A UF/IFAS entomologist shares tips on controlling psyllids in citrus with an eye towards controlling costs for Florida citrus growers.

UF/IFAS entomologist Lukasz Stelinski believes that controlling psyllids in citrus—even citrus trees that are already infected with citrus greening—is an important goal. According to a Citrus Industry article, “Keeping ACP populations down seems to help yield,” as “plant health is affected by pathogen inoculation frequency.” Stelinski shared tips on controlling Asian citrus psyllid populations; see the tips below.

Tips on Controlling Psyllids in Citrus

Stelinski shared the tips in a presentation that was supposed to be a part of the cancelled 2020 Florida Citrus Growers’ Institute. Institute organizers are getting the presentations online for citrus growers and for those needing to earn CEUs.

Stelinski maintains that controlling ACPs is important for continued tree health and production, even if the trees are already infected with citrus greening, with an eye towards cost-effectiveness and reducing psyllid tolerance to one mode of action. Stelinski shared the following tips in the article:

  1. “Thresholds can guide spray frequency and reduce sprays.
  2. Target control to reduce ACP in flush. Preemptive sprays may be best. Don’t let a standing population linger.
  3. Use border sprays to control psyllids where they congregate and reduce sprays to the whole block. Use selective products for whole block sprays and cheap products for border sprays.
  4. Conserve beneficials by eliminating unnecessary sprays.
  5. Rotate between at least five modes of action.
  6. Other techniques (mulches, kaolin, mesh, windbreaks) are available and more are coming (attract-and-kill).”

The full video presentation can be found here.

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