Building an effective, quality

psyllid control program for

your grove

Michael E. Rogers1, Philip A. Stansly2, Lukasz L.

Stelinski1, Jackie K. Burns1, Dan L. Gunter3, Tom

Turpen3, Richard Gaskalla4, Rusty A. Noah4, Paul A.

Mears4, Matthew Albritton4, and Mike W. Sparks5 1 University of Florida, IFAS, Citrus Research & Education Center, 2 Southwest

Florida Research & Education Center, 3Citrus Research and Development

Foundation Inc., 4 Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 5

Florida Citrus Mutual

Psyllid Control (What we know)

• Chemical Controls

– What does and doesn’t work

• Application Methods

– Airblast, low volume, aerial applications

• Psyllid Biology

– Lifecycle, movement, pathogen transmission

1.24 miles

0.75 miles

Block of 200 trees sprayed with protein mark

Traps placed in radial fashion at distances from 0.06 miles to 1.24 miles away from sprayed area

Traps were collected 12 days after spray application and psyllids were tested for the marker protein

Lukasz L. Stelinski, CREC

Mph

Wind Speed

Avg. Daily Wind Directions

Central sprayed area

Red x’s indicate where the majority of marked psyllids were trapped

Lukasz L. Stelinski, CREC

Comparable levels of HLB infection in abandoned and managed groves

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

Perc

ent

of

trees

infe

cted

Abandoned Commercial

Abandoned Commercial Perc

ent

of

psyl

lids

in

fect

ed

Lukasz L. Stelinski, CREC

0

20

40

60

80

100

June July August

0

2

4

6

8

June July August

Have confirmed that psyllid dispersal from abandoned into managed citrus

moves the HLB pathogen M

ean

num

ber

of

psyl

lids

mov

ing

Tot

al n

umber

of

infe

cted p

syllid

s Less than 1% of psyllids captured were positive

in these trials

Developing Citrus Health

Management Areas

Michael E. Rogers1, Philip A. Stansly2, Lukasz L.

Stelinski1, Jackie K. Burns1, Dan L. Gunter3, Tom

Turpen3, Richard Gaskalla4, Rusty A. Noah4, Paul A.

Mears4, Matthew Albritton4, and Mike W. Sparks5 1 University of Florida, IFAS, Citrus Research & Education Center, 2 Southwest

Florida Research & Education Center, 3Citrus Research and Development

Foundation Inc., 4 Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 5

Florida Citrus Mutual

What is a CHMA?

• Citrus Health Management Area

• A grower defined grouping of citrus

acreage where grower participants

coordinate psyllid control efforts (year-

round pesticide applications) and

management of pesticide resistance

development (coordinated rotation of

MOA’s)

Success Story

• Gulf Coast Citrus Growers Association

• UF-IFAS-SWFREC (Phil Stansly)

• Citrus Health Response Program (CHRP)

• UF-IFAS Hendry County Extension Service

• Area-wide dormant applications

– 30+ groves

–~70,000 acres treated

Success Story

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

0.4Pre-

Treatment(Oct-Dec

08)

0.64Post-

Treatment(May 09)

0.21Pre-

Treatment(Oct 09)

0.19Post-

Treatment(May 10)

0.9Pre-

Treatment

15.1Post-

Treatment

2009 2010 Untreated (2009)

Me

an

No

. A

CP

per

tap

Phil Stansly, Alejandro Arevalo and Mongi Zekri;

Citrus Industry Magazine October 2010 (more details)

Why develop CHMA’s ?

• Slow the spread of HLB

– Improve psyllid control***

• Prolong the usefulness of our current

management tools

– Pesticide resistance***

• Preserve current citrus grove acreage

• Facilitate adoption of new technology to

better manage HLB

CHMA Participants

• Citrus Growers

– Must be a grower driven program

• No mandates

• Voluntary participation

• Growers motivate neighboring growers to

participate

– Facilitated by local industry leader(s)

• Organize local CHMA planning meetings

• Work with other non-grower participants (IFAS,

FDCAS, etc…)

CHMA Participants • UF-IFAS

– Serve as an information resource for

developing plans of action

• Extension specialists (entomology, horticulture,

pathology, etc…)

• Extension county agents

– Provide infrastructure to facilitate grower

communication of activities and results

• Development of website for each CHMA

• Email listserv notifications

• County agent printed newsletters

CHMA Participants

• FDACS – Division of

Plant Industries

– Support provided by

personnel from the

regional CHRP offices

• GIS mapping of defined

CHMA’s

• Routine psyllid monitoring

of CHMA’s

Steps in CHMA Establishment

• Growers request assistance

– Contact should be made with CHMA coordinator

(Currently contact local IFAS Extension County Agent)

• Planning meeting(s)

– Identify groves to participate in a CHMA

– FDACS aids in providing mapping assistance

– IFAS specialists assist in planning management program

for upcoming season

– Follow-up meetings as needed to finalize plan or to

motivate more participation

CHMA Planning Meeting Topics for discussion

• Defining the CHMA

Area

– Growers / Extension

County Agents assist in

delineating areas

– Based on presence and

grouping of groves in

region

CHMA Meeting Goals Topics for discussion

• Developing a plan of action

– Timing and Frequency of applications

• Coordinate as many sprays as possible

– Pesticide rotation schedules

– Application methods

– Grower practices / limitations

• MRL’s for processed vs fresh fruit

• Organic groves

– Abandoned groves

– Residential areas (dooryard trees)

Tracking Progress / Measuring

Success

• Weekly scouting to asses psyllid

populations

– Before and after pesticide applications

– When to retreat?

• Identify hot spots and measures needed to

minimize psyllid spread

• Continually updated tracking / reporting

(website)

Key Roles

• CHMA Statewide Coordinator

– Liaison between CHMA team leader, UF-IFAS,

FDACS-DPI and grower organizations

– Assist CHMA team leaders with meetings and

CHMA communications

– Until position is filled (if filled) will be facilitated by

county agents

UF-IFAS Role

• IFAS Specialists

– Aid in development of management plans based

on latest research

• IFAS county Agents

– Provide assistance in planning within their regions

• IFAS Extension Assistant

– Maintain website communications for each CHMA

– Analyzes and updates psyllid scouting reports from

FDACS-DPI maintained on IFAS-hosted website

FDACS-DPI Role • GIS mapping services

– Provide updated maps for each CHMA

• Psyllid scouting

– Collect data on psyllid population to track

success and identify trouble areas

How will CHMA’s Function?

CHMA

CHMA (team

leader)

CHMA statewide

coordinator

UF-IFAS FDACS-DPI

Program

planning Psyllid

scouting

Scouting reports

CHMA news

updates

CHMA

website

Effective Psyllid Control Putting it all together

CHMA

Ap

plic

atio

n

meth

od

s

Grower

participation

Developing CHMA’s (Final thoughts)

With our current tool box, developing

CHMA’s are the closest thing we have to a

“silver bullet”…no psyllids, no pathogen

spread

Don’t wait for the next “silver bullet”…it

may come too late!

CHMA

Developing CHMA’s (Final thoughts)

• Talk to your neighbors

• Call your county agent