It is much better for Florida citrus growers to be proactive than reactive when managing pest populations.
Scouting and monitoring citrus groves is crucial for growers who hope to thwart off impacts from insects like the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP). If growers are not successful, they will be behind the eight ball in minimizing the impact of these annual pests.
Chris Oswalt, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) citrus Extension agent, discussed the importance of regularly scouting groves this summer.
“My experience has always been, if you’re going to let things get to the point where you think you ought to do something, you’ve probably waited a little too long,” Oswalt said. “It’s a battle to chase this stuff all growing season long. You get rust mites out of whack, and you’re going to chase them all summer long. The same goes for psyllids and some other things.
“You just want to try to keep an eye on things and make sure they don’t get out of hand. If pest populations start to increase, get on them early rather than wait until you’ve got a problem. You don’t want to put yourself in the position of chasing them all growing season long.”
ACP is currently in low populations in citrus groves across Florida. Growers should act now to protect their crop from the insect’s impact.
According to UF/IFAS, young citrus trees are most susceptible to greening and attractive to ACP due to frequent flushing. Management of ACP is crucial since the pest vectors HLB, the disease that has devastated Florida’s citrus crop and is a potential threat to the crop in the cold-hardy citrus region of North Florida and South Georgia.
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