Psyllid update, 28 July 2022

This week we received traps from 66 of the 72 fields that we are monitoring this year. We found a total of 17 psyllids across 11 (17%) of the 66 fields observed. Psyllids were captured from three fields in Canyon County on traps that had been deployed for two weeks.

Psyllids were captured in the following counties: Canyon (5 fields), Jerome (1 field), Twin Falls (3 fields), Cassia (1 field), and Minidoka (1 field).

Thankfully, none of the psyllids collected last week tested positive for Lso, the bacterium associated with zebra chip disease (ZC).

Psyllid numbers this week ticked up a bit from last week’s very low count, but overall captures continue to lag far behind the total captures that we observed by this time last year. This is clearly illustrated in the figure comparing statewide trap captures over time among the last three years.

Despite the low psyllid captures, given the incidence of Lso observed in previous weeks, we urge growers to watch psyllid captures closely and to have their IPM programs in place.