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Surround WP and Snow were evaluated for their ability to manage citrus thrips populations in lemons on the Yuma Mesa, and their impact on lemon yield, fruit quality, and packout. Both Surround and Snow effectively controlled citrus thrips and prevented fruit scarring. Surround produced higher yields than either Snow or the commercial standard at the first harvest (#9 ring). There were no differences in yield among treatments for the second (strip) harvest, nor were their any differences in total yield. These data suggest that Surround may increase fruit earliness or sizing. There were no statistical differences among any of the treatments in fruit size frequency or quality for any of the harvests, and there was no apparent benefit from applying an additional application of Surround or Snow post thrips season solely for quality, fruit size, or yield enhancement. The activity of Surround does not appear to be adversely affected by the inclusion of the insecticides Danitol, Baythroid, Carzol, or Success, nor do these insecticides appear to be adversely affected by Surround. Foliar fertilizers did not appear to adversely affect the activity of Surround when tank mixed. However, there is some evidence that Surround may negatively affect the absorption of Fe and Mn when tank mixed with Zn, Fe, Mn lignosulfonate, but this data is not conclusive. The addition of a non-ionic surfactant appears to enhance the on-leaf distribution of Surround over light petroleum and paraffin based oils, but long term efficacy is not affected.

Citrus leafminer (CLM) was monitored in a five year old block of lemons on the Yuma Mesa for one year. Unlike 2001, no CLM were found in the spring or early fall. From mid-November through mid-December CLM populations were very light ranging from 1 to 4% infested flush. In early January 2003, the CLM population began to increase peaking on 23 January at 68% infested flush. Although 68% appears to be a large infestation, the CLM population was not numerically high since there was not a great deal of fresh flush growth in the grove at that time. Thus, the CLM were concentrated on what little flush was present. Additionally, CLM larvae were tagged and monitored in January and February 2003. Of the 25 CLM larvae tagged, within five weeks only 9 had survived. Most of those killed appeared to have been killed by predators; most likely Yuma spider mite, Eotetranychus yumensis, and to a lesser extent Tydeus spp. Six of the larvae were killed by parasitoids, comprising two species; Cirrophilus coachellae and an unknown species that was damaged and could not be identified.

Lemons were left untreated or treated for mites with Danitol (fenpropathrin). Mite populations were estimated and yield and fruit damage was accessed. Yuma spider mite, Eotetranychus yumensis, was the predominate mite species present during the high fruit susceptibility period. Although there was no apparent impact of mites on yield in this study, there was significant fruit damage that could be attributed to Yuma spider mite. The damage appeared as bronzed colored pitting of the fruit peel. Based on damage ratings, the treated plots produced 56% fancy, 34% choice, and 10% fruit grade based on mite damage, whereas the untreated plots produced 47%, 31% and 22% fancy, choice and juice grade fruit respectively. Statistically, the treated plots produce more fancy and less juice fruit, but did not differ in choice fruit. Although the treated areas produced better quality fruit, the amount of damage suffered in those plots was higher than desired. Fruit in the treated plots likely suffered some mite damage before treatments were initiated. In addition to the fruit damage test, a miticide efficacy test targeting Yuma spider mite on lemon was conducted comparing Agri-Mek, Danitol, Kelthane, Microthiol, and Nexter to an untreated check. Agri-Mek, Nexter, and Microthiol offered 14 days of control; although at 6 DAT Agri-Mek and Nexter did not differ from the untreated. Danitol and Kelthane contained fewer mite that the untreated for at least 35 DAT.

