USDA Asks for Help Protecting Citrus in the Lower Rio Grande Valley

Jun 13, 2022

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) needs your help safeguarding Texas citrus from invasive citrus pests and diseases currently threatening livelihoods and agricultural production in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

APHIS employees in Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy and Zapata counties are working with the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) to inspect and survey fruit trees in residential yards and commercial properties for signs of invasive fruit flies and citrus diseases, such as citrus canker and citrus greening, These pests and diseases, if allowed to become established or spread, could devastate grapefruit, sweet and sour orange, key lime, sweet lemon, and other types of fruit production in that area.

The invasive fruit fly (Anastrepha ludens) is native to Mexico and Central America, and while harmless to humans and animals, it attacks more than 40 different kinds of fruits and vegetables. The pest poses a threat to homegrown fruit, as well as the commercial grapefruit and orange industry, which in 2021, accounted for more than $67 million in statewide revenue, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

USDA and TDA have established parallel fruit fly quarantine areas where invasive pests have been detected and are asking residents and business owners to help limit the spread of citrus pests and diseases by cooperating with survey teams and allowing them to access your property to inspect fruit trees and hang traps. If fruit flies are detected, they may also ask your permission to conduct treatments. USDA and State surveyors will all have official USDA or TDA credentials and will follow all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention health guidelines, including maintaining appropriate social distance.

We need your help to protect Texas citrus and keep this pest off your residential fruit trees. Fruit flies are drawn to ripening fruit. Here are some protection tips:

Remove all mature citrus fruit and any other host material, including fruit that has fallen to the ground, from your property as soon as possible.
Eat the fruit or double bag it and put it in the trash.
Don’t compost fruit or vegetables from the quarantined areas.
If you live in a citrus disease quarantine area, dispose of tree trimmings in plastic bags. Double bag the branches and other debris and dispose of them with your household waste.
Don’t move or mail homegrown fruit or plants to destinations outside of the quarantined areas.
Declare agricultural products—including fruit—to U.S. Customs and Border Protection before entering the United States from another country.
Be cautious purchasing fruit from social media or backyard vendors.

Source : usda.gov

Video: Turning Plant Defense Into a Management Strategy

Turning Plant Defense Into a Management Strategy

Understanding how a plant responds to stress is one thing.

Using that knowledge to make better management decisions is another.

Systemic acquired resistance, or SAR, is the plant's more direct defense response. When stress or infection occurs, the plant begins signaling throughout its system and preparing defensive compounds.

But if we know that response exists, can we help prepare the plant before the stress arrives?

The answer starts with understanding what triggers the response and what the plant needs to carry it out.

The Trigger and the Fuel

Salicylic acid plays an important role in triggering the SAR pathway.

Think of it as turning the truck on.

The engine may be running, but it still needs fuel to do the work.

In this case, manganese plays an important role in supporting the enzyme systems involved in the plant's defensive response.

This makes manganese status an important part of the conversation. Whether a producer is using tissue testing, sap analysis, or simply scouting for visible deficiency symptoms, the goal is to make sure the plant has adequate manganese available.

Manganese is required in relatively small amounts, but that does not make its role small.

If the plant receives a signal to defend itself but lacks the nutrition needed to support that response, it may struggle to carry out the process efficiently.

The trigger matters.

The fuel matters too.

Prepare Before the Stress Arrives

The best time to think about stress management is before the plant is overwhelmed.

Once a crop is already struggling, management can quickly turn into a game of catch-up.

This is similar to nitrogen management. Once a plant becomes severely deficient, correcting the problem does not necessarily erase the time and yield potential already lost.

Plant defense can work the same way.

Low-rate, targeted approaches designed to support the SAR pathway may fit best ahead of an expected stress event rather than after significant damage has already occurred.

That requires producers to think about predictable stress.

We may not know exactly what the weather will do tomorrow, but we generally know summer heat is coming. We know certain field conditions increase disease pressure. We know a herbicide application can temporarily stress a crop as the plant processes the chemistry.

Even a properly timed and labeled herbicide application can create a temporary response in the plant.

That does not mean the herbicide is bad.

Weeds can create significantly more yield loss than the temporary stress caused by controlling them.

The question is not whether we should eliminate every stressor.

The question is whether we can better prepare the plant to manage necessary and predictable stress.

Not All Stress Is Bad

Stress is a normal part of plant growth.

A perfectly stress-free environment does not exist in the field.

In fact, some stress is necessary for normal plant development. A plant responds to wind, temperature, moisture, sunlight, and countless other environmental signals throughout the season.

The environment is stress.

The plant's job is to manage it.

Problems begin when the stress load becomes greater than the plant's ability to respond.

Extreme heat, drought, high salt concentrations, disease pressure, and even certain management practices can add to that load.

This is where understanding SAR becomes useful.

Instead of waiting until the plant is visibly struggling, producers can begin identifying periods when stress is likely and make management decisions around those windows.

ISR Starts With the Soil

While SAR is a more direct defense response, induced systemic resistance, or ISR, brings the conversation back to soil health.

The longevity of a farm is closely connected to the health of its soil.

Carbon plays a major role because it supports biological life within the soil. Bacteria, fungi, and other organisms interact with plant roots and influence how the plant grows, accesses nutrients, and prepares for stress.

This is why soil health cannot be reduced to one product or one application.

It is a system.

Keeping living plants in the field longer can support biological activity. Cover crops may fit some operations. Better water management can improve soil conditions.