIVINDARAJU, RAMKUMAR - University Of Georgia
item HAYTER, JENSEN - North Carolina State University
item CHONG, JUANG HORNG - Sepro Corporation
item DEL POZO-VALDIVIA, ALEJANDRO - Virginia Tech
item Cottrell, Ted
item WALGENBACH, JAMES - North Carolina State University
item BLAAUW, BRETT - University Of Georgia
item Reding, Michael - Mike
item Ranger, Christopher
item JOSEPH, SHIMAT - University Of Georgia
item SCHEYER, THOMAS - University Of Georgia

Submitted to: Journal of Applied Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/1/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Ambrosia beetles are damaging pests in tree crops in North America. The ability to detect their activity is important for growers to synchronize control treatments with beetle activity. The goal of the current research was to refine techniques for monitoring the granulate ambrosia beetle and black stem borer, two of the most damaging ambrosia beetles in North America. We tested high and low release ethanol lures in traps and high and low concentration ethanol soaked bolts (sections of tree stem soaked in ethanol). We found that traps collected larger numbers of beetles, but bolts were more selective for the target species. High rates of ethanol were generally more attractive than low rates.

Technical Abstract: Xylosandrus crassiusculus (Motschulsky) and Xylosandrus germanus (Blandford) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) are major ambrosia beetle pests in tree nut and fruit orchards and ornamental nurseries in the eastern USA. Ethanol-baited bottle traps and ethanol-infused tree stem sections (i.e., bolts) have been used to monitor ambrosia beetles, but limited studies exist on the influence of ethanol release rate on ambrosia beetle trap captures. We designed this study to compare low release (LR) and high release (HR) ethanol lures in bottle traps for capturing invasive ambrosia beetles. We also compared monitoring effectiveness of bolts pre-soaked in low (10%) and high (90%) ethanol solutions to bolts cored and filled with low and high ethanol solutions. In 2022, experiments were conducted in ornamental nurseries, apple, peach and pecan orchards in five US states. Higher numbers of X. crassiusculus and X. germanus were captured in bottle traps baited with the HR ethanol lure compared to the LR lure at the majority of study sites. At most sites, higher attacks by X. crassiusculus and X. germanus were observed on bolts infused with 90% compared to 10% solutions of ethanol. Bolts soaked in high or low ethanol solutions sustained more attacks from both X. crassiusculus and X. germanus than cored bolts filled with comparable dilutions of ethanol. These results will assist with monitoring flight activity of invasive ambrosia beetles within nut, fruit and ornamental tree crops.