Trap cropping

Trap cropping is the planting of a trap crop to protect the main cash crop from a certain pest or several pests. The trap crop can be from the same or different family group, than that of the main crop, as long as it is more attractive to the pest. There are two types of planting the trap crops; perimeter trap cropping and row intercropping. Perimeter trap cropping (border trap cropping) is the planting of trap crop completely surrounding the main cash crop. It prevents a pest attack that comes from all sides of the field. It works best on pests that are found near the borderline of the farm. Row intercropping is the planting of the trap crop in alternating rows within the main crop.

Advantages of trap cropping

1. Lessens the use of pesticide
2. Lowers the pesticide cost
3. Preserves the indigenous natural enemies
4. Improves the crop's quality
5. Helps conserve the soil and the environment

Table 1. Examples of trap cropping practices

Trap crop	Main crop	Method of planting	Pest controlled
Alfalfa (Meyer, 2003)	Cotton	Strip intercrop	Lygus bug
Basil and marigold (MMSU, 2003)	Garlic	Border crops	Thrips
Castor plant (Hasse, 1986; 1987)	Cotton	Border crop	Heliotis sp.
Chervil (Ellis; Bradley, 1996)	Vegetables Ornamentals	Among plants	Slugs
Chinese cabbage, mustard, and radish (Facknath, 1997; Muniappan; Lali, 1997)	Cabbage	Planted in every 15 rows of cabbage	Cabbage webworm Flea hopper Mustard aphid
Beans and other legumes	Corn	Row intercrop	Leafhopper Leaf beetles Stalk borer Fall armyworm
Chick pea (Grundy; Short, 2003)	Cotton	Block trap crop at 20 plants/ sq m (Brown, 2002)	Heliotis sp.
Collards (Boucher; Durgy, 2003)	Cabbage	Border crop	Diamondback moth
Corn (Hasse, 1986; 1987)	Cotton	Row intercrop, planted in every 20 rows of cotton or every 10-15 m	Heliotis sp.
Cowpea (CIKS, 2000)	Cotton	Row intercrop in every 5 rows of cotton	Heliotis sp.
Desmodium (ICIPE, 2003)	Corn Cowpea Millet Sorghum	Row intercrop	Stemborer Striga
Dill and lovage (Ellis; Bradley, 1996)	Tomato	Row intercrop	Tomato hornworm
Green beans (Ellis; Bradley, 1996)	Soybean	Row intercrop	Mexican bean beetle
Horse radish (DA, Philippines, 1997)	Potato	Intercrop	Colorado potato beetle
Hot cherry pepper (Boucher; Durgy, 2003)	Bell pepper	Border crop	Pepper maggot
Indian mustard (Cornell University, 1995)	Cabbage	Strip intercrop in between cabbage plots	Cabbage head caterpillar
Marigold (French and African marigold) (Vann; Kirkpatrick; Cartwright, 2004) (Dofour; Guerena; Earles, 2003)	Solanaceous Crucifers Legumes Cucurbits	Row/strip intercrop	Nematodes
Medic, Medicago litoralis (Miles, C.; et al., 1996)	Carrot	Strip intercrop in between carrot plots	Carrot root fly
Napier grass (ICIPE, 2003)	Corn	Intercrop Border crop	Stemborer
Nasturtium (Ellis; Bradley, 1996)	Cabbage	Row intercrop	Aphids Flea beetle Cucumber beetle Squash vine borer
Okra (Hasse, 1986; 1987)	Cotton	Border crop	Flower cotton weevil
Onion and garlic	Carrot	Border crops or barrier crops in between plots	Carrot root fly Thrips
Radish (Ellis; Bradley, 1996)	Cabbage family	Row intercrop	Flea beetle Root maggot
Rye (OIKOS, 2003)	Soybean	Row intercrop	Corn seedling maggot
Sesbania (Naito, 2001)	Soybean	Row intercrop at a distance of 15 m apart	Stink bug
Sickle pod (OIKOS, 2003)	Soybean	Strip intercrop	Velvet bean caterpillar Green stink bug
Soybean	Corn	Row intercrop	Heliotis sp.
Sudan grass (ICIPE, 2003)	Corn	Intercrop Border crop	Stemborer
Sunflower (CIKS, 2000)	Cotton	Row intercrop in every 5 rows of cotton	Heliotis sp.
Tansy (DA, Philippines, 1997)	Potato	Intercrop	Colorado potato beetle
Tobacco (Hasse, 1986; 1987)	Cotton	Row intercrop, planted in every 20 rows of cotton	Heliotis sp.
Tomato (Makumbi, 1996)	Cabbage	Intercrop (Tomato is planted 2 weeks ahead at the plots' borders)	Diamondback moth
Vertiver grass (van de Berg, Undated)	Corn	Perimeter crop	Corn stalk borer

