As of early February, trees testing positive for citrus greening (HLB) have been found in 14 Florida counties.

Grower education programs conducted by UF/IFAS have trained more than 3,500 individuals to date on greening identification and survey methods. This training has included visits to groves where the presence of greening-positive trees has provided a hands-on learning experience in symptom identification. As a result of this training, new groves have been identified as having greening-positive trees. IFAS sponsored grower training programs will continue with the goal of facilitating the early detection of this disease in new grove locations in order to effectively manage this disease.

A map of the current positive finds is available from FDACS at the following web address:

http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/chrp/greening/maps/cgsit_map.pdf

Managing citrus greening disease should include BOTH managing psyllid populations and the removal of symptomatic trees as soon as they are identified. It is important to note that psyllid management alone is unlikely to provide sufficient control of this disease. Greening-positive trees that are not removed from a grove will continue to serve as a source of the greening pathogen for psyllid transmission to healthy trees within a grove and beyond. Thus, both psyllid management and removal of infected trees must be practiced! As of the first week of February, bloom was beginning to appear on scattered trees throughout the state. Many of the trees in bloom are stressed and flowering is sporadic. Depending on location in the state, two waves of bloom are expected through mid-March. Application of most pesticides for psyllid control will be limited to groves where bloom is not present during this time period due to adverse affects on bees and label restrictions on application of the products during flowering. For more information on the expected duration of bloom, see Dr. Albrigo’s flower bud induction advisory at:

http://www.crec.ifas.ufl.edu/extension/flowerbud/index.htm.