Hi Julie,
The reason that you don't find this information out there is due to the fact that it the answer changes based on budget, work force, materials in your collection and the species of insects that you are finding. Joel hit on several of these points, but I will follow up as well. If you are starting an IPM monitoring program from scratch and have no history of pest presence, then begin with blunder traps (non-baited flat sticky traps) alone. My recommendation for placement would be up against the wall on either side of each doorway (this let you know if pests are coming in or out of the door), in each corner and approximately every 30 feet (10 meters) along the perimeter walls. If you have highly susceptible materials such as natural animal-based fibers or grain/seed-based plant material stored in certain areas, then increase the blunder traps to every 15 feet (5 meters) along the walls in those areas. After the blunder traps have been placed, check the traps on a weekly or monthly basis for activity. Educate yourself on identifying the top museum pests or use other sources to help you identify what your traps are picking up. If your traps pick up museum pests that have commercially available pheromones, then you can deploy pheromone traps specific to that pest within those storage or exhibit areas. The traps are essential in helping you locate and remove the sources of the infestation. There are commercial pheromones for a few of the main players of museum pests such as clothes moths, carpet beetles, and cigarette beetles. Record pest captures in a program such as http://www.collectionpests.com/ or simply on a spreadsheet. This allows you to see trends and movement of pest activity through your institution. Pheromones do not make your collection attract insects, only draw in insects that are already in that area and only attract the males that are incapable of propagating the population by themselves. If you have a presence of museum pests that have active pheromone lures and you are not using them, then you are putting the remainder of your collections at risk by not using all of the tools available to you to eliminate the infestation. Collection Pests by Zaks<http://www.collectionpests.com/> www.collectionpests.com A Complete Online Pest Tracking Program for Museums, Libraries, Archives, Historical Institutions and Societies and Galleries. ANNOUNCEMENT - Realizing that CollectionPests is a very extensive program ant that our original, Zpest program, was outdated we have created a new system to fit the needs of those that CollectionPests doesn't fit.Zpest Tracker is a system that follows the IPM Working ... As Joel stated, if certain traps do not capture anything for extended periods of time, consider removing it to save time. If you have a large staff devoted to IPM, then you have the ability to more closely monitor your spaces. If you are the only one doing this, then limit it to what is manageable for you. Base your placement of the pheromone traps on the species of insect and the susceptibility of the collections. The pheromones for insects like clothes moths and cigarette beetles can pull in the insects from greater distances than food attractant baits for the larvae of varied carpet beetle or black carpet beetle. So for example, you may need more carpet beetle traps in your space to locate a source of infestation than you do clothes moths. There is a lot to take into account with this. I hope that this helps explain why there is not a specific answer to this question. Best, Pat Kelley Insects Limited ________________________________ From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Voron, Joel <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2018 8:24:22 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [pestlist] Blunder and Pheromone Trap Ratio/Concentration This is a very good question with no correct answer for everyone's situations. There are many factors to consider. Pest history, the risk factor of the objects (munchablity) building envelope( old loose structure or tight modern one) pest history and pest pressure for your region. If traps are coming up empty re-evaluate the concentration or placements. You can always add and take away. There are no set practices. I have seen overkill with traps consuming labor hours and way too minimal leaving spaces vulnerable. Determine the risk is the best place to start. Hope this helps. JTV Joel Voron Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Conservation Dept. Integrated Pest Management Office 757-220-7080<tel:757-220-7080> Cell 757-634-1175<tel:757-634-1175> E-Mail [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [X] On Oct 31, 2018, at 8:09 PM, "[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Hi Julie, Would you let me know what you hear? I’m interested in just the same thing. Tonya From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, 1 November 2018 10:57 AM To: Museumpests <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: [pestlist] Blunder and Pheromone Trap Ratio/Concentration Hello, All Happy Halloween! Could anyone point me to a good reference to learn about best practices for how many traps to lay out in areas of certain sizes, with certain collections, with certain histories of pests? In my attempts to unify our IPM system, I'm running into areas with tons of traps (60+) and areas with sparse traps. I know the mentality of some is an avoidance of pheromone traps, which then means needing to 'spam' areas with blunder traps so you know what's there. I would love to find some references that can show the best balance of pheromone and blunder traps together, and what concentration is optimal. I looked through muesumpests.net<http://muesumpests.net>, but didn't see reference to this in particular. Another article/book/or professional experience would be much appreciated. Cheers! Julie McInnis Collections Care Assistant Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Museumpests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/pestlist. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/78e253ed-4441-4a67-8376-95424a675210%40googlegroups.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/78e253ed-4441-4a67-8376-95424a675210%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Museumpests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/pestlist. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/d4ffe84ee8594cff8360140208667754%40exch3-mel.nexus.csiro.au<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/d4ffe84ee8594cff8360140208667754%40exch3-mel.nexus.csiro.au?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Museumpests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/pestlist. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/AF461D32-B078-43A4-9CA8-5E5B6A15417A%40cwf.org<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/AF461D32-B078-43A4-9CA8-5E5B6A15417A%40cwf.org?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Museumpests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/pestlist. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CY4PR1401MB1942E142D26B3F87C0D3F1B8F8CE0%40CY4PR1401MB1942.namprd14.prod.outlook.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
