CPAC POTATO PSYLLID MONITORING SURVEY

To Southern Colorado growers:  Zebra chip is the newest threat to the potato industry in the San Luis valley, but there will soon be an early warning system in place that will provide updates on Potato psyllid movements and percent Liberibacter infection. Liberibacter act as the vector for the Zebra Chip disease.

Colorado will be participating in the national Potato Psyllid survey this year, with CPAC and CCPGA sponsoring the program, and Agro Engineering monitoring the psyllid traps. Traps will be collected weekly throughout the season and sent to Texas for counting, and testing for Liberibacter. Psyllids are then tested for presence of Liberibacter. As potatoes emerge potato leaves will also be sampled and any psyllids present will be tested. The results of this survey will be available to potato growers through CPAC and will be e-mailed on a weekly basis.

Be sure CPAC has your current email address on file if you're interested in receiving this information.

-Source, Colorado Potato Administrative Committee