Home gardeners urged to check for and report tomato potato psyllid
The Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) is working with the WA horticulture industry to respond to the detection of tomato potato psyllid, an exotic plant pest.
 
This is the first time the psyllid has been detected in Australia.
 
Tomato potato psyllid attacks a range of plants including potato, tomato, eggplant, capsicum, chilli, tamarillo, cape gooseberry, goji berry, and sweet potato. The weeds nightshade, groundcherry, African boxthorn, kangaroo apple and field bindweed are also hosts of the pest.
 
You can help to determine the spread of the pest by checking your plants and immediately reporting any suspect detections.
 
You can do this via the free MyPestGuide Reporter app, which is available from the Google Play or the App Store. Alternatively, you can email photos with your name, address and mobile number to info@agric.wa.gov.au, or call the Pest and Disease Information Service on 1800 084 881.
 
About the tomato potato psyllid and what to look for
The tomato potato psyllid is a tiny sap-sucking insect with three stages of development – egg, nymph and adult. Adults and nymphs of tomato potato psyllid cause injury to plants by feeding with sucking mouth parts.

Look for the insect in all its life stages on the underside of leaves.
 
Signs of tomato potato psyllid include:

• Insects jumping from the foliage when disturbed.
• White sugar-like granules which coat the plant leaves and stems, and can lead to the development of sooty mould.
• Yellowing of leaf margins and upward curling of the leaves.
• Severe wilting of plants caused by high numbers of psyllids feeding.
• Shortening of stem internodes.
• Stem death similar to other potato and tomato disorders.

 
Quarantine Area Notice
A Quarantine Area Notice (QAN) is in place to direct the movement and treatment of specified fruit, vegetables and seedlings to contain and control the pest.
 
The QAN divides Western Australia into three quarantine zones — a Control (red) Zone, Suppression (orange) Zone and Watch (blue) Zone. To find out how you might be affected, and for additional general information, visit www.agric.wa.gov.au/tpp

Western Australia is free from many invasive weeds and pests that are present in other parts of the world but surveillance for biosecurity threats doesn’t stop with Quarantine WA’s border biosecurity.
Community surveillance and reporting plays a key role in maintaining our State’s enviable biosecurity status and clean environment.
Home gardeners, growers and biosecurity groups now have a chance to join the biosecurity surveillance community with the launch of a free mobile device app, MyWeedWatcher.
Designed and developed by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia, the app improves identification, mapping and management of declared weeds that impact agriculture and our biosecurity status.
The app is a perfect companion for home gardeners and industry stakeholders; it allows for quick and easy identification of common weeds and provides an easy way to report unusual or declared weeds.
The app joins a suite of pest surveillance apps developed by the department to enhance surveillance and protect agriculture from biosecurity threats.
MyWeedWatcher’s in-built guide helps users identify weeds according to the plant’s characteristics, including the type of plant, flower colour and leaf shape, and a reporting feature allows users to map the location of the weeds, add photos and include information such as the density of weeds, and any weed control undertaken.
Reports are sent directly from smart devices to the department for identification or verification, and the response and outcomes are mapped online.
The MyWeedWatcher app can be downloaded free from iTunes App Store or from Google play.
Alternatively, people without a mobile device can report declared weeds using the  online tool available on the department website at agric.wa.gov.au by searching for ‘weed surveillance’.
The MyWeedWatcher app was developed as part of the Department of Agriculture and Food’s $20 million Boosting Biosecurity Defences project, made possible by the Royalties for Regions program.

Western Australia remains free from Russian wheat aphid. For more information on this harmful pest please see:
https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/barley/biosecurity-alert-russian-wheat-aphid

Russian wheat aphid infests cereal crops and grassy weeds and this is where the community comes in as nearly everyone has a grassy weed or two in their backyard. Please help us to collect valuable pest information data required to protect our important agricultural industries by sending in reports that you have looked for aphids and either found or not found them.  

The data helps us back up claims that WA is free from harmful exotic pests and ensures WA produce can continue to be sold in premium markets.

Thank you for your help in collecting valuable pest data.

Use the MyPestGuide Reporter app to report presence and absence of aphids. This app is now available for download on the Google Play Store and Apple iTunes Store.
The app will work in the absence of mobile phone coverage.