Tiny insects cause big headaches for California fruit growers

As he peered at the first flytrap of the day, Ignacio Velazquez spotted his mottled foe, wriggling frantically under the magnifying lens.

“I think I actually found one,’’ said the 13-year veteran of California’s Department of Food and Agriculture, a hint of caution in his voice. “At this point, we’d call it a suspect.’’

With 10,000 traps set statewide and about 200 trappers on the prowl, it was a needle-in-a-haystack discovery for Velazquez, an agriculture technician hunting for crop-destroying psyllids in a fruit-tree-lush neighborhood northwest of downtown.

The tiny Asian bug - which can carry a tree-killing disease that poses a threat to California’s $1.6-billion citrus industry - is the latest enemy in the battle against crop pests. It has devastated groves in Florida and eradicated much of the citrus production in China, India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Brazil.

Findings this year in San Diego, Orange County and, most recently, Los Angeles have officials on high alert, although none of the bugs found carried the disease that causes citrus greening, which ruins the taste of fruit before killing the plants.

Despite today’s technology, detecting the psyllids still comes down to a yellow cardboard flytrap lined with a sticky substance.

Although sex scents and feeding wells are effective at luring other well-known pests (including the Medfly and the Mexican fruit fly), the psyllids are more attracted to their trap’s yellow color, which mimics new leaves.

Bracing for 95-degree weather, Velazquez hit the streets in sunglasses and a khaki shirt, his state-issued Chevy Silverado stocked with a grid listing trap locations and colorful fliers that ask in bright letters: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS REALLY TINY BUG?

Since a trapper discovered a psyllid in the area last week, the neighborhood has been flooded with sticky traps - 100 per square mile from where the bug was found and 50 more per square mile in an 8-square-mile area surrounding the original detection site. They hang inconspicuously off lemon, orange, tangerine, and calamondin trees, often attracting a mix of dust, gnats, flying ants, and ladybugs.

About a dozen trappers, including a few from Fresno, where much of the nation’s food is grown, circle Velazquez’s area inspecting each trap with magnifying glasses and keen eyes. About $1 million in state money and $5 million in federal funds have gone toward combating the psyllid, with $50 million earmarked in total. Allowing the infestation to get a foothold in California could imperil the citrus industry.

Officials might start a ground-based pesticide spraying program in some areas but not before informing the public. During the 1990s, a campaign to eradicate the Medfly by spraying malathion from helicopters triggered complaints and demonstrations.

Residents at most homes have welcomed the trappers’ efforts. As Velazquez pulled up to his fourth trap of the day - nestled in a lemon tree - property owner Andres Castillo, 58, looked on in anticipation from a rose bush, as if waiting for a diagnosis.

“So,’’ he said. “Am I infected?’’

“No, you’re OK,’’ Velazquez told him.

Castillo offered to chop down his tree, if necessary, but Velazquez told him, “Hopefully, it won’t come down to that.’’