Dr. Rebecca Hallett of the University of Guelph is working with two sets of students, one at Guelph, the other at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, with beetle traps and with pheromones (scents) that attract their natural enemies or lure Colorado potato beetles out of potato fields.
One set of pheremones attracts bugs out, the other lures them in.
The pheremones could be specific to parasitic enemies such as pink lady beetles and spinned soldier bugs.
Or plants such as sweet alyssum that are attractive to the parasites could be planted around potato fields.
Biological controls are increasingly seen as a growing part of integrated pest management, Hallett said.
