The Effectiveness of Catching Cutworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Noctuinae) (= Agrotinae) in Pheromone Traps and Light Traps, for Short-Term Forecasting

In recent years, a local, growing population of cutworm in agricultural fields with various plants such as vegetables, horticultural, and ornamental plants has been observed. The scope of our research covered the observation of two species of cutworms: Agrotis segetum (Schiff.) and A. exclamationis (L.), which are the most dominant species in Poland. Cutworms were monitored in the 2005-2009 season with the use of Delta type pheromone traps with synthetic sexual pheromone and self-catch traps with a light source. The purpose of the research was to determine the dependence between the dynamics of the catches and the location of the traps, in fields with sugar beet, winter barley, and winter wheat in two municipalities: Winna Góra and Więcławice for the two studied cutworm species. Moreover, we used light traps in our analysis of the two studied cutworm species’, flight dynamics in Poznań, Winna Góra, and Więcławice in the 2003-2006 time period. The overall results can be used for adjusting the currently used monitoring methods for short-term and long-term forecasting of cutworm flights, and for optimizing chemical control of the cutworm.