Miller Research and PNW Pest Alert have confirmed within their monitoring network 2014's first liberibacter-positive potato psyllid in Idaho. The psyllid was collected last week from a yellow sticky card in a potato field in Canyon County. Liberibacter (Lso) is the bacterium that causes zebra chip disease. This positive psyllid and other data from the monitoring program will be incorporated before the end of the week into the online spreadsheets available at the links below. Now is the time to step up local monitoring and management programs in the area.
Results for the “intense” fields, which are monitored with 10 sticky traps, vacuum samples, and leaf samples are here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuZRwfbNUs2YdG15WTNRMkEteHRWRGhpM2ltSXBiR3c#gid=0
Results for the “light” fields, which are monitored with 4 sticky traps are here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuZRwfbNUs2YdGVrX2t2NGs0YzlYYUZaQkNaejhES2c#gid=0
More information and resources on potato psyllids and zebra chip, including management and scouting recommendations, can be found at the link below.
http://extension.uidaho.edu/kimberly/tag/potato-psyllid-and-zebra-chip/