Five foliar insecticide treatments (Esteem, Provado, Applaud, Assail, and Danitol + Lorsban) were evaluated for their control of early woolly whitefly infestations in lemons. Esteem and Applaud are insect growth regulators that should have little impact on whitefly parasitoids. The impact of Provado and Assail on whitefly parasitoids is not certain, but at high rates may be detrimental, while Danitol + Lorsban will be especially harmful to parasitoids. The impact of these insecticides on woolly whitefly could not be fully determined in this trial due to the effectiveness of parasitoids, Eretmocerus comperei or E. dozieri (exact species not certain), on controlling the whiteflies in this test. However, other research (not reported here) has indicated that all of the insecticide treatments evaluated have good activity against woolly whitefly. Because parasitoids can be extremely effective in mitigating woolly whiteflies populations during the early phases of colonization, it is recommended that chemical control not be utilized until woolly whitefly colonies are common. However, previous experiences suggest that allowing woolly whitefly populations develop extremely high populations should be avoided.

Bioassay with Dimethoate, Carzol, Danitol, Baythroid and Success were conducted on citrus thrips collected from the Yuma Mesa to determine if insecticide resistance to these insecticides occurred. Low to moderate levels of resistance were detected for Dimethoate, Carzol and Danitol, and one population exhibited a high level of resistance to Baythroid. No resistance was evident for Success. Susceptibility to Success was much higher for the Yuma populations relative to populations previously reported in California.

Foliar-applied insecticides and the soil-applied insecticide, Admire, were evaluated for their ability to control citrus mealybug on lemons while having a minimal impact on parasitoids. All of the foliar-applied insecticide exhibited activity towards citrus mealybug. The standard insecticide, Lorsban, performed very well, but since this product is especially harmful to parasitoids it is not considered to have a good fit in IPM programs where parasitoid conservation is emphasized. The currently labeled alternative, Applaud, was an effective treatment and should be considered for citrus mealybug control to avoid destruction of parasitoids. Several experimental insecticides showed promise: NNI-850, NNI-750C and NNI-010. However, NNI-0101 at the lower rate of 0.24 lbs-ai/ac appeared to be weak. The addition of narrow range crop oil, NR-415 at 1.0 gal/ac, appeared to be beneficial for initial mealybug knock-down, especially for the slower acting insecticides such as Applaud. Soil injection of Admire at 16 and 32 oz/ac appeared to have very good activity, but due to variability in the mealybug population, more data should be collected to confirm this finding.

Carzol and Success with and without the addition of the feeding stimulants molasses and bee-collected pollen were evaluated for their control of citrus thrips on lemons on the Yuma Mesa. Although normal use rate of Carzol and Success were efficacious toward citrus thrips, the addition of either molasses or pollen to these insecticides as a means of increasing efficacy at low rates was not encouraging. At no point did the feeding stimulants appear to increase the efficacy of the same rate of Carzol when used alone, and it appeared that the additives may have actually decreased the efficacy of Success.

Five foliar insecticide treatments (Esteem, two rates of Provado, two rates of Applaud, Prev-am, and Danitol + Lorsban) were evaluated for their control of woolly whitefly infestations in grapefruit. All of these products demonstrated efficacy in mitigating woolly whitefly populations. Danitol + Lorsban was the best knock-down treatment evaluated, but for sustained control, Esteem appeared to be most effective. Applaud demonstrated good activity, but the rate we tested may be a little low; the 1.0 lb/ac rate should be evaluated. Provado at 19 oz/ac was a good treatment, while the 10 oz/ac rate appears to be sub-par. Prev-am is a oil based contact material and demonstrated good initial activity. Soil injections of 16 and 32 oz/ac of Admire were very effective against WWF, and there were no detectable differences between the two rates. Previous experiments with soil injections of Admire in citrus suggested that as much as six weeks needs to pass before the trees have enough time to adequately take up the Admire from the soil. However, these data suggest that smaller trees, about 10 ft tall, may require as little as two weeks to pick up the material.

We proposed creating a user-friendly web site that would provide independent, research-based, integrated pest management information to Arizona’s citrus growers and PCAs. This citrus IPM website, located at http://cals.arizona.edu/crops/citrus/ was created and integrated within an existing web site, the Arizona Crop Information Site (ACIS) http://cals.arizona.edu/crops. The Citrus IPM web site was launched on April 15, 2004.