Armed with a small jar of Tamarixia radiata, David Morgan of the state Department of Food & Agriculture popped the top and released hundreds of the tiny, stingless wasps near a lemon tree in Carpinteria on Friday.
Calling the release a type of "snack and go," Morgan described how the tiny predator would move through the tree and others nearby searching for the Asian citrus psyllid, an equally small insect known to carry a bacteria that has been decimating citrus trees from Florida to Brazil. With no cure in sight, orchard growers and agriculture officials have resorted to spraying with pesticides and are also looking at biological controls like this one.
Another parasitic wasp, Diaphorencyrtus aligarhensis, was recently approved for release, and Morgan stopped in Santa Maria to release a few more vials' worth as part of a small experiment. Describing the two types of wasps as no larger than a period on a page, Morgan said they didn't fly very far because they would get lost. The project has been releasing them every few miles from Imperial and San Diego counties up to Santa Barbara and Ventura counties to see if they'll become established.