Control of psilídeo should be intensified in the rainy season
Frequent rains, such as those occurring in January, with a mean distribution of 23 days of the month, make it necessary to intensify the control of psilídeo Diaphorina citri, an HLB transmitting insect (huanglongbing / greening), since they collaborate with the occurrence of a peak at the onset Of sprouts in orchards. This stage of development of plants is the preferred insect to feed and reproduce, which impacts on increased infestation and contamination in orchards.
In January it rained an average of 306 millimeters throughout the citrus park of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, 28% more than the historical average of 239 millimeters, according to information from Somar
Meteorologia. In the same period, the Fundiscitrus Phytosanitary Alert, which monitors the insect presence index in nine regions of the citrus park, pointed out the presence of at least one psilid for every 10 traps monitored by the system and 27% of the plants have new shoots.
According to Fundecitrus researcher Renato Bassanezi, citrus farmers need to be alert to the presence of sprouts and psyllids in the orchard. "The moment is propitious for the psilídeo to multiply and transmit the bacteria to the plants, so it is necessary to intensify the control," he says.
One of the aggravating factors for this situation is the decrease in the residual period of spraying. Initial results from a study of the Fundecitrus that is under development pointed out that rainfall from five millimeters already affect the efficiency of the insect control applications.
"The occurrence of rain every day makes it difficult to apply, both in the operational aspect and in the effect, because it washes the products. The indicated thing is that they are made reapplications soon after a period of rains followed not to leave the plants unprotected and thus to diminish the chances of infection ", affirms the researcher of Fundecitrus Marcelo Miranda.
Due to this situation and the Phytosanitary Alert data, Fundecitrus issued joint spray alerts from February 6 to 13 for citrus growers participating in the system in all monitored regions with the aim of increasing application efficiency and reducing incidence Of the insect in the orchards. For more information go to: www.fundecitrus.com.br/alerta-fitossanitario