Control of California red scale, Aonidiella aurantii (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) on Texas citrus by mating disruption

California red scale (CRS), Aonidiella aurantii (Hemiptera: Diaspididae), is a serious pest of Texas citrus because scale infestation of fruit results in downgraded or rejected fruit for the fresh fruit market and significant economic losses for growers. Control of CRS adults and immature stages is critical, and mating disruption is a recent alternative to traditional insecticides. Suterra CheckMate® CRS dispensers release a synthetic version of CRS sex pheromone into air. These dispensers, when deployed inside tree canopies, saturate groves with CRS sex pheromone to prevent mating of males with females. Unmated females do not produce crawlers and late mated females produce fewer crawlers; therefore, CRS infestations and insecticide input can be greatly reduced. Studies on mating disruption for CRS control in Texas are currently lacking. From June 2024 to February 2025, we evaluated CheckMate® dispensers alone or with insecticides for reducing CRS populations and fruit damage in South Texas grapefruit groves. Deployment of CheckMate® dispensers reduced trap captures of CRS males in groves by up to 22 times compared to groves without dispensers when male flights peaked. By January 2025, two weeks before fruit harvest, scale infestation of grapefruit was up to six times lower in groves protected by CheckMate® dispensers than in groves without dispensers. Our findings showed mating disruption dispensers can effectively suppress CRS populations and minimize scale infestation of Texas grapefruit until fruit harvest.