Abundance of potato psyllids appears to be increasing in southern Idaho’s Magic Valley.
The University of Idaho has collected eight psyllids from one site in Jerome County. This week they also collected potato psyllids from three different Canyon County fields (one psyllid per site), six different fields in Twin Falls County (one psyllid per site), one psyllid from another site in Jerome County, and seven psyllids from five sites (two on one field) in Cassia County. This represents the first psyllid captures this season in Cassia County. In addition, the U of I team collected its first psyllid since April at the Kimberly Research & Extension Center.
Aside from the one positive psyllid reported last week, none of the other potato psyllids collected last week tested positive for Lso, the bacterium that causes zebra chip.
The University of Idaho and Oregon State University Extensions continue to urge growers and crop consultants to have an IPM program in place and to supplement the universities’ monitoring program with their own local monitoring.
Consult the Pacific Northwest Pest Alert website for more information, including online spreadsheets that show details of the psyllid captures in potato fields over the season. Updates to these spreadsheets may occur throughout the week as Lso testing results come in.