A UF/IFAS entomologist shared updated recommendations concerning Asian citrus psyllid sprayings to help Florida citrus growers save money.
Asian citrus psyllid sprayings have been a key method Florida citrus growers have used to fight citrus greening as the psyllids are the vector that spreads the disease from tree to tree. Such sprayings are costly, and an entomologist with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) maintained that growers could save money with better-timed sprayings, according to a Citrus Industry article. Entomologist Lauren Diepenbrock shared the information gleaned from presentations given at the International Citrus Research Conference on HLB in March during an All In For Citrus podcast in May. Read the details below.
A Look at Asian Citrus Psyllid Sprayings
Diepenbrock shared that citrus growers could reduce sprayings, not eliminating them altogether, since citrus greening has been detected all throughout The Sunshine State. Over-spraying can lead to resistance in psyllids and might not be useful if surrounding groves are not being sprayed. “You can spray and spray and spray, and your neighbor might not spray once,” she explained in the article.
She maintained that growers should not give up spraying, “but perhaps not at the level that we have in the past.” Her recommendation is for target sprayings during tree flush cycles, rather than spraying on a set schedule. “With the reduction in sprays, if we can target the timing of those sprays, that I think has a lot of really good potential for helping our industry,” she said.
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