Enhanced Electronic Black Light Bug Zapper
By Allen Dong, I-Tech, P.O. Box 413, Veneta, OR 97487
www.efn.org/~itech/
Public Domain, no copyright, November 25, 2000
High voltage electronic black light bug zappers use a fluorescent black
light to attract insects and a high voltage wire grid to kill them when
they approach the light. The effectiveness of the bug zapper can
be enhanced by
* Placing the bug zapper on top of a large sheet of paper coated with sticky paste,
* Attaching a pheromone lure on the bug zapper.
Experiment
To control the grain moth population inside a grain storage shed, a
15-watt "Stinger" bug zapper (model UV 15) was installed.
The bug zapper was set on top of a 20 x 30 inch paper coated with a
sticky paste ("Stickem", available from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply
www.groworganic.com , or Planet Natural www.planetnatural.com
). A grain moth pheromone lure (The Pantry Pest Trap from
"SureFire", also available from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply and Planet
Natural) was attached on top of the bug zapper. The number of
moths trapped using the bug zapper plus sticky paper and pheromone
method (A) was compared with the bug zapper alone (B), bug zapper plus
sticky paper (C), and pheromone with sticky paper (D). The bug zapper
was turned on during the peak moth activity period, 2 hour before and 2
hours after sunset.
Results
Date and number of moths killed
Date, 1999 (A) Bug zapper + pheromone + sticky paper (B) Bug zapper alone
Under zapper
on paper total
June
21 12
5
17
10
22
10
18
28
7
23 18
100
118
14
24 13
81
94
31
(C) Bug zapper + sticky paper
27 5
6
11
29
28 1
10
11
17
29 13
28
41
38
30
69
160
229
113
(D) Pheromone + sticky paper
July
1 6
5
11
19
2
4
8 12
18
4 1
9
10
1
5
17
19
36
4
6 34
69
103
6
11
47
48
95
17
12 28
96
124
37
Discussions
* When using the bug
zapper plus pheromone and sticky paper method (A), the sticky paper
killed 3 times more moths than the high voltage wire grid ([column
3]/[column 2]).
* The bug zapper plus pheromone and sticky
paper (A) killed 4 times more moths than the bug zapper alone (B)
without pheromone or sticky paper, ([column 4]/[column 5], June 21-24
data).
* There was
insufficient data to determine a statistically significant difference
between the bug zapper plus pheromone and sticky paper method (A)
versus bug zapper and sticky paper (C) without pheromone (June 27-30
data). The high moth count on June 30 (229 with pheromone versus
115 without pheromone) suggests that pheromone lure should be included
in the trap, especially when pheromone lures are relatively
inexpensive. Furthermore, pheromone lures have the advantage of
selecting for moth species and mating disruption whereas the bug zapper
is indiscriminant.
*
The bug zapper plus pheromone and sticky paper method (A) trapped 7
times more moths than trapped by the pheromone and sticky paper (D),
without bug zapper ([column 4]/[column 5], July 1-12 data).
*
In a separate test, the bug zapper with the pheromone lure was placed
on top of the sticky paper 8 inches away from a wall. Another sticky
paper was attached to the wall behind the bug zapper. At the end
of a week, there were over 300 moths on the horizontal sticky paper
under the bug zapper and 15 moths on the vertical sticky paper attached
to the wall. Vertical placement of the sticky paper was not
effective in trapping moths. For moths to land on the vertical
surface, they would turn their backs to the light source, whereas,
moths could land on the horizontal surface while facing the light
source.
Bug
zapper with pheromone and sticky paper. Horizontal sticky paper
was effective but vertical sticky paper was not effective.
Note: Mention of product and company names does not imply endorsement from I-Tech.