How to repel pests with pheromone traps?

The spider mite is a very common pest

Image - Flickr / chausinho

The use of compound / chemical insecticides, especially if it is intensive, can cause irreversible damage not only to plants, but also to the environment. That is why it is increasingly advisable to bet on other types of products, which will keep your crops in good shape.

There are several, but this time I'm going to tell you about the pheromone traps. At first it may seem like a somewhat complicated topic, but you will see that it is not so much 😉.

A brief introduction: what are pheromones?

Pheromone trap

Image - Wikimedia / CSIRO

For a better understanding of what pheromone traps are and how they are used, it is important to first understand what pheromones are. Summing up a lot, they are chemical substances -stress, to mark territory, sexual,… - odoriferous substances that all living beings secrete, in order to cause some kind of reaction to other individuals of the same species. They are something like 'messages' or 'signals' issued to get the other to react in some way.

In the case of animals, these substances are detected by smell. For example, the best known case is that of the cat. This feline has an organ called the vomeronasal organ or Jacobson's organ, located right on the palate, which once it detects pheromones causes the animal to behave in some specific way: for example, if what it has smelled is urine of an unknown cat, it is most likely that he will go in search of him to throw him out of his territory.

As a curiosity, to tell you that humans also have this organ, but unlike what happens in felines, ours is not functional.

How useful are agricultural pheromones or pheromone traps?

For many years, and even today, chemical phytosanitary products continue to be abused; that is, of compound / chemical insecticides. These, although it is true that they eliminate pests, also damage the environment. Because As insecticides they are, they kill insects, and although it is currently easy to find specific insecticides, which are the ones that eliminate only some specific ones, you cannot trust them too much.

In my opinion, with this type of 'specific' products it is a bit like with herbicides, that is, with products that kill plants. There are broadleaf herbicides and narrowleaf herbicides. You may want to remove only the grass from your pots, but if you have any plants in these containers, it is most likely that it will suffer damage as well, because the substances from which that product is formulated will not distinguish, for example, a palm tree. which has the broad leaves of a chard which is an herb that also has the broad leaves.

If we take all this into account, the use of products such as agricultural pheromones is a very good alternative to insecticides, both for plants and animals, since They allow us to take care of our crops in a more respectful way.

What types of pheromones are used in gardening and why?

View of the pheromone trap

Image - Wikimedia / Danrok

There are different kinds of pheromones: territorial, stress, etc. In agriculture and gardening, only sexual ones are used, since they are the ones that give the best results. Its application can be oriented to:

  • Monitoring: evaluate the growth of the pest and, with these data, establish the ideal moment to start treatment.
  • Mass traping: it is a technique of mass capture of insects of the male gender in order to avoid reproduction.
  • Mating disruption: a large amount of pheromones is released making it impossible for males to find females.

As we can see, depending on what we need at that time, we can use some products or others.

Why use agricultural pheromones and not conventional insecticides?

Apart from what we have already said, there are other reasons why it is very, very advisable to avoid the use of insecticides and give products that are formulated with pheromones a try. They are as follows:

They do not generate polluting waste

In a world where pollution is a serious problem for all of us who live in it, it is always good to know which products are not going to pollute the environment.

They do not affect predatory insects

Pheromone products are made in such a way that they only act against one or two species of insects in particular, and they are always the kind that become pests.

They have a wide scope

And when we say 'wide' we can say very, very wide. In some cases, such as the red palm weevil pheromone trapsIt is advisable to set a trap for every 200-300 meters.

They are harmless

Pheromone Products they do no harm to the body. If we want to use insecticides instead, we have to take measures to protect ourselves, such as putting on gloves, a mask, and in certain cases even waterproof clothing.

Where to buy pheromone traps?

Si quieres adquirir algún productos de este tipo es aconsejable que vayas a un vivero, o que consultes con alguna tienda de jardinería online. De todas formas, por aquí te dejo el cebo que te servirá para controlar y eliminar a la Absolutely all, better known as tomato moth:

No products found.

This product is applied in a trap like this one that they sell No products found., and is allowed to act. When you see that it is already full, proceed to clean it.

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