Posts Tagged: citrus
Californians are checking new growth on citrus for Asian citrus psyllid
"Basically, you just look really closely (at new growth) with any kind of magnifying device you have to see if you can find any insects on there," Grafton-Cardwell said.
If tiny yellow eggs, sesame seed-sized nymphs, or ACP adults are found, take action. Maps, treatment protocols and other information that detail what to do when ACP is present are available at http://ucanr.edu/acp.
Since ACP can spread the devastating citrus disease huanglongbing (HLB), controlling the insect population will buy time for researchers working around the world to find a way to grow healthy and delicious citrus fruit in the presence of HLB.
Yurong reported that the disease has been found in a dozen Southern California trees. Grafton-Cardwell figures Valley trees will ultimately get infected.
Reed Fujii of the Stockton Record interviewed Karey Windbiel-Rojas, a UCCE advisor for home and garden integrated pest management, for a story on Asian citrus pysllid.
“It's really important to detect Asian citrus psyllid in backyard trees because one psyllid can carry the disease from tree to tree in a residential landscape,” Windbiel-Rojas. “Citrus growers, they treat all their fields, but home gardeners don't necessarily treat or monitor their backyard trees so it can spread a lot faster in backyards than in managed citrus orchards.”
Stories about the call to check trees this spring for Asian citrus psyllid also appeared in:
- El Informador del Valle
- The Porterville Recorder
- Monterey County Herald
- Turlock Journal
- Santa Cruz Sentinel
- Morning Ag Clips
- Hoy, a Los Angeles Times Spanish language publication
- Valley Public Radio, Fresno
- AgNewsWest newsletter
- California Department of Food and Agriculture Planting Seeds Blog
- Inland News Today, Riverside
- East County Magazine, San Diego
- Highland Community News, Highland
- Central Valley Business Times, Fresno
- KXO Radio, Imperial
- AgNetWest.com, California
- UC Office of the President News Page, Oakland
View a four-minute video about Asian citrus psyllid here:
Spring in California is time to inspect citrus trees for Asian citrus psyllid
A tell-tale sign of spring in California is a flush of new leaf growth on citrus trees. Because the feathery light green leaves are particularly attractive to Asian citrus psyllids (ACP), the leaves' emergence marks a critical time to determine whether the pest has infested trees.
“We encourage home citrus growers and farmers to go out with a magnifying glass or hand lens and look closely at the new growth,” said Beth Grafton-Cardwell, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) citrus entomologist. “Look for the various stages of the psyllid – small yellow eggs, sesame-seed sized yellow ACP young with curly white tubules, or aphid-like adults that perch with their hind quarters angled up.”
Pictures of the Asian citrus psyllids and its life stages are on the UC ANR website at http://ucanr.edu/acp. If you find signs of the insect, call the California Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Exotic Pest Hotline at (800) 491-1899.
Asian citrus psyllids are feared because they can spread huanglongbing (HLB) disease, an incurable condition that first causes yellow mottling on the leaves and later sour, misshapen fruit before killing the tree. ACP, native of Pakistan, Afghanistan and other tropical and subtropics regions of Asian, was first detected in California in 2008. Everywhere Asian citrus psyllids have appeared – including Florida and Texas – the pests have found and spread the disease. A few HLB-infected trees have been located in urban Los Angeles County. They were quickly removed by CDFA officials.
“In California, we are working hard to keep the population of ACP as low as possible until researchers can find a cure for the disease,” Grafton-Cardwell said. “We need the help of citrus farmers and home gardeners.”
Grafton-Cardwell has spearheaded the development of the UC ANR ACP website for citrus growers and citrus homeowners that provides help in finding the pest and what to do next. The site has an interactive map tool to locate residences and farms that are in areas where the psyllid has already become established, and areas where they are posing a risk to the citrus industry and must be aggressively treated by county officials.
The website outlines biological control efforts that are underway, and directions for insecticidal control, if it is needed. An online calculator on the website allows farmers and homeowners to determine their potential costs for using insecticides.
