Report for period ending 9/2016 In the last reporting quarter we began work with artificial diets to develop a dose response curve to help determine the amount of the three neonicotinoids that are needed in order to control ACP. We were able to master the use of an artificial diet to deliver varying concentrations of imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin to psyllids as they feed to model the toxicity and behavioral changes that would occur when feeding on treated plants. The results from this study corroborated our findings last reporting period where we used EPG to demonstrate that the soil-applied neonics primarily control psyllids through feeding deterrence as it took large levels of all three insecticides to kill 90% of the population. Of special interest, we found that the LC50 and LC90 values for feeding exposure to neonics were far greater than the values obtained for contact assays. This discovery has led us to pursue two additional studies this next quarter where we will use our feeding bioassay against psyllids from different parts of the state to see if the results from our lab colony are consistent with the wild populations of psyllids in Florida. We will also begin using the artificial diet bioassay in our EPG studies to get a better gauge of exactly what concentrations of insecticides psyllids must be exposed to to quit feeding…but not necessarily die from that exposure. Previously this could only be estimated in past studies where plants were treated with varying doses of insecticides. Now, with the artificial diet assay, we can more reliably determine the amount required to cause psyllids to withdraw their mouth parts from treated plants. Concurrent with this work, we are continuing to analyze the large backlog of leaf samples gathered from our ongoing field studies where we are investigating the uptake of the three neonics at different times of the year, distribution of the three neonics within a tree, and appropriate rate of product applied based on tree size. We literally have thousands of samples in the freezer awaiting analysis. We continue to run samples as fast as the machine can analyze them.