The Monitoring Problem
“Greening is the #1 problem for our industry and it is existential for us.”
- Agribusiness Director, Large Sao Paulo grower
Citrus Greening spreads through the Psyllids. Growers invest heavily in spraying, yet infections continue to rise. Typical challenges growers report:
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Spraying for Greening is a significant part of operating costs
Few short-term solutions exist to stop disease spread
5-10% Trees infected each year
Psyllid migration events are often detected too late
$80k+ annual losses at an average 100 hectare farm
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The Spraying Gap
Most growers spray every 7–14 days on a schedule. But spray effectiveness often drops within a few days. This leaves trees exposed to psyllid activity between sprays.
At the same time, monitoring is limited:
Daily Monitoring Is the Solution
“Psyllids are present everywhere but activity is not uniform. If we know the high activity days, we can spray on the right day in the right area and ensure maximum protection for our trees.”
— Head of Production, industry grower
Psyllids populations fluctuate from day to day. Knowing when activity increases allows growers to:
Spray at the right moment
Focus treatments on affected areas
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Spotta’s daily monitoring enables faster and more targeted pest management.
Reduce the spread of Greening infections
Benefits of Daily Monitoring
Daily monitoring of Psyllid activity helps growers manage Greening more effectively.
Growers have told Spotta that Daily Monitoring of Psyllids could have the following benefits:
Rapid, localised protection
Respond quickly to spikes in psyllid activity.
Reduced new infections
Early intervention will help slow disease spread and safeguard their orchards.
Verify treatment effectiveness
Track how psyllid populations respond to spraying.
Free up monitoring labour
Reduce time spent manually checking traps.
More NFC juice production
Fewer infected trees mean more valuable NFC juice produced.
Secure data ownership
Monitoring data remains private.
Forecasting opens the possibility of predictive management of psyllids
Forecasting opens the possibility of predictive management of psyllids
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Sustainability benefits
Eventually target sprays only when necessary.
Economic Impact
Typical orchard conditions today:
5–10% new Greening infections per year
Approximately $80+ lost per infected tree over 5 years
These losses quickly add up across an orchard.
For a 100 hectare citrus farm, this can represent $80k+ annual value at risk.
Growers believe that daily monitoring could have a meaningful impact on this loss. This is why Spotta invested in developing a monitoring system specifically for psyllids.
Spotta’s Psyllids Trap
Spotta’s monitoring system automates and supercharges the yellow sticky trap monitoring method currently used by growers.
1. Daily, accurate ACP counts
2. Automatic delivery to customer console (Spotta communications)
3. Low-labour no cartridge replacements for 3 months
4. Automatic notifications (psyllids/week > threshold)
5. Analysis and reports generated automatically including consolidated farms view
6. Grower can send Fundecitrus same level of data as currently, with the same level of control
This allows growers and agronomists to detect changes in psyllid activity quickly and respond more effectively.