There are additional measures that can be taken to support the fight against ACP and HLB in California.
- When planting new citrus trees, only purchase the trees from reputable nurseries. Do not accept tree cuttings or budwood from friends or relatives.
- After pruning or cutting down a citrus tree, dry out the green waste or double bag it to make sure that live psyllids won't ride into another region on the foliage.
- Control ants in and near citrus trees with bait stations. Scientists have released natural enemies of ACP in Southern California to help keep the pest in check. However, ants will protect ACP from the natural enemies. Ants favor the presence of ACP because the psyllid produces honeydew, a food source for ants.
- Learn more about the Asian citrus psyllid and huanglongbing disease by reading the detailed pest note on UC ANR's Statewide Integrated Pest Management website.
- Assist in the control of ACP by supporting CDFA insecticide treatments of your citrus or treating the citrus yourself when psyllids are present.
- Support the removal of HLB-infected trees.
What’s attacking your landscape? Read all about it in the newly released book from UC ANR
Now in its third edition, this integrated pest management (IPM) how-to guide is a comprehensive resource for arborists, home gardeners, landscapers, parks and ground managers, and retail nurseries. It contains solutions for hundreds of insects, mites, nematodes, plant disorders and diseases, and weeds that can damage California landscapes.
Dozens of pests new to this edition include those affecting azaleas, camellias, camphor, eucalyptus, hibiscus, liquidambar, maples, oaks, olive, palms, pines, roses and sycamores.
A very important part of pest management is designing a pest-tolerant landscape, choosing the right plants for the location, and maintaining the landscape with appropriate irrigation, fertilizer, and other cultural practices to keep plants healthy.
These practices are featured along with information on how to:
- prevent pest problems and plant damage
- monitor for pests efficiently
- conserve natural enemies to provide biological control, and
- selectively use pesticides in ways that minimize adverse impacts
Problem-Solving Tables include the specific pests for each of over 200 genera of trees and shrubs, referring to the pages with their photographs and management solutions.
Pests of Landscape Trees and Shrubs: An Integrated Pest Management Guide, Third Edition, can be ordered through the ANR catalog. For more information, see the UC IPM website.
UC ANR scientists urge citrus farmers and backyard growers to be vigilant in face of new disease find
This month, a lime tree and a kumquat tree with HLB were identified in residential areas of the San Gabriel Valley. In March 2012, an infected multi-grafted citrus was found in a Hacienda Heights backyard.
“So far, the bacterium that causes HLB has been found infecting only three trees, which have all been destroyed,” said Beth Grafton-Cardwell, UC ANR Cooperative Extension citrus entomology specialist. “However, it is highly likely there are other infected trees in California. It will be critical for all Californians to assist with efforts to reduce psyllids and detect and remove infected trees to prevent this disease from devastating California citrus.”
HLB disease is spread from tree to tree by Asian citrus psyllid, an invasive insect first identified in California in 2008. ACP has become established in many Southern California communities and is seen occasionally in the state's San Joaquin Valley and Central Coast commercial citrus production areas. Locations where ACP are found are quarantined by CDFA. No untreated or unprocessed citrus fruit and no citrus trees may be moved from these areas. UC ANR maintains an online map that delineates the quarantined locations. The map also shows the area quarantined because of the recent HLB find.
Once a tree is infected with the bacterium that causes HLB, there is no cure. To prevent HLB infections, citrus owners in areas where Asian citrus psyllids are found may wish to treat their trees with insecticides.
“We believe about 60 percent of Californians have at least one citrus tree in their yard, so HLB could have a devastating effect on the California residential landscape,” Grafton-Cardwell said. “There are safe and effective ways to reduce the ACP population, which reduces the chances of losing a tree to HLB.”
Grafton-Cardwell developed a website for farmers and residents with detailed information on managing Asian citrus psyllid. In some urban areas, a natural enemy of ACP, Tamarixia radiata, has been released. In those areas, Grafton-Cardwell recommends the use of “soft” insecticides that will reduce the number of psyllids and allow the Tamarixia to control the rest.
