3D Printing Helping in Fight Against Citrus Greening

[Millet]

 A 3D printed “SmartTrap” may turn the tide in a decade-old war to save Florida's $10.7 billion citrus industry from a bacterial disease known as citrus greening. Scientists at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services developed the traps using 3D printing technology to more efficiently catch and study the Asian citrus psyllid. This technology is a gigantic leap forward.This 3D printing innovation gives our scientists the best chance to find a game-changing breakthrough in the fight against citrus greening.
Using computer software and a fast-working 3D printer, researchers can easily adjust the trap's shape, color, lights and chemicals to better attract the psyllid. This allows researchers to more efficiently and accurately study the insect that transmits greening.
Previously, yellow sticky traps were hung in the trees and collected many different kinds of insects, requiring a trained trap-reader for further testing. With the “SmartTrap,” about 99 percent of the insects collected are psyllids. The traps also preserve the psyllids, unlike the yellow sticky traps, which leave psyllids exposed to the elements where they quickly decompose and are virtually impossible to remove from the entangling glue for further analysis. Commissioner Putnam is dedicated to protecting Florida's citrus industry and has asked the Florida Legislature to contribute $18 million this year to continue in-depth research, grow clean citrus stock, and replant where diseased trees have been removed.
Millet

[KarenRei]

3d printing is pretty hyped, and home 3d printers like MakerBots are usually pretty lousy quality. But online 3d printing services are generally excellent. I designed an amulet full of symbolism personal to my former fiance once and had it printed out in bronze - it came out just amazing, with all kinds of tiny details.

[citrange]

Need more information to understand this. I picture a mini mouse trap which springs shut only when a psyllid enters - but that seems fairly unlikely! Does it trap a single insect? How big is it? Would you need thousands for each tree? Or is it just a research tool that currently has no hope of actually reducing psyllid numbers?

[KarenRei]

Surely it works like a fruit fly trap, but with an entrance / entrances optimized for the behavior of psilids.

https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=935&q=fruit+fly+trap&oq=fruit+fly+trap&gs_l=img.3..0i19l10.562.6416.0.6965.16.13.1.2.2.0.130.1313.8j5.13.0.msedr...0...1ac.1.61.img..0.16.1320.3dzypGzi4lE

[Millet]

Here is a better article concerning the 3D Printer with picture - Millet

http://modernfarmer.com/2014/10/ag-scientists-design-new-3-d-printed-insect-traps/

[KarenRei]

One thing that's neat is that one could write a script that would automatically generate hundreds of varying entrances and trap chambers, and then see which contain the most psillids. Then they could run it again with the most effective designs as the base model that gets tweaked, and again and again until an optimum is hit.

And yeah, they really should be using multi-color printing, not just yellow. Good to see that they seem to acknowledge that.