Tips for successful trap cropping

Make a farm plan. This will guide you on where the trap crops are to be sown or planted.

Learn to know and identify the pests.

Select a trap crop that is more attractive to the pest than the main crop. Ask for assistance from your local agriculturist.

Monitor your plants regularly.

Immediately control the pests that are found in the trap crop. Prune or remove the trap crops once the pest population is high, otherwise they will serve as the breeding ground and the pests will attack the rest of your farm.

Be ready to sacrifice your trap crop as an early crop and destroy them once pest infestation is high.

Always keep farm records.

External links

• NC State University Cultural control. http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ent425/text19/cultural.html
• University of Connecticut. Perimeter trap cropping works. http://www.hort.uconn.edu/ipm/veg/htms/ptcworks.htm
• Pest control plants. http://www.pallensmith.com/articles/pest-control-plants
• DEEDI. Trap cropping. http://www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/cropresearch/14909.html

References

• Boller, E.; Hani, F.; Poehling. Editors. (2004): Ecological infrastructures.: Ideabook on functional biodiversity at the farm level. IOBC, OILB, Mattenbach AG. Winterthur, Switzerland.
• CIKS. (2000): Bollworm control in cotton. Center for Indian Knowledge Systems. Chennai, India. Pesticide Post. Vol. 8, No 6.
• Daxl, R.; von Kayserlingk, N.; Klien-Koch, C.; Link, R.; Waibel, H. (1994): Integrated pest management: Guidelines. Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit. Eschborn,
• Ellis, B.; Bradley, F. (1996): The organic gardener's handbook of natural insect and disease control. Rodale Press. Emmaus, Pennsylvania.
• Facknath, S. (2000): Application of neem extract and intercropping for the control of some cabbage pests in Mauritius. Proc. International Neem Conference, Queensland, Australia, Feb. 1996 In Press.
• Facknath, S. (2000): Integrated pest management of Plutella xylostella. University of Mauritius.
• Grundy, P.; Short, S. (2003): Potential alternative to chickpeas for trap cropping. ANP Technology, Greenmount Press. DPI, Queensland. Vol. 24, No 3, p. 14
• Hasse, V. (1986): Introducing plant protection to cotton farmers in the Philippines. Second International Conference on Plant Protection in the Tropics. Malaysian Plant Protection Society, Kuala Lumpur.
• Hasse, V. (1987): Cotton. No 1-2. Philippine-German Cotton Project, Department of Agriculture. Manila, Philippines
• ICIPE. (2003): 2000 - 2003 ICIPE Scientific Report. International Center for Insect Physiology and Entomology, Nairobi, Kenya.
• MMSU. (2003): 7 new botanical extracts vs. garlic pests. Mariano Marcos State University. Batac, Ilocos Norte, Philippines.
• Muniappan, R.; Lali, T. (2000): Management of cabbage pests of the Asia Pacific lowland tropics. College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Guam, Guam.
• Naito, A. (2001): Low cost technology for soybean pests. ICAF, Japan.