We evaluated three different deployment patterns of sticky red sphere traps, baited with a five‐component blend of synthetic attractive fruit odour and placed on perimeter apple trees bordering adjacent habitat (front‐row trees), for control of apple maggot flies, Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh), in small plots of apple trees (about 30 × 30 m) in Massachusetts commercial apple orchards. Degree of fly penetration from front‐row to interior apple trees was assessed for R. pomonella of wild origin and for marked adults released in habitats adjacent to front‐row trees. Traps placed 10 and 5 m apart on front‐row trees or grouped on a single central front‐row tree performed as well as grower‐applied insecticide sprays in preventing penetration of plots by wild and released flies and in preventing fruit injury. This was equally true for plots whose front‐row trees consisted of cultivars comparatively susceptible to apple maggot as for plots whose front‐row trees were comprised of comparatively tolerant cultivars. It was also true for each seasonal period during which sampling for treatment performance occurred.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.