Little Cherry Disease Vectors

Little Cherry Disease Vectors

Little Cherry Disease Vectors. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report.

Little Cherry Virus 2 is a disease that is spread by the apple and grape mealy bug or by root grafting and is the most common virus according to Andrea Bixby-Brosi, Post-Doctoral Research Associate with WSU's Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center. She says there are two different ways of controlling Little Cherry Disease or LCD.

BIXBY-BROSI: One, by controlling the vectors and then also by identifying and removing infected trees. These insects are different in their appearance and they have different life cycles. The apple mealy bug adults are more yellowy or green in appearance compared to the grape mealy bug which are more pinkish

Another telling feature is the grape mealy bug has a tail. She says it's important to know which is which.

BIXBY-BROSI: Because they do have different life cycles and so your management tactics will vary based on that. The apple mealy bug has one generation per year. The egg masses are kind of cigar shaped and so the egg masses of the grape mealy bug differ because they're sort of more of these just masses of cotton on the tree instead of this organized cylinder.

She says the grape mealy bug has at least two generations per year.

BIXBY-BROSI: There are some times when you actually have eggs, nymphs and some adults all on the same limb so they're a little bit trickier to control than the apple mealy bug which a lot of times everything is in the same stage.

That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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