Taken from the magazine "Citrus & Vegetables"

New solutions

Until now, growers have relied on conventional pesticides, such as soil-applied imidacloprid, to combat the leafminer. But researchers recently have come up with two new, pheromone-based materials that specifically target the pest.

One, called SPLAT-CLM, is manufactured by Riverside, Calif.-based ISCA Technologies Inc. The other, MalEx, is made by Portland, Ore.-based Alpha Scents Inc.

The two products are based on different technologies, Stelinski says.

SPLAT is a mating disruptor that is not yet registered.

“We can prevent the male from finding the female, and prevent the male from mating with them and prevent egg laying,” Stelinski says.

The Environmental Protection Agency accepted comments on the SPLAT registration through April 13. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has been working to expedite its registration.

MalEx also uses pheromones, but in a different way.

“Each droplet acts as an attractant for males that mimics a very attractive female, but each droplet has a small dose of toxicant,” Stelinski says. When the male touches the droplet, he dies “and is effectively removed from the breeding population.”

Both formulations are different from traditional insecticides in that they’re deployed onto the crop as “discrete blobs of paste,” Stelinski says.

“They can’t be applied by conventional agricultural sprayers,” he says, “so we’re developing an inexpensive and effective device” that growers can easily attach to tractors.

Advantages

One advantage of SPLAT is that it is specific to the citrus leafminer and will not harm beneficial insects, says Agenor Mafra-Neto, president and chief executive officer of ISCA Technologies. However, that also is a disadvantage for growers who hope to control more than one pest with a single spray.

Another major advantage is that SPLAT is applied in doses of just one dollop per tree, with no need to spray the whole grove.

Mafra-Neto estimates the cost at $125 per acre, but he says one application lasts 15 weeks or more, longer than most pesticide sprays.

He expects the cost to drop over time as production picks up and growers learn how to better apply it to meet their specific needs.

Mafra-Neto says he expected the Environmental Protection Agency to register SPLAT in April, with Florida registration following shortly thereafter.

Like SPLAT, MalEx is “very species specific,” says Darek Czokajlo, president of Alpha Scents. “We are going to kill only male citrus leafminers. We don’t kill any beneficials or other species.”

The product stays on the trees and does not reach the ground nor does it cover the fruit.

“Most of the formulation will end up on the foliage,” Czokajlo says.

MalEx, an attract-and-kill material, uses about 100 times less pesticide than conventional products and costs less than traditional sprays, he says. Czokajlo estimates the price at $60 per acre. He expects registration by the end of the year.

Millet (877-)

I have been testing the Splat along with the traps. It is amazing how many of those little pest there are in my yard. The 2 traps have probably collected over 1000 of the moths. I do still have miner damage, but it is far less that normal and I haven't had to spray every few days.

It comes in a syringe and you are suppose to apply a blob of about 1cc to a couple leaves on a tree. A full syringe is 12 cc if I remember correctly.

How much did you pay/how much did you get for the splat? I can't find the syringe on the website.

Here is an email I sent them with there response
Hi David,

Thank you for considering ISCA for your pest management requirements.

We have a few different products for the citrus leafminer, including the pheromone lures and sticky traps. You can use these pheromone lures and traps to monitor the activity of the moth, or you can use them in higher densities for trapping large numbers of the moth. For monitoring, we recommend at least 1 per acre. For mass trapping we recommend up to 1 per tree. We offer two different traps for use with these pheromone lures, you can use either the AR907 Paper Delta Traps or the AR905 Plastic Delta Traps. Paper traps are cheaper but are only good for a single use. Plastic traps are more expensive upfront, but you can reuse the bodies and get replaceable liners, which is cheaper in the longrun.

You can find these in our online store here:
IT203 ISCAlure Citrella: http://www.iscatech.com/ecommerce/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5
AR907 Paper Delta Trap: http://www.iscatech.com/ecommerce/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1
AR905 Plastic Delta Trap: http://www.iscatech.com/ecommerce/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=3

We also have a new control product for the citrus leafminer called SPLAT CLM, which uses the same CLM pheromone formulated together with our proprietary SPLAT technology. SPLAT CLM provides control by the mating disruption method and can be applied mechanically. You can read more about SPLAT CLM online here: http://www.iscatech.com/exec/SPLATCLM.htm.

Are you in Florida? We are at the Citrus Expo this week in Ft. Myers, if you plan on attending, some see us, I can show you some products and discuss further.

Either way, please let me know if you have any further questions, thank you!

==========================================

Brett Roble
Marketing Coordinator
ISCA Technologies, Inc.
1230 W. Spring St.
Riverside, CA 92507

Office: (951) 686-5008 x205
Email: brett.roble@iscatech.com
Skype: brett.roble

I tested SPLAT for ISCA also. I didn't have a full blown miner outbreak at the time, but I did put a pheramone trap inside and outside of the treated area to see what the effectiveness was. There were quite a few more miners in the trap outside of the treated area. My only reqret was that I didn't redeploy the SPLAT now that I do have a full blown miner outbreak. Late July/Early August seems to be the time around here that they start raising their little heads.

Phillip

I deployed my first trap at the end of May. I applied the splat and another trap at the end of June, by that time, I had trapped several hundred miners. By the end of July, both traps were so full of miners, counting was out of the question--I estimate over 1000. The bottom of the traps was almost completely covered, so I turned the traps sideways and have trapped even more on the sides.

Thanks for the info. This is a new product for me. We don't have huge outbreaks of miners but I hate looking at the damage they do.

You guys in the U.S are ahead of the game so I will be watching this thread with interest. I have leaf miners in my Arabian Jasmine and am at my wit's end as to how to get rid of it.