Sticky traps are a valuable tool in the monitoring and control of flying insects. 

Available as:

• wet stick for catching multiple individuals and dry stick for monitoring
• yellow or blue
• multiple sizes
• cards or rolls

For thrips it is the convention to use blue traps, but yellow traps will also catch thrips, and in addition will catch other flying pests like whiteflies and sciarid flies making them more useful where mixed pests are expected.

Use drystick traps at a maximum of 1 per 100 m² (1000 ft²) and check regularly, these will allow the grower to determine if the population of pest is increasing or decreasing and will determine future control decisions.  Replace these as necessary when counting the number of pests on them becomes difficult.

Use wetstick traps where thrips are present in the crop and maximum catch is required.  In this situation large cards or roller traps can be used to give maximum surface area.  Replace when they sticky surface is not reactive anymore.

Roller traps can be used where high numbers of thrips are expected, for example under benches where thrips may be hatching from the soil, around the edges of a crop or near the vents of a protected structure where the pest may be entering from outside.

Placing traps where movement occurs, such as on picking/ crop work trollies will disturb pests which may then fly onto the traps so catch may be increased.