that sucks

He recalled a farm famous for "fields and fields of mandarins."

"One yellow leaf tuned into an entire yellow tree, the fruit shriveled up and slowly the rest of the trees turned yellow, and then it was all gone," he said, slouching in his chair.

He said he respected California's fevered effort to halt the disease.

"Maybe we'll be luckier this time."

What concerns me is the Chinese pummelo this man used to graft the scionwood onto his neighbor's lemon tree. Was that pummelo smuggled into the USA from china? Certainly not by this man who was so very experienced with HLB in China. This is exactly how the researchers at UCR feared it would happen. It is so sad, but here we are. I expect that the CDFA and USDA will have to conduct aerial sprayings as they did decades ago with the Mediterranean Fruit fly. How else can we contain the ACP in people's back yards when over 90% of all citrus trees grown in California reside in someone's back yard? Pretty daunting task. This was (one) Florida's mistakes - not managing the ACP in the backyard orchard setting.

Patty S.

Yes Patty/ I have been witnessing this "smuggling" for years now. Even decades. I live in the heart of Little Saigon. I have MANY asian friends who are like family to me. Alot of their relatives receive packages containing cuttings and small plants. You would be amazed at what makes it through the mail from all over the world. The sad thing is is that the people doing this want a "RARE" strain but they dont care about the consequences of the disease and insect.

The greening infection has made me so sick with worry and sadness. The glory of my back yard is a seville-style orange tree that I make marmalade from. its reassuring to know there are folks with similar feelings.
Ive been using the SOC app. Does anyone know if the Dept of Ag is trying to build a database of backyard citrus , healthy or otherwise? Would it help if we went around uploading our neighbors' trees too?

Em, right now ALL the backyard trees are free from HLB infection that we know of. If you're interested in what the USDA and CDFA are doing with regard to monitoring backyard trees, I would contact them to find out. The plan right now to my knowledge is to monitor this particular area, as well as try to chase down any other trees that may have been grafted with this particular pummelo budwood. As blaze mentioned, this was sort of a reverse infection - the two ACP's that were found to be infected were probably infected from this infected pummelo graft. I would monitor both the Save our Citrus and the Citrus Research Board web sites for more info regarding the monitoring of backyard citrus trees.

Patty S.

The plan has moved far beyond monitoring, ground spraying is already underway in Hacienda Heights, Topanga and Sunland, using Tempo SC Ultra (containing cyfluthrin)and Merit 2F or CoreTect (containing imidacloprid). Nearly 100 sq miles of LA has already been sprayed

In his March 30, 20111 decree, the head of the CA dept of Food and Ag has stated, "...Based upon input from my professional staff, including memorandums from the Primary State Entomologist and Primary State Plant Pathologist, and the input of experts familiar with HLB and ACP, I have concluded that there are no biological, or cultural controls that are effective to eradicate HLB-infected ACP and HLB that allow CDFA tomeet its statutory obligations. To eradicate these pests from this area, I am ordering ground applications of pesticides be made to all ACP hosts within an 800-meter radius around the detection site and the removal of all HLB-infected trees. If additional HLB-infected ACP and/or HLB are detected in the survey area, the treatment area may expand to an 800-meter radius around any additional infested properties."

CDFA appears to have no plans for aerial spraying, at the moment.

Here is a link that might be useful: CDFA on HLB

Here's a picture of the spraying already going on in Hacienda Heights.

{{gwi:581734}}
Ricardo Munoz, an agricultural aide for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, sprays pesticide on an orange tree in Hacienda Heights on Tuesday April 9

Here is a link that might be useful: Whiitier daily news

I can't figure out which is worst?

Not being able to grow them outside all year long, or dealing with these issues?

I am sorry for all of you and hope they don't hurt your trees or destroy beneficial insects such as bees as they spray those. It is a shame.

I saw you concerned about all your trees Patty and others. I will be my fingers and toes crossed for you.

