Reducing Red Scale Populations with Movento

California red scale affects most of the state's citrus-growing regions, attacking trees and inflicting serious damage, such as leaf yellowing and drop, dieback of twigs and limbs, fruit pitting or drop, and even occasional tree death.

But growers have options to protect their crops — and their yields.

Movento^® insecticide from Crop Science is a unique and innovative tool for managing citrus pests like red scale. Movento has shown excellent results against immature stages of insects and adult female pests, reducing fertility and limiting the survival of their offspring.

Over time, this provides more effective overall reduction of pest pressure — but it can affect one popular method growers use to monitor pest populations. To assess and monitor infestation rates, many citrus growers use pheromone traps during the first, second and fourth male flights, occurring in March, late May and August, respectively.

Since Movento controls the adult female and immature populations, its effectiveness can be downplayed by the traps, said Steve Olson, Insecticide Product and Citrus Crop Manager at Crop Science.

“When pheromone traps pick up a lot of male red scale, it can give a false sense that the insecticide is not working,” Olson said. “The most important method to evaluate effectiveness of the product is to scout for scale on the leaves, twigs and fruit 30 days after application.”

According to trial data from the University of California, treatment with Movento resulted in the greatest reduction in red scale infestation over the course of the trial, when compared to competitive insecticides. California citrus treated with Movento at a spray volume of 250 and 500 gallons per acre reduced red scale populations from 24 percent to 1.1 percent and 25.5 percent to 3.1 percent, respectively.

What makes Movento so uniquely effective against red scale is its two-way systemic movement to all parts of the plant, resulting in more comprehensive pest control.

“Good insecticide coverage is important for red scale control,” Olson said. “There are very few products that are as effective on red scale today, so Movento is a really critical component. You’ll see a positive effect on your yields and tree vigor.”

Find out more about the benefits of Movento systemic foliar insecticide and how it can improve your citrus pest control management program.