High population of psyllids requires citrus growers to adopt more rigorous control

After 2020 presented the highest capture rates of the psyllid ever recorded by the Phytosanitary Alert, the population of the greening vector remains well above average in the citrus belt – in January 2021, the number of captures was 270% higher than in January 2020 The extremely favorable climatic conditions for the insect's feeding, reproduction and dispersal help to explain the scenario. Another factor may be the decrease, due to the pandemic, in the rigor of management, both internal and external.

Given the difficulty of control, Fundecitrus research indicates the need to increase the frequency of applications to interrupt the development of the psyllid within farms. “Long application intervals [equal to or greater than 14 days] during the rainy and budding period allow insects that were not affected by the pesticides to lay eggs and for these, which are not controlled by the insecticides, to hatch. That’s why citrus growers are finding psyllid nymphs in their orchards”, explains Fundecitrus researcher, Marcelo Miranda. “The recommendation is that producers carry out weekly applications during the vegetative flow, so that the psyllid’s life cycle is interrupted,” he says.

Adopting stricter control at this time is essential to avoid an increase in the incidence of greening in the future. “In addition to frequency, it is necessary to guarantee the quality of applications through products with higher residuals, adequate volume and rotation of chemical groups”, recommends Miranda.

Current climatic conditions make it difficult to control the psyllid:

What are the recommendations?