Mike

dicot, in discussions with Dr. Dodds, most likely the USDA/CDFA will not resort to mass aerial sprayings, but the more likely scenario, if HLB starts to spread, may be the banning of all backyard citrus trees in an effort to protect California's commercial citrus industry. I am hoping our brilliant citrus researchers across the world will be able to develop an effective management/eradication option for us here in California before they have to resort that that extreme a measure. I would stand to lose over 50 trees. And dicot, when I mean "monitoring", I should actually have stated "management", which encompasses monitoring and then taking the appropriate action based on what is found. As I mentioned previously, California is trying to learn from the mistakes made in Florida and other areas of the world. But, even with all that foreknowledge, I fear it appears unlikely that if HLB starts to spread, we'll be able to stop it. At least, not with the current methodologies and treatments available, now.

Patty S.

ERADICATION PROGRAM
� Yellow panel traps are placed throughout a project area at a density of 100 traps in the core and 50 traps per square mile in the surrounding eight square miles of an ACP find.
� Within 400 to 800 meters of an ACP find, citrus trees and host plants will be treated with a foliar application of Tempo� (active ingredient cyfluthrin), which eliminates the ACP on contact.
� Within 400 to 800 meters of an ACP find, each host tree or plant will also receive a soil drench or injection with Merit� or CoreTect� (active ingredient imidacloprid), a systemic treatment that will remain active to guard against psyllids for an extended period of time.

The above was an excerpt taken from CDFA ACP fact sheet. It talks about eradication but I couldn't see any information on prevention. For a homeowner, what is the preventative measure if you're outside the quarantine area?

I check my little trees DAILY. MULTIPLE TIMES DAILY...lol

Seriously. If your trees are not too big just keep a good eye on them. The psyllid is VERY SMALL so you have to look close. The bug and its larvae like new growth but if the infestation is really bad you will know it.

Google Asian Citrus Psyllid and get a good idea on what it looks like and how the disease affects your tree.

You can call 1-800-491-1899 and ask them what traps and what preventative methods you can use to help.

This will require the involvement of everyone with a backyard tree. What about unoccupied homes? How do those trees get monitored?
Ive been spending so much energy spreading the gospel about income inequality, the Koch brothers and ALEC but maybe its time to switch gears and start making sure everyone with a tree is awake and alert to this.

Well, I think it's going to be extremely difficult to monitor and then somehow treat all the trees in the backyards of Californians. Over 90% of the citrus trees that grow in the state of California reside in someone's backyard (statistic shared by Tom Shea, Staff Research Associate at the UC Coop Extension in Riverside). This is why Dr. Dodds postulated that if HLB does, indeed, begins to spread, it is quite likely it may come down to the banning and removal of all backyard citrus trees in order to try to contain the disease and protect the commercial citrus industry. What I'm hoping is that the awesome researchers will come up with some solutions for both backyard owners and commercial growers before it comes to that. You can let your friends know about Save Our Citrus, and if they have an iPhone, they can download the app, too.
http://www.saveourcitrus.org/index.php/soc-iphone-app

Patty S.

Here is a link that might be useful: Save our Citrus

You always have the coolest websites Patty!

Hey another thing I found as I was searching through the archives was and old post of yours Patty. It was in regards to the California program for keeping the citrus trees alive. You know the place where you have to order 36 cutting of three different varieties? I was thinking in the very near future, hopefully this summer, ordering some rootstock and cuttings from them and keep a little "orchard" of dwarf citrus trees going. They have all the good rootstock and different varieties of cuttings so I figured, "what do I have to lose?" I can graft some onto my current trees and create new trees with the rootstock they have. Its worth a try. Plus I can harness my skills with all the different cuttings I have to order. Hopefully they approve me. Im planning on opening a small nursery in the future so this can be my start.

Also I plan on printing up alot of different fliers in Vietnamese/English/Spanish. I want to go door to door around here and place them on the screen to let people know how to prune and treat their trees for pests and disease. Its a jungle around here. Now all I need is a new comp and a good laser printer:-)