News

IPM app available for nurseries, landscapers
Green-industry professionals often need immediate access to pest and plant disease information and plant care recommendations. Or, they need to be alerted when destructive pests emerge in their area. Now there’s an app for that.

The Integrated Pest Management mobile app includes the major horticultural practices, and disease and insect recommendations to aid nursery growers, landscapers, arborists, and extension agents.

The app was jointly developed by the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, North Carolina State University, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, University of Maryland and Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

Built by horticulture and pest management experts in cooperation with growers and landscapers, IPMPro was built for USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 4-8.

“IPMPro dramatically simplifies day-to-day plant care and pest control decision-making in the field,” said Amy Fulcher, lead developer and University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture plant scientist.

The app allows users to:

• Receive text-like alerts for time-sensitive pest issues and plant care
• Consult images, pest lifecycle, and management options for major pests of woody plants
• Reference how-to information and images of cultural practices
• Obtain pesticide recommendations for major diseases and insects

The app is available for iPhone, iPad and Android for $24.99.

For more: http://www.IPMProApp.com.

News Notes

Borer, fungus threaten SoCal landscape trees
A plant pathologist at the University of California, Riverside has identified a fungus that has been linked to the branch dieback and general decline of several landscape trees and backyard avocado trees in residential neighborhoods of Los Angeles County.

The fungus is a new species of Fusarium. Scientists are working on characterizing its specific identification. It is transmitted by the tea shot hole borer (Euwallacea fornicatus), an exotic ambrosia beetle that is smaller than a sesame seed. It spreads Fusarium dieback.

“This beetle has also been found in Israel, and since 2009, the beetle-fungus combination has caused severe damage to avocado trees there,” said Akif Eskalen, an extension plant pathologist at UC Riverside, whose lab identified the fungus.

To date, the tea shot hole borer has been reported on 18 different plant species worldwide, including avocado, tea, citrus, guava, lychee, mango, persimmon, pomegranate, macadamia and silk oak.

“For now, we are asking gardeners to keep an eye on their trees and report to us any sign of the fungus or beetle,” Eskalen said. “Symptoms in avocado include the appearance of white powdery exudate in association with a single beetle exit hole on the bark of the trunk and main branches of the tree. This exudate could be dry or it can appear as a wet discoloration.”

A team of UCR scientists has been formed to study Fusarium dieback in Southern California.

Report sightings of the tea shot hole borer and signs of Fusarium dieback to aeskalen@ucr.edu.

Photo courtesy of the University of California, Riverside