The threat of Asian citrus psyllids to cold-hardy citrus does not mean growers should ignore other insects and their potential impacts in North Florida, South Georgia and South Alabama.
The citrus red mite should be a concern for growers, especially in the spring and if certain weather conditions persist, explains Apurba Barman, University of Georgia (UGA) assistant professor of entomology in Tifton. Barman focused on the pest during his talk at the Southeast Georgia Citrus Update in Lyons, Georgia last month.
“Citrus leaves are always available. It’s not like pecans, where leaves fall off in the winter. When you have all the leaves, the citrus red mites have food year-round,” Barman explained. “Unless we have harsh cold weather, they can stick around. We have seen red mites as early as March or April. They also feed on both young leaves and older leaves, but the young leaves are more easily damaged from the feeding. When you have this dry, hot weather, their populations just go crazy and build up really fast.”
One of the factors weighing in red mite’s favor is its resistance to current chemistries, a problem currently seen in Florida production.
“It’s a concern. The mites produce multiple generations and are more prone to develop resistance. In Florida, my colleagues have mentioned that they have found resistance to abamectin, which is an important miticide for a lot of different mites,” Barman said.
“It is possible, in their situation, that they have high pressure or have been using the chemistries repeatedly for a long time. But in our case, fortunately, we don’t experience that sort of pressure year after year, and the pest is not spread out in every orchard. So we are probably in a good situation where we don’t have any resistance developed against any of these miticides on red mite populations.”
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