Citrus Trees in Tucson | Tucson Landscaping

Since it is common knowledge that most plants require certain resources such as substantial amounts of water, moist soil, frequent sunlight, and relatively humid air in order to survive, most people would assume that citrus trees would be unable to thrive within Arizona’s arid landscape. However, this is certainly not the case, as citrus trees are common as both landscape plants and crop plants in the Grand Canyon state. In fact, Arizona is one of only four states that contain citrus crops; the others being California, Texas, and Florida. While it is necessary to frequently irrigate citrus trees growing in Arizona soil, there is no reason to assume that citrus trees are unable to thrive in desert conditions. However, citrus trees in Arizona are often attacked by insect pests. Both landscape and agricultural citrus trees in Arizona are threatened by numerous tree-infesting insects, the most notable of which would be the invasive Asian citrus psyllid (ACP). Unfortunately, the damage that this insect inflicts on a citrus tree often renders its fruit inedible.

The Asian citrus psyllid is, as you can probably guess, native to Asia, but the insects were first discovered in Arizona back in 2009 in the border city of Yuma. Both the larvae and adults of this species make a habit of feeding on the leaves of citrus trees. While feeding, adult citrus psyllids inject a toxin into the leaves, which causes the leaves to curl and dry up, preventing further maturation of the leaves. While this feeding does not kill a citrus tree, the bacteria that these insects often inject into the leaves definitely does. This bacteria causes a citrus tree to develop a disease called huanglongbing (HLB). Symptoms of this disease include the yellowing of the tree, as well as deformed and unripened fruit. A diseased tree will eventually stop producing fruit altogether, but during the disease’s early stages, the fruit picked from a diseased tree will be seedless and very bitter to the taste. Asian citrus psyllids are currently causing more problems for agricultural citrus growers than they are for private citrus growers, and, unfortunately, this insect has proven difficult to control in the Southwest. These insects are most attracted to trees that grow pomegranates, limes, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, and mandarins.

Have you ever found an insect that you could not identify feeding on any of your landscape plants?