Bad News; it is also topic #1 in Texas at the moment.

Agro-Terrorism?

John

Boy, it sure feels that way, John. Just ask any commercial grower in Florida. They have been decimated by HLB. I am so sad to hear this. And I know Texas is working overtime to keep HLB confined to just one county.

Patty S.

Wow, this is really sad.

Im scared. I heard there is no known cure for this disease??

Also, I think I have found black spot on my mandarin. Everywhere I have read said it is not in California? Ive taken pictures but Im having problems transferring them from my cam. Hopefully I can get on my brothers comp and upload them.

Back to HLB. Hopefully we can stop this from spreading. I was reading an article about it the other day and it is serious stuff.

Some growers in Florida are treating HLB like HIV... with a cocktail of nutrients, minerals, etc; and some of the mature trees are continuing to produce the same amount and good quality fruits. Most of the "experts" I have talked to favor the "pull and burn" scorched earth approach; works well if you catch the disease early; but it spreads so fast, and once widely established the pull and burn method is economically devastating.
Texas is going with the quarantine and eradicate approach; it could work, if what they have found really is just a small infestation. Interestingly enough, Texas has had the bacteria and the psyllid for some years and only now finding the disease.
I hate conspiracy theories; but suddenly finding HLB in Texas and now California makes me wary about the possibility of Agro-terrorism.

Considering the amount of people that move in and out of quarantined states the probability that some carried infected plant material with them is real good.

Migrant workers nay well be a good source of infection.

The quarantines is not common knowledge.

Interesting Louisianan is a big source of citrus trees in the deep south. That may be the last source for citrus trees for our area.

Another source is Ebay and similar transactions. I know that we've had people come to this forum and ask how they can ship citrus to their pals in other states. And then there was the guy who didn't see what the problem was if he wanted to drive to florida and bring plants back across the border to where ever he was. I remember that he felt quite affronted when told that he shouldn't do that.

Hey, remember the woman who had purchased some plants form Ebay and the FEDS came knocking on her door? She lived in NYC, I think. The seller was from Florida, I believe.

Here's a thought. Some years ago, I tried to buy some long staple cotton seed from one of the historical plantations in SC, where cotton had ruled the world. I was planting an historical garden on another such property.

I found out that I had to apply for a special license to grow ANY kind of cotton, and had to agree to having my little plot inspected for boll weevils as well as having traps set up. They (Dept. of Ag) were trying to stop the public from growing their little hobby rows of cotton and pretty much succeeded. I was happy to get the permit and we were able to grow our Sea Island cotton.

HEllo everyone,
According to another forum I visit, the Miami Herald recently had an article on Citrus Greening and possible cures using spinach genes? I didn't see the article but apparently they have infected citrus that there going to try this on.

This whole situation is scarey, and John....Agro Terrorism, I couldn't agree more. For all of you who live in the citrus producing states, I wish you the best, and hopefully they can find a way to manage this problem.

Andrew

Lol!! If Al Qaeda cant get us then they will get our oranges?? Give me a break... More likely due to the mass movement of people from infected areas. If you look at this map you will see the areas of distribution. These areas are heavily dwelt upon by large numbers of Asians and Hispanics (No Im not racist but Mexico and Asia are the two biggest countries of infection) Just my theory. I live in the heart of little saigon and witness constantly packages being delivered full of fruit and scions from Asian Countries to Asian friends of mine. Also my spanish/mexican friends relatives always manage somehow to smuggle fruit and plants back from visiting family south of the border. I always tell them that that is a bad idea and they laugh at me. Also, as someone else in this thread has pointed out other people crossing state lines and buying plants off of ebay from other states.

The problem is is once the bug and disease is found in any given area it is just a matter of time before it spreads to other areas. All we can do now is educate the public and try to contain this problem.

And I dont want any argument of me saying the areas of the map are mexican and asian. I live in this area and these people are my friends.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:575518}}

John, same thing here in Calif. we've had thae Asian Psyllid here for some time, now. The folks at UCR have also voiced the same thing: HLB is here, but we just haven't found it yet. Now they have. Considering over 90% of citrus grown in Calif are grown in the residential setting, they felt that it might take a while to find it in a commercial grove, where growers and the CDFA are monitoring. Kind of scary. Agroterrorism? Feels that way, but the more probable and likely cause are what Rhizo and Andrew have mentioned - people knowingly or unknowingly transporting infected citrus into our state. We have caught several infected shipments of citrus and citrus relatives in all our ports (especially Los Angeles) and being transported across the Calif/Mexican border.

