Pheromone trap Reagron Apple leaf miner (Lithocolletis blancardella) basic trap

Apple leaf miner (Lithocolletis blancardella)
A common species in Hungary, usually three generations per year. If the weather is favourable, a fourth generation may develop.

Package contains: 1 roof, 1 adhesive base, 1 dispenser

Food plant:
Apples, apple trees, occasionally other fruit trees

Composition:
The caterpillar consumes the inner leaf tissue by penetrating from the backhand. Its aperture is elongated, mostly bordered by thicker veins, and the phloem is blistered and wrinkled. The leaf colour is bulging and the surface is mosaically mottled. A leaf may have more than ten stomata.

Lifestyle:
It overwinters in a pupae form in the fallen leaves. Depending on the season and the weather, the first generation emerges in April-May, the second generation flies from the first half of June, the moths emerge in masses from late July to late August and may be delayed until early September. Swarming peaks coincide and repeat every five weeks or so. The moths lay their eggs one by one on the back of the leaf. The caterpillar hatches and immediately burrows into the leaf.

Advice on control:
Pheromone traps can collect very large numbers of moths, thus depleting the population, but heavy swarming is often accompanied by little or no damage. It is therefore advisable to wait for the caterpillars to hatch before applying a control with insecticides and then decide on the treatment. In general, mass emergence of caterpillars can be expected 10-12 days after the peak of swarming.The use of quack wasps is a significant control of this pest. Their swarming peaks 1-2 weeks after the peak of the apple leafminer swarming, so avoid spraying during this period if possible.

Set pheromone traps:
Traps should be set in early April. Replace the dispenser and adhesive sheet about every 6-8 weeks.Check the traps twice a week. The number of moths trapped during the period is counted and recorded. From the data, you can see the drawing dynamics and determine the time of intervention. If the trap captures few moths even during the empirical swarming peaks, this indicates a low infestation. In this case, by placing a few additional traps in a small area, moths can be captured and the population can be controlled without spraying, thus sparing our environment.