Evaluation of Differently Colored Bucket Traps for Black Cutworm and Armyworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Differently colored bucket traps were tested to determine if the capture of male moths would be affected. Four colorswere tested: yellow top with white boltom (yellow-white), green top with a white boltom (green-white), all white (white), and all green (green). The traps were baited with sex pheromones of black cutworm, Agrotis ipsilon (Hufnagel), and armyworm, Pseudaletia unipuncta (Haworth). For black cutworms, the yellow/white (mean, 46.1) trap captured significantly more male moths, followed by the white (mean, 23.1) and green-white trap (mean, 21.6). Capture of moths in the green trap was significantly less (mean, 10.9) than for any of the other trap types. For capture of armyworm, the yellow-white and white traps were not significantly different. Similar to capture of A. ipsilon , moth capture of P. unipuncta (mean, 1.2) in the green trap was significantly less than in the white (mean, 6.5) and yellow-white (mean, 4.8) traps. The yellow-white traps caught significantly more bumblebees than did each of the other traps. Where traps are to be used for both noctuid species and capture of bumblebees is undesirable, the white trap is acceptable.