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Preventing cherry cracking challenge for state's growers
At Cal Poly Pomona recently, representatives of the citrus industry cut the ribbon on a new 5,000 square-foot research greenhouse facility that will aid in research and breeding biological control methods to address endemic populations of the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) in urban areas of the state.
The greenhouse facility was built through a collaborative effort with the Citrus Research Board, with construction funded through a $400,000 grant from the California Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program (CPDPP). The program is funded by California’s commercial citrus growers.
The new facility on the Cal Poly Pomona campus will support research and rearing of the Tamarixia radiata wasp, a natural enemy of the ACP. The wasp was discovered by University of California researchers several years ago in Pakistan who brought it back to the United States with a permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Production of Tamarixia already occurs at a state facility in nearby Riverside, Calif., but those numbers – about two million insects per year – are not enough as the psyllid continues to expand its footprint across California.
Psyllids have been found as far north as the Bay Area and the northern San Joaquin Valley.
