I thought I’d make a quick post about moth pheromone lures. My experience is limited but perhaps it may be of use to some people.

I’ve been setting up light traps and sheets for about 6 years, but this year I thought I’d focus on diurnal species and try lures as a complement to the light traps. There are various lures for sale in Canada for clearwing moths, so that struck me as an avenue worth exploring.

Back in January I ordered some lures from Solida, a pest management company from Quebec. Initially I just picked up just the lures – no traps – namely these three:

• General clearwing borer
• Western Poplar borer
• Grape root Borer 

I then tried leaving them around near a spot where I was working over the course of a day, to see what came in. Zilch. It was early in the year, so very probably the moths weren’t around. I tried a similar ad hoc approach on trips to Lillooet and Creston, but again, nothing. So eventually I decided to combine them with actual traps – something I wouldn’t have to monitor moment by moment.

I ordered four of these – shown in the image above. They’re not the most attractive things on earth, but they’re solidly made and will last years – and most importantly, they do the job. This week 3 of the 4 traps yielded a catch – all on the same day, interestingly, and none before or since. I’ll keep them up the rest of the year and add fresher lures this coming week. There are still plenty of species I could attract so it’ll be interesting to see what’s around on Bowen.

The whole gear wasn’t cheap – but didn’t break the bank either. $150-$200 perhaps? I ordered packs of 5 for the lures and have only used a single one so far.

Lastly, a great resource is this page on the BC Leps site. It covers various lures + tips.

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Update a week later: I replenished the lures and I’m seeing more action. I saw 6 individuals in the traps today, plus a Morophagoides burkerella. Very possibly there are more moths flying at this point in the year, but I’m sure the extra lures helped.