Patty S.

Andrew, just to clarify the map you've shared: this shows where they have found the Psyllid, not HLB. Quite different, but these are "hot spots" where there is stepped monitoring for HLB. Right now, the ONLY place in Calif where HLB has been positively identified is in Hacienda Heights in Los Angelea county.

Patty S.

Yeah just the bug. But usually where there is smoke there is fire :)

Either way now that it is confirmed in Hacienda Heights. Its only a matter of time that we will hear of it in other areas. I hope that with the due diligence that So Cal has been undertaking that we can confine it for some time.

I love my citrus trees and everything about them. So when I hear that the disease is now literally on my doorstep it makes me very very concerned.

When I was researching cherries, I ran across laws in some of the western cherry growing areas requiring the home owner to either keep the cherry tree sprayed or pay to have it cut down and destroyed.

We may be seeing laws to control home citrus production not too far off.

Andrew, here's a link to the article about the folks at Texas A&M Citrus Research Station, and their work with the spinach genes injected into citrus trees, which are showing immunity to HLB.

Patty S.

Here is a link that might be useful: Spinach genes may stop deadly citrus disease

Thank God! Good article.

So Citrus with injected spinach genes...would that alter the citrus trees much? as far as look, flavor and appeal are concerned?

That's what they're testing, now, blaze. They're expanding their testing to first, make sure the fruit is safe to eat. Secondly, will this genetically altered plant produce fruit that tastes different? So, testing continues. As the article mentions, there are still years ahead to see if the fruit will be safe and if taste is unaltered. But, at least it's a move in the right direction. Now, that all being said, there is a faction of our USA population that gets very alarmed around GMO plants. So, we'll have to see if this will even be marketable within the USA.

Patty S.

Hi Patty,
Thanks for the article. I was going to try to find it today but this darn sinus infection is making the easist of tasks hard and not too fun.

I surely hope that this testing works out but like you said, it will take years for the trees to be marketed.

Talking about bringing plants from state to state, I think I may have mentioned all ready that about 4 years ago I brought a mango tree from FL to New York state with no issues. In fact, I carried the tree on the plane, all boxed up for transport. When I was in line for walking thru the security check, all I was asked was "What's in the box?" I told them "It's a tropical fruit tree." I intentially was not clear about the specifics. I wanted to see what would happen, and sure enough, I walked right thru. That floored me! I had 2 others tell me the same thing. One did the exact same thing, carrying a mango tree on the plane. I wouldn't have brought citrus like that knowing what the problems are but...would the citrus greening even affect trees in a non tropical enviroment?

Andrew

Well, it entirely depends upon what state you're coming into, Andrew. I can tell you that you'll not be able to do that if you try to come into California. California has a climate that allows tropicals and other fruits to grow all year 'round. I can tell you that when we moved back to California from Maryland, I was warned on several occasions by move moving company, to get my plants inspected by the USDA when I got back. That they had to declare I had houseplants and that was the one question the USDA asked me when I called to set up an inspection, "Did you bring in any citrus or citrus relatives?" I told them no I hadn't, which was the truth. I told them exactly what cultivars I had brought in. They told me they didn't need to inspect. But if I had NOT called, I was told by the moving company I could expect a nasty visit by a USDA or CDFA official. So, it definitely depends on what state. California has billions of dollars worth of commercial citrus at stake. They are much stricter. As are all the other citrus states. And, the only way HLB could affect any of your other indoor trees was if you also transported the vector - the Asian Citrus Psyllid, which is how infected trees spread the disease. It must have a vector to spread the disease from tree to tree. Could it happen? Theoretically, yes. Would it be likely? Probably not. Your environment would not support a lifecycle.

Patty S.

Spinach genes in Citrus? Sounds like a V8 Fusion drink :-). Perhaps it is a way to get more vegetables in our diet.

Sorry, just thought we needed a bit of humor in this totally disturbing/depressing thread.

I only wonder how long it will be before we here in Arizona get it...... The wind blows west to east .

Peter

"Spinach genes in Citrus? Sounds like a V8 Fusion drink :-)"
MADE MY DAY!

I would drink it! Put a little butter on it and BAM!