PMSP for Coffee in Puerto Rico

Source

Title PMSP for Coffee in Puerto Rico
Source Type Pest Management Strategic Plans
Source Date 05/21/2019
Settings Coffee
Region Southern
States Puerto Rico
Contacts Jose Carlos Rodrigues, University of Puerto Rico,

Executive Summary

The Government of PR promotes shade grown coffee, over sun-grown coffee. Many years ago, forests were removed to grow coffee plants, and now the shade is prefered because the quality of coffee is better. The shade grown coffee has more or less problems based on sun- vs shade- grown. NRCS in collaboration with fish and wildlife, forest service, and there was analysis done on the best trees to grow as the shade trees. They looked at the environmental benefits, as well as cofee related benefits. There is a prescribed program, including trees and money to plant the trees, so that that growers can plant the best trees and have support to this effort. 

Key Pests

Insects
Coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei)
Coffee leaf miner (Leucoptera coffeella)
Pathogens
Anthracnose (Colletotrichum spp.)
Coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix)


Background

  • Production region covers 22 municipalities in the west-central mountains.
  • The region has limited economic development options, and a high proportion of people with social and economic disadvantages (they live at or below the poverty level).
  • The multiplier effect on the economy is $1.00 at the farm level to $3.40 on the PR economy.
  • Coffee is a very important commodity for the rural areas.
  • The number of vertically integrated coffee farmers has increased from very few to 75.
  • The market has increased from commercial coffee growing (the highest proportion of growers), to include specialty coffee, specialty coffee for domestic use, and the more exclusive export of specialty coffee. 
  • Hurricanes have a major impact on coffee production. The impact of recent hurricanes Irma and Maria (Fall 2018) 75% lost in harvest, 90% lost in new plantations, 73% lost in production on plantations.

Coffee meeting May, from Ecomonics (Get from Carmen)

 

Regulatory

Production challenges for the coffee produced in PR and HI have the higher costs as compared with the rest of the coffee producing counries. 

This is primarily due to the need for labor and environmental compliance (due to regulations), and environmental regulations for processing and roasting (water, soil, and antural resource conservation).

Priorities

Research:

  1. Need optimized nematode application for use of biological control (both more robust and environmentally sound) for PR 
  2. Develop better technology on farms and shared  information to improve farming and production practices (from/with other producing countries such as Costa Rica, Columbia, China, Brazil, etc.) for PR and HI
  3. Research on new coffee cultivars that are resistant to coffee leaf rust, especially for specialty coffee producers (PR, and in HI as a proactive approach, understanding that in HI it may be of social (and economic) concern to the growers to use new varieties due to the historic precedent of heritage trees grown in the Kona region)
  4. Resources/research to better understand nematode prevalence and damage on farms 
  5. New biocontrol agents for insect, diseases, and nematodes pests
  6. Continue to research and enhance biological controls for CBB in PR
  7. New weed control options are necessary,  especially If/when glyphosate is lost as a weed management option  (check Hilda's notes)
  8. More research on mites, including which mites are problematic and how best to manage them (as well as what other management practices influence outbreaks and control)
  9. Develop and implement prediction models for important coffee pests in PR and HI (these should be linked to extension and outreach efforts)
  10. Research to increase scientific understanding about how cropping systems and plant health will be impacted by climate change

Education/Outreach:

  1. Implementing new methods for farming and processing in order to improve the yield and quality of the coffee
  2. Follow different SOP to develop higher quality products consistently; need better tools for the farms and better technology transfer.
  3. Outreach around nematodes, soil - and root- sampling, especially as it relates to nematodes, and education for growers around nematodes, and soil health - this can contribute to the research priority as stated above
  4. Need more Extension personnel in the field to be able to cover all the needs of coffee growers/farmers
  5. Better education for PR coffee growers and consumers so that they understand the benefits of higher quality coffee (this will ultimately help improve the economic situation for the growers/farmers).
  6. We need a "Train the Trainers" program to educate the Extension agents, and the Department of Agriculture to understand the benefits of quality, and the negatives from CBB, and other damage to the crop.

