New Smartphone App Developed To Help Put Citrus Pests In Their Place
June 19, 2015 University of Florida researcher James Tansey has helped create an Android-based smartphone app (flCHMA) designed to aid citrus growers in their fight against citrus greening.
Photo courtesy of UF/IFAS
Tansey collaborated with ZedX, an information technologies company based in Pennsylvania, to develop the new app. The free phone program allows citrus farmers to enter in about a dozen variables — like the type of crop, insect pressure, harvest date, previous spray history, and whether the crop will be for fresh fruit or juice and for export or domestic markets — to determine the best pesticide to use. There are also record-keeping options, and the app keeps track of sites with gps.
Tansey, a post-doctoral researcher at the UF/IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center in Immokalee, said that the app is currently in the testing phase and UF/IFAS needs growers to give them feedback. “It lets the grower do site-by-site evaluation. Once this testing phase is done and we incorporate feedback, it’ll be available for not only Android, but also Apple iPhone users.”
After entering in all the factors, farmers can choose from about 150 different products to kill the Asian citrus psyllid. Products are added as they are approved. Growers can filter their product search by cost and effects on beneficial insects (like bees), among other factors.
“The app’s decision-making algorithm will let us apply it to other citrus pests, as well,” Tansey said.
Growers and consultants interested in using the app and providing feedback can eMail Tansey at [email protected].
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