Crops Affected: a wide range of vegetables and field crops, including beans, beet, brassicas, corn, lettuce, onion, pepper, potato, spinach, sweet potato, tomato, cotton, peanut, sorghum, soybean, and tobacco.

States Affected: CA, OR, AZ, NM, NV, UT, CO, TX, OK, KS, AR, MO, MD, VA, KY, TN, NC, SC, GA, FL, LA, MS, AL

Life Cycle: Seasonal activity varies with climate, thriving year-round in warm regions. With a brief 24-day lifecycle, it yields up to six generations annually. Eggs, typically numbering 50 to 150 per cluster, are placed on the lower leaf surface, often near blossoms and branch tips, covered in a fuzzy, cottony layer of whitish scales. Pupation takes place underground, using a chamber formed from sand and soil particles bound by a drying oral secretion. Oviposition spans three to seven days, and the adult moths life span is approximately nine to 10 days. It rarely overwinters where frosts occur, but will reinvade such areas each summer.

Damage: Larvae consume both foliage and fruit. As they grow, they adopt a solitary behavior, creating sizable, irregular holes in the foliage. Additionally, they may burrow into the central portion of lettuce heads or infest the buds of brassica crops.

Season to Trap: March to September

How To Use: Hang trap with lure inside at shoulder height near at risk or affected crops. Replace lures every 30 days through the season, and replace traps when 70% saturated. Adult males are attracted to the pheromones in the lure and the color of the traps in this kit. Once they land on the sticky trap, they become ensnared, never to mate or lay eggs again.

Additional IPM Solutions: Avoid practices that destroy or disrupt native beneficial insects. Use pesticides with caution, as resistant populations have already developed. Beneficial nematodes may be used against the pupal stage. For organic crops, consider using neem and B.t.