Help to protect Australia’s citrus industry
CitrusWatch is a five-year national program that aims to protect the Australian citrus industry through pest surveillance, training, and research.
The Australian citrus industry is free from many harmful pest species affecting other countries. The Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade’s Plant Biosecurity team are conducting surveillance for exotic citrus pests under CitrusWatch.
One of these pests is the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) which can cause the serious disease huánglóngbìng (HLB), also known as citrus greening. HLB is having a devastating impact on overseas orchards, reducing crop yield, killing trees, and causing significant financial losses for growers.
Exotic pests such as ACP can travel to Australia via busy trade or passenger routes by ‘hitchhiking’ with imported freight, food and plant material. If they evade border biosecurity inspections, the next stop could be residential yards.
We’re looking for volunteers to place a sticky insect trap in a ACP host plant (citrus, curry leaf or Murraya paniculata work well), and contribute to an early warning system for our commercial citrus industry.
All you need to do is place the provided trap and leave it in place for two weeks. After that, it’s a simple case of removing the trap and putting it in the post for checking by entomologists in Darwin. We’ll provide everything you need including sticky traps, instructions and pre-paid envelopes for trap return.
Register here for the program. For more information on CitrusWatch contact Ben Burchett, Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade, or email plantbiosecurity@nt.gov.au
Volunteer your fruit tree and support Australian growers!
