RATES AND VOLUMES OF CLOSER COMPARED TO VOLIAM FLEXI, AGRIFLEX AND FULFILL FOR CONTROL OF ASIAN CITRUS PSYLLID AND CITRUS LEAFMINER, FALL, 2013

ACP and CLM are key pests of Florida citrus due their respective roles as vector of citrus greening disease or “Huanglongbing” caused by Candidatus liberibacter asiaticus and exacerbation of citrus canker caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri. Therefore, effective control of both pests is critical to reduce spread of both diseases. Low volume insecticide applications are rapid and inexpensive but their efficacy against ACP needs to be assessed for individual products. Low and standard volume applications were evaluated for two rates of Closer plus 435 oil and compared with standard volumes of Voliam Flexi, Agriflex and Fulfill applied with appropriate adjuvants. The experimental block at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center, Immokalee, FL consisted of 7-yr-old sweet orange ‘Valencia’ trees at a density of 150 trees/acre. Seven treatments and an untreated check were randomly distributed in an RCBD with 4 replicates using 8-tree plots for high volume and 16-tree plots for low volume treatments. Treatments were applied on 25 Oct 2013 to both sides of the trees. Two low volume treatments of 10 gpa were applied with a Proptec rotary atomizer sprayer operating at 7 mph and equipped with a peristaltic pump. Five high volume treatments of 90 gpa were applied with Durand Wayland AF100-32 air blast speed sprayer operating at 1.9 mph and 350 psi equipped with three John Bean ceramic nozzles # 5,4,3 on each side. Ten randomly selected shoots per plot were collected and examined under a stereomicroscope in the laboratory to count dead and live ACP nymphs and three fully expanded leaves on each shoot examined to count CLM larvae at 3, 6, 12, 17 and 24 days after treatment (DAT). Density of ACP adults was assessed using a stem tap sampling method on four central trees whereby a randomly chosen branch was struck 3 times with a short length of PVC pipe and individuals falling on a white clipboard placed underneath times were counted. Four tap samples were conducted per tree through 48 DAT. Data subjected to ANOVA and means separated using LSD (P = 0.05) are presented.