Regulatory:

  1. There are a lot of products that are effective for pest control in other markets. However, in PR/HI, there are very few that are registered, because companies don't want to spend the money to bring them to market here. It is encouraged that PR Department of Ag, and NCRS work together to chemicals registered for use on high-priority pests. Perhaps HI and PR can work together to identify which products or pests should be prioritized to the benefit of the coffee-growing community on PR and HI
  2. Need alternatives to glyphosate for weed control, primarily due to concerns with overuse and resistant weeds. Both softer chemistry and alternatives to glyphosate are needed to be registered. 

 


Category Rank Pest Type Pest Crop Stage Priority
Extension/Outreach 1 All

implementing new methods for farming and processing in order to improve the yield and quality of the coffee
Extension/Outreach 1 All

follow different SOP to develop higher quality products consistently
Extension/Outreach 1 All

Need more Extension personnel in the field to be able to cover all the needs of the growers/farmers
Extension/Outreach 1 All

Better education for PR coffee growers and consumers so that they understand the benefits of higher quality coffee (as a coffee community on a PR-level scale). First, their needs to be a "Train the Trainers" program to educate the Extension agents, and the Department of Agriculture to understand the benefits of quality, and the negatives from CBB, and other damage to the crop.
Regulatory 1 All

compliance with labor and environmental regulations in terms of pesticide use (grower training)
Regulatory 1 All

environmental regulations for processing and roasting (as it relates to water, soil, and natural resources conservation)
Research 1 All

need better/ nematodes for use in biological control (both more robust and environmentally sound)
Research 1 All

share technology and information with other producing countries to improve productions
Research 1 All

Need research done on short cycle crops to generate income between coffee harvests
Research 1 All

Need more research on new coffee cultivars that are resistant to coffee leaf rust

Worker Activities

Fire ants, and little fire ants, are a huge problem in the coffee fields because they attack the workers. 

Wasps are also a concern to workers in fields.

Pests

Disclaimer: The active ingredients and efficacy ratings in this report are not recommendations. The information in this report was provided by the workshop participants as a cross-section of grower practices at that time. Please refer to the pesticide labels for recommendations.

Insects

Pest Rank Description Symptoms Chemical Control Biological Control Physical Control Cultural Control
Black citrus aphid (Toxoptera aurantii) Low
Black twig borer (Xylosandrus compactus)
Citrus mealybug (Planococcus citri) Low

In combination with scale, when natural boi controls are surpressed.

similar to scale control
Coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei) High

Difficult to control due to cryptic life-cycle, insect is protected in the berry

A huge problem on most farms

Entomopathic fungi: potential to control the insect with entomopathogenic fungi (e.g., Beauveria bassiana - "Mycontrol", and PR local-strains), and others

Entomopathogenic nematodes: (Steinernematidae & Heterorhabditidae);  and others

Parasitic wasps:

  • Phymaspichus coffea -
  • Ivory coast wasp - Cehalonomia stephanodaris
  • Uganda wasp - Prorobs nasuta
  • and others

New potential biocontrol agents are constantly being sought. 

Effective/proper harvesting; regular harvesting, harvesting all the red cherry (pick raisins also), good sanitation (especially raisin control on the ground)

Strip pick at the end of the season, as well as pre-harvest pick for early flowers that have turned to raisins before the first full harvest

Pruning and sucker control, preventing more than 3-5 uprights

Some trapping will attract some of the CBB (this is costly, but can work); some work has demonstrated that high density trapping will help control CBB, especially early
Coffee leaf miner (Leucoptera coffeella) High

One of the big three pests in coffee in PR (along with CBB, and Coffee Rust)

Primarily controlled with with chemical controls (see JC email).

Thresholds are used to indicate when to spray (30% leaves)

 

None used
Coffee root mealybug (Geococcus coffeae) Low
Fire ants ( )
Green scale (Coccus viridis) Medium

Scale in general are medium problems. Especially under shade. And in the nursery

white halo fungus- Verticillium -as bio-control

targeted sprays

horticultural oils
Hemispherical scale (Saissetia coffeae) Low

Pathogens

Add the following pathogens to Bugwood:

Colletotrichum spp.

