Big Attendance for the Fuller Rose Beetle Field Day
On April 22 a field event was held at Lindcove with speakers Joseph Morse from UC Riverside and Jim Cranney from the California Citrus Quality Council. The issue discussed was how California citrus growers are going to prevent fruit from arriving in Korea with live Fuller rose beetle eggs, now that Korea is no longer going to fumigate citrus. Korea will reject citrus shipments if live Fuller rose beetle eggs are found. Speakers suggested that a systems approach that combines several strategies (a combination of skirt pruning, trunk treatments, foliar treatments, and/or post-harvest fumigation) may be necessary to accomplish the goal, since no single treatment provides complete control. The problems with pesticide treatments are that Fuller rose beetle adults emerge from the soil year round, they are difficult to kill with pesticides, and the pesticides must be reapplied to maintain their efficacy. The problems with the post harvest fumigants currently under study (phosphine and ethyl formate) are that they require extended periods of treatment and cold temperature to achieve a high level of kill of the eggs. Research is being conducted on all of these strategies and until it is completed, the best management strategy includes skirt pruning, trunk treatment starting in June, and a foliar spray 600 degree days prior to harvest. More information can be found at this web site, http://ucanr.edu/sites/KACCitrusEntomology/Home/Fuller_Rose_Beetle_384/Management_36/ that includes information on how to build a spray wand for trunk treatments.
Jim Cranney of CCQC discusses the regulatory issues associated with Fuller rose beetle