Reminder - maintain traps for Spotted Wing Drosophila

13 Oct 2021

AHDB is reminding fruit businesses about using SWD monitoring traps and the importance of maintaining traps through the autumn and refreshing the lure:

Many soft and stone fruit growers use liquid lures in monitoring traps for adult SWD. Best practice is to check the traps and refresh the liquid once per week, as during warmer conditions, the liquid does tend to congeal.

At this time of year, as the harvest season starts to slow down, there is a tendency to forget about SWD monitoring traps and the contents can turn to jelly, which becomes very attractive to SWD and is a perfect breeding medium for the pest, rather than drowning the adults, which is the intention. It is vital that all traps are attended to and the contents disposed of safely. They should not be emptied on the soil, as this will continue to attract SWD. After all the hard work of monitoring and controlling the pest during the season, forgetting to refresh the liquid lure at this time of year will only exacerbate the pest for future seasons.

By keeping the traps well maintained, you will continue to ‘mop-up’ SWD that would otherwise be getting ready to overwinter. Well maintained traps at this time of year can therefore actively reduce the overwintering populations which will enter crops next spring.