Monitoring thrips species with yellow sticky traps in astringent persimmon orchards in Korea

Thrips are one of the insect pests of persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.) in the major production areas of astringent persimmon in Korea. We surveyed astringent persimmon orchards in the Damyang, Sangju and Cheongdo regions of Korea to determine thrips species composition and abundance. Orchards sprayed with either organic or conventional pesticides were sampled over the course of one flowering season, using yellow sticky traps to determine if this is a suitable method for monitoring thrips populations, and to determine thrips species composition and abundance. Eight thrips species were captured on yellow sticky traps in both the tree canopy and ground cover: Ponticulothrips diospyrosi Haga et Okajima, Scirtothrips dorsalis (Hood), Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), F. intonsa (Trybom), Thrips tabaci (Lindeman), T. hawaiiensis (Morgan), T. coloratus (Schmutz) and T. palmi (Karny). In all regions, F. occidentalis and F. intonsa dominated in both organic and conventional orchards. S. dorsalis, F. occidentalis, F. intonsa and T. hawaiiensis were found in persimmon flowers, with S. dorsalis the dominant thrips. Significantly more S. dorsalis were captured from flowers in the lower and middle canopy than in flowers from the upper canopy. Fruit damage was also significantly higher in fruit from the lower canopy than in fruit from the middle and upper canopy.