How to choose the right trap for each pest

Choosing the right trap is one of the most important decisions in crop protection. For many growers, traps are the first contact with professional monitoring — and when properly selected, they become decisive tools to anticipate problems, reduce costs, and prevent yield losses.

Throughout this guide, we will walk with you step by step. The idea is simple! Understand how each trap works, when to use it, and how to integrate everything into an effective protection programme. Since there is no universal trap, understanding the differences is precisely what makes all the difference in the field.

Does choosing the right trap matter?

Yes, and a lot! Each pest responds to different stimuli — visual, chemical, or food‑related — and each crop requires an adapted strategy. When you choose the right trap, you gain three immediate advantages:

• Early detection, before damage becomes visible
• More precise decision‑making, based on real data from the field
• Cost reduction, avoiding unnecessary applications

In the following sections, we will show you how to turn these advantages into daily practice.

Types of traps and when to use them

To make your decision easier, we have gathered the main types of traps used in agriculture, explaining clearly what they are, how they work, and in which situations they are most effective. As you progress, you will understand how each trap fits into an integrated strategy.

Delta trap — precision for small lepidopterans

Delta traps are one of the most widely used tools for monitoring small lepidopterans. Their triangular shape, combined with the replaceable sticky base, allows clean captures and precise counts — essential for technical decision‑making.

They are the ideal traps for:

• European grapevine moth (Lobesia botrana)
• Codling moth (Cydia pomonella)
• Other small lepidopterans

The Delta trap is especially useful in crops where flight timing determines treatment success. In vineyards, pome fruits and berries, the use of the specific pheromone allows detection of the beginning of pest activity, adjustment of applications, and monitoring of population dynamics throughout the season.

Funnel trap — robustness for intensive monitoring

Funnel‑type traps are robust, stable, and ideal for large‑scale captures. The funnel guides insects into an internal container, preventing escape and increasing retention capacity.

They are particularly suitable for:

• Larger lepidopterans
• Intensive monitoring
• Areas with high pest pressure
• Monitoring in extensive zones

These traps are especially useful in crops such as maize, open‑field vegetables and fruit orchards with a history of severe attacks. They require less maintenance than Delta traps, making them an efficient option for mass‑capture programmes.

Fuit fly cup — the reference trap for dipterans

The fruit fly cup (Tephri type) is the reference trap for dipterans. It works with para‑pheromones or liquid/solid food attractants that mimic natural odours capable of attracting adults searching for food.

It is the appropriate option for:

• Fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata)
• Olive fly (Bactrocera oleae)
• Dipterans in general

It is an essential tool in orchards, olive groves and tropical fruit crops, both for monitoring and mass trapping. The choice of attractant can be decisive for effectiveness — hydrolysed proteins, ammonium, vinegar or specific formulations may be used depending on the pest and the time of year.

Chromotropic traps — visual attraction for active‑flying pests

Chromotropic traps use specific colours to attract insects with phototropic behaviour. They are indispensable in greenhouses, nurseries and vegetable crops.

The colour of the trap determines which pests are attracted:

• Yellow: Whiteflies, aphids, lepidopterans
• Blue: Thrips
• Green: Whiteflies
• Black: Tuta absoluta
• White: Housefly, olive fly, lepidopterans
• Red: Drosophila suzukii

In addition to monitoring, these traps directly reduce pest populations, helping control active‑flying insects. In greenhouses, they are essential for tracking pest evolution week by week and adjusting biological or chemical interventions.

Next, you can explore some of the trap types available at Biosani, with clear and useful technical details.

Pheromones and attractants: how they work

Now that you are familiar with the types of traps, it is important to understand the role of attractants and pheromones. They are what make each trap effective for the target pest.

• Pheromones (sex, alarm, positioning, aggregation, marking, recruitment): volatile compounds that mimic natural chemical signals emitted by insects. Used mainly to attract adult male lepidopterans.
• Food attractants and kairomones: used for dipterans and other pests that respond to olfactory stimuli related to feeding, decomposition or host‑organism signalling.

The following table summarises the relationship between trap type, pheromone or attractant, and target pest:

How to integrate traps into integrated protection

By now, you already know how to choose the right trap. Now, the next step is to integrate it into an effective protection programme. This is where continuous monitoring is transformed into sound technical decisions. Allowing treatments to be adjusted, unnecessary applications to be reduced, and costs to be optimized.

The integration should consider:

• Field history
• Regional pest pressure
• Climatic conditions
• Presence of beneficial organisms
• Crop calendar
• Crop sensitivity

Traps are decision-making tools. They do not replace treatments, but they allow them to be applied at the right time — and that makes all the difference in effectiveness and final cost.

Recommended use programme

To ensure consistent results, we recommend an integrated programme::

1. Install chromotropic traps at the beginning of the campaign.
2. Monitor catches and visual signs on plants weekly.
3. Install pheromone traps before the start of lepidopteran flight.
4. Reinforce traps during periods of higher pest pressure.
5. Replace pheromones according to the duration indicated by the manufacturer.
6. Integrate beneficial organisms whenever possible, adjusting compatible products.
7. Rotate attractants to avoid saturation or loss of effectiveness.

The key is prevention. When intervention begins before the exponential multiplication of pests, pressure remains manageable through biological resources and monitoring.

In summary, the correct choice of trap is crucial for effective monitoring and for reducing costs throughout the campaign. Delta traps, funnel traps, fly traps, chromotropic traps and pheromones perform complementary functions and should be selected according to the target pest, the crop and the objective of the intervention.

Biosani provides traps, attractants and pheromones suitable for each pest, ensuring technical solutions adapted to the needs of each agricultural operation. Consult our monitoring solutions catalogue or contact us if you need support in choosing or integrating traps into your protection programme.