California citrus growers and pest control advisers (PCAs) can gain the latest information on monitoring and managing California red scale in citrus during an Aug. 26 seminar in Shafter, Calif.

The 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. event at the Shafter Research and Extension Center will include a mobile teaching lab to learn the details of the pest’s life cycle and its parasites using a PowerPoint lecture, microscopes, and handouts.

Field monitoring using pheromone traps will be demonstrated and treatment thresholds and current treatment options will be discussed. The information will allow PCAs and growers to make better control decisions on California red scale.

Growers/PCAs are encouraged to bring a hand lens. If they have an orchard with red scale, bringing scale-infested pheromone traps and scale-infested fruit for examination and discussion is encouraged.

The center is located at 17053 Shafter Avenue in Shafter.

California red scale attacks all aerial parts of the tree including twigs, leaves, branches, and fruit by sucking on the plant tissue with long, filamentous mouthparts, according to the University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program.

Heavily infested fruit can be downgraded in the packinghouse. Serious damage to the tree can occur with high infestations. Severe infestations cause leaf yellowing and drop, dieback of twigs and limbs, and occasional tree death.

Tree damage is most likely to occur in the late summer and early fall when scale populations are highest and the tree moisture stress is the highest.

For seminar information, contact Craig Kallsen, University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisor, Kern County, at (661) 868-6221.