Monitoring and Emergence of Flower Thrips Species in Rabbiteye and Southern Highbush Blueberries

Several commercial colored sticky traps were evaluated for their effectiveness in monitoring flower thrips in rabbiteye, Vaccinium ashei Reade (syn. V. virgatum Ait.), and southern highbush, V. corymbosum L. x V. darrowii Camp blueberry plantings. Experimental designs were randomized complete blocks with 4 replicates per treatment. Four trap colors (treatments) were evaluated: 1) standard pantone yellow, 2) safety white, 3) walnut husk green, and 4) thrips blue. Traps were re-randomized weekly and hung within the canopy of blueberry bushes in a vertical position spaced approximately 10 m apart with 15 m between blocks. Significantly more flower thrips (Frankliniella spp.) were detected on blue and white traps compared with yellow and green in rabbiteye and southern highbush blueberry plantings. In a separate experiment, we compared three additional sampling techniques, dipping flower clusters into alcohol, tapping flowers over a flat white surface, and destructively sampling flower clusters, with the standard white sticky board trap for their ability to detect flower thrips. Significantly more flower thrips were detected on white sticky boards compared with the other techniques evaluated. The fewest number of thrips was recorded in the rabbiteye planting in the treatment where flowers were tapped over a flat white surface. Approximately, 95% of the thrips recorded in the blueberry plantings were F. bispinosa (Morgan). Other species of thrips included F. fusca (Hinds) 8%, and F. occidentalis (Pergande) 5%.