Management and resistance monitoring of avocado thrips and persea mite

Avocado thrips was first discovered in California in June of 1996 and by 1998, it was found on 80% of California avocado acreage (Hoddle et al. 2002); this reached 95% by 2002. 1998 crop damage was estimated to be $8.65 million (Hoddle et al. 2003a). At the time it was discovered on avocados in California, avocado thrips had not been reported in any scientific literature we know of and it was a species new to science (it had not been given a scientific name; this was done by Steve Nakahara late in 1997). Thus, we basically started at ground zero in 1997. The current CAC project over the 5-year period 2007-2012 focused on continuing to monitor for avocado thrips and persea mite resistance to abamectin and on developing pesticides in other classes of chemistry that could be used in rotation with abamectin; efficacy data were generated to support registration and working with pest control advisors (PCAs), we began to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each of these new products.