UC Ventura County Cooperative Extension's staff researcher Anna Howell will speak at the next meeting of the Entomological Association of Southern California.  Anna is an experienced entomologist and will talk on "Spider Mites and Their Biological Control in Strawberries."

The event includes other agricultural professionals and UC experts that will provide updates on pests, research and compliance issues.

Date:  Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Time:  9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Location:

     Los Angeles County Arboetum and Botanic Garden
     301 N. Baldwin Ave.
     Arcadia, CA  91007

Registration at the door.

Contact:  Jim Downer, 805-645-1458

Learn more about the Entomological Association of Southern California here.

The Asian Citrus Psyllid has been responsible for destroying thousands of acres of citrus in Florida with devastating results to the state's citrus growing counties.  The insect has spread to California and many Southern California counties have imposed full quarantines after the psyllid was found at several sites.  The threat to California's $2-billion citrus industry is serious.

Once a tree has been infected by the psyllid that carries and transfers the huanglongbing (HLB) bacteria to the tree there has been no alternative but to quarantine the infected area and destroy the tree.  To complicate the issue further, the disease can lie dormant and be difficult to detect as the infection spreads from tree to tree.

Efforts to control the psyllid through pesticides have been ineffective and while quarantines have helped raise awareness and slowed some of the spread, a viable weapon to combat this invasive pest has been unavailable until recently.

Mark Hoddle, director at the Center for Invasive Species Research at UC Riverside, has been experimenting with a tiny parasitic wasp, Tamarixia radiata, that feeds on and kills the psyllid.  After a series of tightly controlled and successful tests, the wasps have been released on infected sites and have been effective in reducing the psyllid population.  There is no danger to pets or humans and the release program has been approved by the Department of Agriculture.

Although the results are promising, it's still too early to know the magnitude of the wasp's potential to effectively address this problem and more years of data will be required to assess it.  On the bright side, the use of the Tamarixia radiata wasp does provide a line of defense against this threat to citrus trees in the state.

To learn more about this effort, please see the UC Riverside Newsroom article.

UC Ventura County Cooperative Extension advisor Dr. Oleg Daugovish has collaborated with UC strawberry authorities in the state to create a new website devoted to helping growers and pest control advisors diagnose disorders in strawberry plants.  UC's Mark Bolda, Surendra Dara, Steve Koike and Kirk Larsen contribute their expertise in strawberries, plant pathology and pomology.

The website explores chemical injury, nutritional disorders, physical and physiological disorders found in the field and during research.  The team collaborates and shares information about these issues and discuss methods for dealing with them.

The website is presented in English and in Spanish and is accompanied by large photos that focus on the problem areas.

Check out the new website:  Strawberry Disorders:  Identification and Management.

Anna Howell, UC Ventura County Cooperative Extension staff research associate and entomologist made a video on controlling spider mites for a Growing Produce website.

Spider mites are a major recurring pest of strawberry.  If left untreated, these pests will infest fields, decrease yield and eventually kill your plants.  Several methods are available to help control spider mites on strawberry including biological control (i.e., predatory mites) and miticides.  Watch this video to learn more about spider mites in strawberry and their control:

Controlling Spider Mites in Strawberry