Look what these caught.2023 trawl.

[Ernie]

For years I have been using these yellow double sided sticky yellow fly catchers in the greenhouse. not clearly shown is a lot of very small white things. Fortunately Bees and Hover flies don't seem to get caught. I have no idea what's on them but I rather they be on the paper than roaming about the greenhouse. Since using them I have not a problem with sciara fly. 10 sheets for £6. Easy to use.

[el48tel]

Yup
Similar .... put my 8 in the bin on Sunday and replaced them. Might use them for close up photography next year!

[SimonT]

Do you think they can catch really small things like mealy bug crawlers or RSM moving from plant to plant?
Or if the card was low down around the plants would you just wipe out lots of spiders?

[Apicra]

For many years, I have been using these sticky strips, cut into quarters, low down liberally mixed in with my plants because they will catch Western Flower Thrips. But many critters know to avoid them or escape - I don't recall ever seeing a spider, mealy bug, RSM, slug or snail caught.

Best wishes,
Dreek Tribble

[Acid John]

Quite a few Hoverflies there Ernie.

[LHMBB]

I've seen plenty of fairly large spiders on these

[gerald]

Can someone please explain the point of catching and killing harmless insects?

Mealy bugs maybe so, but all others - no.

We should be helping them thrive, not killing them.

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/202 ... years.html

[Cidermanrolls]

Can someone please explain the point of catching and killing harmless insects?

Mealy bugs maybe so, but all others - no.

We should be helping them thrive, not killing them.

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/202 ... years.html

The male mealie bug flies…. So these traps can be helpful to break the reproductive cycle.

[el48tel]

I think I see Gerald's point. We are interfering with natural processes by killing the insect population. But then I think we may all be even more guilty .... by cultivation of plants outside their natural environment .... introduction of species into another country. And at some time in the past, weren't those plants and/or seeds of their ancestors ripped out of their original environment by fanatical collectors intent on one-upmanship by possession of a plant that another collector didn't posses.
I think it may be a suitable juncture to stand back from this set of dangerous arguments.
You could also justify the control of your semi closed system aka your greenhouse as your closed system equals your choice what you do with it. And you could argue that the control prevents the loss of possibly dangerous insects to the environment at large.
I don't think there is a safe verdict.

[habanerocat]

Can someone please explain the point of catching and killing harmless insects?

Mealy bugs maybe so, but all others - no.

We should be helping them thrive, not killing them.

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/202 ... years.html

The male mealie bug flies…. So these traps can be helpful to break the reproductive cycle.

But unfortunately the female doesn't need the male to reproduce.