C. fructicola
C. siamense
C. theobromicola
C. tropicale

Colletotrichum tropicale and C. theobromicola are new pathogens causing CBD.

Probably Colletotrichum spp. causing CBD are present in Hawaii, but they have not been reported.

Pest Rank Description Symptoms Chemical Control Biological Control Physical Control Cultural Control
Anthracnose (Colletotrichum spp.) High

This pathogen complex receives very little awareness, but this is a problem on many farms. 
Bacterial leaf spot (Pseudomonas syringae) Low
Cercospora berry blot (Mycosphaerella coffeicola) Low

mainly controlled with fungicides
Coffee berry disease (Colletotrichum kahawae) Low

Coffee berry disease is not just caused by Colletotrichum kahawae, but a complex of Colletotrichum spp.
Coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix) High

Nearly 100% of farms have this disease; the farms in the drier areas, it is less prevelent. 

Quadris Xtra () has effacy on coffee leaf rust.

Lycedium fungus - is used but is not very effective

Resistant varieties - barriers that prevent growers from using these include cost, as well as reduced cupping quality.

Managment of level of shade: less shade is better, need free-flowing wind to remove the humidity. 
Corticium fungus (Corticium salmonicolor) Medium
Fusarium wilts, blights, rots and damping-off (Fusarium spp.) Low
Myrothecium leaf spot (Myrothecium roridum)
Pseudomonas bacterium (Pseudomonas spp.) Medium
Rhizoctonia damping-off, blight and rot (Rhizoctonia solani) Medium

In seedlings. With good sanitation, this issues is reduced, but still can be a problem in greenhouess.

Weeds

Glyphosate is the only weed control being used. It is overused, and better control options are needed. If glyphosate is lost as a tool, the only other option is lphysical contolr, with abor. Labor is not reliable, or not available. 

Pest Rank Description Symptoms Chemical Control Biological Control Physical Control Cultural Control
Philodendron (Philodendron spp.) Low
Spanishneedles (Bidens bipinnata) Low

Nematodes

  • It is suggested that any grower take a soil sample to test for nematodes; especially Meloidagyne and Pratelincus, which are most common in coffee plantations in PR.
  • There is no current recommneded scientifically-based treatment for nematodes; growers are treating for nematodes without knowledge of what they have, and there is no documentation of what they are using, or how effective treatments are. 
  • (get more information from Jose Ramos Lopez about how extension is handleing recommendations - see handout from JC that is on coffee production, in spanish)
  • In HI, there are cultural controls for nematodes including nematode tolerant rootstock, although this is not in use in PR. IT is recommended that PR do some trials to demonstrate and test these differnt tolerant rootstocks as a potntial for use in PR)
Pest Rank Description Symptoms Chemical Control Biological Control Physical Control Cultural Control
Coffee root-lesion nematode (Pratylenchus coffeae)

Every farm has it, but it is unclear how prevelent it is.
Southern root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita)

Unknown. Definitly a problem, but the extent is unknown.

Mites

Pest Rank Description Symptoms Chemical Control Biological Control Physical Control Cultural Control
Southern red mite (Oligonychus ilicis) Medium

These are usually controlled through control of other pest manegment strategies; there are gaps in knowledge with how to control them, dry times increase outbreaks, as does sulpher sprays... not well documented.

Wildlife

Feral pigs and monkeys are problems in coffee fields.

Ants: https://archive.org/stream/ants_02630/2630_djvu.txt

Pest Rank Description Symptoms Chemical Control Biological Control Physical Control Cultural Control
Hog (feral)
Rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) Low
Wild pig (Sus scrofa) Low

Biological Controls

1) Nematodes as biological control: Two different species of entomopathogenicc nematodes are used for biological control. These are produced in the laboratory, and sold to be used against insect pests. 

2) Fungal biocontrols: Beauveria bassiana

Chemical Controls

Herbicide

Active Ingredient Description Brands CAS PC Pests REI (hrs) PHI (days) HRAC
gramoxone 39312-80-6 61601

Nematicide

Active Ingredient Description Brands CAS PC Pests REI (hrs) PHI (days) RAC
aldicarb 116-06-3 98301