Pest management made easy with new USU Extension app

LOGAN, UT – Fruit producers in Utah now have access to a free weather data and pest management mobile app produced by the Utah Climate Center and the Utah State University Extension Integrated Pest Management Program. The app, Utah TRAPs (Temperature Resource and Alerts for Pests), displays weather information and forecasts pest management recommendations.

“The goal is to give Utah’s fruit growers quick access to site-specific information to improve profits and grow healthy produce,” said Marion Murray, an associate with the Integrated Pest Management Program.

The Utah TRAPs app is a mobile version of the same tool that is found on the Utah Climate Center website at https://climate.usurf.usu.edu/traps/. It is available for both Apple iOS and Android operating systems for free.

According to Murray, several hundred fruit operators rely on the TRAPs website for weather and pest management information and it’s expected that the new app will be a convenient resource for them.

“The TRAPs tool has helped some Utah fruit growers save up to $500 per acre by optimizing frost protection, irrigation and pest management,” said Murray.

Utah TRAPs collects weather data from 50 stations throughout Utah. The temperatures are used in formulas to provide pest management recommendations for eight fruit pests and one wheat pest. Treatment dates are forecast for codling moth, peach twig borer, western cherry fruit fly, greater peachtree borer, San Jose scale, fire blight and cereal leaf beetle. The app also provides temperature, dew point, wind speed/direction and precipitation data.

Murray said future updates to the Utah TRAPs app are already in the works, including adding badge alerts, improving irrigation recommendations and adding pest management for vegetable growers and landscapers.

“The first big test will be this spring, in helping growers monitor for potential frost conditions,” she said.

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