Arizona Edition - Last week KAWC’s Maya Springhawk Robnett reported on the Asian citrus psyllid and efforts to track the insect because of its possible threat to citrus groves in the southwest, something another part of the nation has already dealt with.
Asian Citrus Greening Disease is slowly killing Florida’s citrus industry. To keep the disease at bay, Florida growers spray their trees with insecticide 12 to 20 times per year to get rid of the Asian Citrus Psyllid. The psyllid population in Yuma County saw a large recent increase, leading the local pest control district to plan a mass aerial spray of all the commercial citrus trees in August in order to kill off as many psyllids as possible.
To get a better idea of what Citrus Greening Disease looks like in the state where it is most widespread, KAWC’s Maya Springhawk Robnett spoke with Greg Carlton, the Chief of the Bureau of Pest Eradication and Control at the Florida Department of Agriculture…(originally aired 040914).
This piece was featured in the April 9th Arizona Edition. Other pieces featured in the show can be found below in the related content section.