To help California residents and commercial citrus growers deal with the ACP and HLB citrus threats, UC ANR, UC Davis and UC Riverside scientists are conducting research on a number of possible solutions.
For example, Abhaya Dandekar, professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, and his colleagues are studying gene fusion, which fuses two immunosuppressive genes that attack HLB in different ways to make the plant more effective at fighting the disease.
Mikeal Roose, a professor in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences at UC Riverside, is working with researchers in Florida to sequence a rootstock that has some natural resistance to HLB and locate the gene or genes that cause HLB resistance.
Mark Hoddle, UC ANR Cooperative Extension biocontrol specialist at UC Riverside, has identified a second natural enemy of ACP from the Punjab, Pakistan. (The first one was Tamarixia radiata.) Populations of Diaphorencyrtus aligarhensis have also been released in urban areas and Hoddle is monitoring the insect's ability to attack ACP.
Because it is important to remove trees infected with HLB as soon as possible to reduce spread, UC scientists are also studying ways to identify trees with the disease before visual symptoms occur.
For example, Hailing Jin, professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Riverside, has identified small RNAs that are induced by the bacterium that causes HLB and could be used for early diagnosis.
Carolyn Slupsky, professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at UC Davis, has identified metabolites that change in concentration when citrus is infected with the bacterium that causes HLB. She is working with the Citrus Research Board (CRB), CDFA, Texas A&M, and USDA to validate her results and determine how quickly the disease may be detected once the tree has been exposed to the pathogen. She is also part of a USDA collaborative grant to study the vector that transmits the disease to help find ways to stop transmission.
Wenbo Ma, professor in the Department of Plant Pathology Microbiology at UC Riverside, has developed antibodies against proteins secreted by the HLB pathogen – revealing whether the plant is infected. These antibodies have been evaluated in California, Florida and Texas for HLB detection.
An initiative to manage endemic and invasive pests and diseases is part of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Strategic Vision 2025.
This story is also available in Spanish.
Author: Jeannette Warnert
A second natural enemy of Asian citrus psyllid joins the battle
Farmers are diligently treating orchards where the pest has been found, county ag commissioners are monitoring traps to keep tabs on ACP movement, and UC researchers are looking into a wide variety of novel techniques to disarm ACP and the disease. In December, UC Cooperative Extension biological control specialist Mark Hoddle began releasing a newly imported natural enemy of ACP, Diaphorencyrtus aligarhensis (DA).
“We've released about 2,000 now at select urban sites,” Hoddle said. “It's too early to tell if we are getting attacks, but we are monitoring carefully for this type of activity.”
Hoddle said it isn't the ideal time for DA to become established in California citrus. Cool weather and short days have hindered ACP population growth, so DA likely are struggling to find enough ACP to attack.
“But we keep pumping them out there as the alternative is letting them to die in quarantine,” Hoddle said. “At least if they are outside they may find some ACP to kill.”
Since then, CDFA has raised a million Tamarixia and released them in Southern California for ACP management. It appears Tamarixia has become established, is moving around on its own and killing Asian citrus psyllids. State and federal agencies are now beginning to work with DA as well.
“We've given starter colonies of the new insect to CDFA. They have a mass rearing facility at Mt. Rubidoux in Riverside, where they currently mass produce Tamarixia,” Hoddle said.
USDA plans to set up field cages around citrus trees in late spring or early summer and prune them severely to encourage new growth. ACP will be placed in the cages to enjoy the fresh, aromatic stems and leaves on the trees, and DA will be released in large numbers to attack the ACP.
“Infested branches will be trimmed off trees, taken to the lab where parasitoids are then harvested,” Hoddle said. “The adult ACP will be trapped inside the cages and killed.”
For more details, photos and a video about the new enemy of Asian citrus psyllid, see the Center for Invasive Species Research website.
An initiative to manage endemic and invasive pests and diseases is part of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Strategic Vision 2025.