D3124: Does mass trapping earwigs in stone fruit orchards affect yield and fruit damage?

The European earwig (Forficula auricularia) is considered a pest in stone fruit orchards, sometimes requiring the use of pesticides to reduce their populations. However, in pome fruit orchards, they are considered beneficial insects because they consume pests such as aphids and psylla and infrequently damage fruit. Rolled cardboard strips have long been used as a trapping method for earwigs by pome fruit growers that monitor their natural enemy populations. Because of their dual role in tree fruit, our overall goal was to determine if earwig mass trapping in stone fruit could serve as a source of earwigs for augmentative releases in pome fruit. As earwig trapping is infrequent in stone fruit, it remains unknown if their use could be an effective pest control method for earwigs. Unlike many other pests, mass trapping earwigs may be promising due to their low dispersal and reproduction rates. Given this, the objectives of this study were to determine: i) what type of trap captures the most earwigs; ii) if mass trapping reduces earwig populations over time in apricot and cherry orchards, and; iii) if removing earwigs affects fruit yield and damage. We deployed four different types of trap in soft fruit orchards, then weekly counted and removed earwigs caught in each trap type. For the mass trapping, we deployed rolled cardboard traps in cherry and apricot orchards, removing earwigs weekly from treatment plots. Fruit damage and yield were assessed at the end of season. Results from 2021 field trials will be discussed.