Comparison of Colored Sticky Traps for Monitoring Thrips Populations (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) in Staked Tomato Fields

The response of flower thrips, Frankliniella spp., to various colors and sticky trap designs was evaluated in staked tomato fields in western North Carolina. Yellow sticky traps caught significantly more thrips compared with blue or white traps. There were no differences in the relative proportion of thrips species caught on different colored traps. The size of the flower sampling unit (i.e., 10-flowers versus all flowers per plant) did not influence the correlation between sticky trap catches and thrips abundance in flowers. Only F. occidentalis (Pergande) exhibited a significant correlation between percent abundance on all colors of sticky traps and percent abundance in flowers. Colored sticky traps caught high numbers of F. tritici (Fitch), despite the fact that few F. tritici were collected from flowers. In tests to evaluate different trap designs, cylindrical and cup traps caught more F. tritici than glass slide traps. Cylindrical sticky traps were more economical and enabled easier identification of thrips than glass slide or cup traps.