Application of Pheromone Traps for Managing Hessian Fly (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in the Southern Great Plains

The Hessian fly, Mayetiola destructor Say, is an important pest of winter wheat in the Southern Great Plains of the United States. As larvae feed behind the leaf sheath, infestations often go undetected until crop damage is evident, and there are no remedial actions that can prevent economic loss once a field is infested. The recent discovery of the sex-attractant pheromone of the Hessian fly provides an opportunity to use pheromone traps to detect and monitor adult activity and potentially better manage this pest. Adult male Hessian fly activity was monitored during 4 yr at six locations from northcentral Oklahoma, 36° N latitude, south to central Texas, 31° N latitude. In Oklahoma, trap captures were low in the fall, no flies were captured during the winter, and the largest number of flies was captured in the spring. However, in southcentral Texas, adults were captured throughout the fall, winter, and in the spring when trap captures were again the greatest. The relationship between trap captures and density of Hessian fly larvae per tiller was investigated during the fall and spring. Although large numbers of adults (>100 per trap per day) were often captured, economic infestation of larvae rarely developed. Results identify optimum times for field sampling to determine immature Hessian fly infestations in wheat in Oklahoma and Texas.