Selective Use of Insecticides for Control of Armored Scale (Homoptera: Diaspididae) in San Joaquin Valley California Citrus

Uso de semioquímicos en el control de plagas. Estudios básicos y de aplicación

“…Moreover, heavy scale infestations may lead to yellowing of leaves, defoliation, branch dieback and possible tree death (Grafton-Cardwell and Reagan, 1995).…”

“…However, since the development of resistances to many insecticides was documented for CRS (Grafton-Cardwell and Vehrs, 1995), other control techniques have been introduced. The use of oil sprays has been expanded although these can be potentially phytotoxic (Grout and Richards, 1991a;Grafton-Cardwell and Reagan, 1995;Tan et al, 2005). Thus, satisfactory management of oil applications is essential in order to prevent these effects and to ensure the efficacy of the treatment.…”

“…Cosmetic damage caused by this armored scale leads to downgrading or rejection of the fruit at the packing house. Moreover, heavy scale infestations may lead to yellowing of leaves, defoliation, branch dieback and possible tree death (Grafton-Cardwell and Reagan, 1995).…”

“…The use of mineral oils appeared to be a good alternative to conventional pesticides, having low residual toxicity for beneficial insects. But these can potentially be phytotoxic (Grafton-Cardwell and Reagan, 1995;Tan et al, 2005), requiring certain precautions to avoid negative effects and to ensure the efficacy of the spray. Moreover, oil treatments require an accurate determination of the timing of the treatment, to be applied when the target pest is in its most vulnerable first instar stage (University of California, 1991).…”

“…Consequently, efforts have been directed to the introduction of new integrated and biological control programs. The use of mineral oils appeared as a good alternative to conventional pesticides, although requiring certain precautions in order to avoid phytotoxic effects (Grafton-Cardwell and Reagan, 1995;Tan et al, 2005) and an accurate determination of the treatment timing (University of California, 1991). Another important alternative to replace traditional insecticides has been the use of insect growth regulators (IGR), such as buprofezin (Yarom et al, 1988;Grout and Richards, 1991a) and pyriproxyfen (Grafton-Cardwell et al, 2006;Eliahu et al, 2007;Rill et al, 2007), and these products have provided good control results.…”