Several years ago a grad student at the University of Ky did some research on forecasting insect pest appearance by watching the development of flowering plants in the landscape. “Timing Control Actions for Landscape Insect Pests Using Flowering Plants as Indicators” came out of that research.
In a nutshell he watched and recorded the pests’ development and the development of common landscape plants. Since both plant and insect development is tied to temperature it makes sense that there would be a correlation. If you know when something is scheduled to appear you can take what ever actions you deem appropriate be it organic, chemical, or live and let live. This is something that anyone can do. Granted you may not have ready access to pheromone traps but how many of us take a daily stroll through our garden? Do you write down what you see? Do you record temperatures, plant development, pests etc? If you do then you can probably go back over your garden diary and make your own list for your area. It may not be as exact as this research and you may need to pay closer attention from here on out but it can sure help to know what to expect.
How many of us take a daily stroll through the garden and take inventory? Hmm. I do. I thought all gardeners did.
Every spring I’m plagued with spring cankerworm. Once I found out what it was, I began doing exactly that–looking for the plants that indicated the cankerworms were about to make an entrance. In this case, it’s the trees are my alarm clock. As soon as the cedar elms start leafing out I start keeping an eye out for cankerworm so that I can take action. (Spray the roses new growth with a mild apple cider vinegar mist.)