You know, that would be my guess as well. I would contact your local ag agent and see if they can test. If they cannot, contact the ag agents in Florida and see if you can send a sample leaf for testing. Pretty important to know, and the grower needs to know as well. This is not sunburn, and I completely understand about not wanting to cast serious dispersions before you have all the facts. If you get the tree tested, you'll know. Now, the good thing - this tree cannot infect any of your other trees unless a psyllid hitchhiked along with the tree. Since the disease is vector-spread, you'd have to have an infected psyllid that flies over to your other citrus trees. So, I would be sure to spray the tree and maybe apply some Bayer Fruit Tree Insect Control (Imidocloprid) just to be safe. It is rather surprising to see such a young tree affected by HLB - it usually takes several years for the disease to manifest itself. The other option is that the tree is sporting some variegation, but the second leaf up from the bottom of the pot looks like HLB to me.

Patty S.

Thanks for the prompt and detailed response Patty, I appreciate it. I'll have to give it some thought, the only place I could find in MA after a night of searching is the UMass Ag extension, and it would cost me over $100 to have both trees tested(and I haven't checked if they're even capable of testing for HLB). I'm not complaining so much about the cost, more that I shouldn't have to pick up the tab to test defective products shipped to me.

Do you or any other folks know if greening symptoms can improve? I don't mean if a HLB infected tree can survive. From what I've read, once it has HLB it's a gonner. I'm more concerned that giving the tree some TLC will temporarily mask symptoms and make identification/replacement more difficult.

I will contact the seller and see how they wish to handle it which will determine what sort of escalation I'll have to do. Luckily there isn't a local citrus industry or asian psyllid population(barring what was possibly shipped) here to worry about.

No, HLB is fatal. Definitely contact the seller. Send the photos. If the seller is resistant at all, I would recommend contacting that state's agricultural dept. to see if they want you to ship the tree to them to test. But, for sure, contact the sellers, they need to know. If they are a reputable seller, they will take care of this. Can you tell me what state the tree came from? If it was Florida, I would be even more convinced you're seeing HLB. Your lemon tree should be fine. As I mentioned, HLB cannot spread unless the Asian Citrus Psyllid is available in your area to transmit the disease to your lemon tree, and I cannot imagine that would be the case in Massachusetts. And, unlikely they came with live psyllids, as the trees are usually sprayed prior to shipping.

Patty S.

I'll contact the seller and see how that goes. It was shipped from Louisiana.

Hmm, so this is the response that I received. While I've experienced leaf die off in the past from repotting/stress it didn't look like this, but I'm no expert.

"Thank you for contacting us.... very much appreciated and thank you for the pictures.
You do not have Citrus Greening. Everyone of our trees are inspected by the USDA and you should have a certificate with your order.
If the yellowing is occuring on the bottom of the tree as shown this is normal. The lower leaves often will turn yellow and eventually drop. If there is extensive yellowing on the upper limbs then you would have an issue. Citrus trees will drop and replinish there leaves in about an 18 month cycle.
The older leaves can also have a more leathery texture while the younger leaves/new growth will not. "

I sent the a picture of one of the yellowing leaves at the top of the plant, but I'm not at home right now and only have pictures that are on my laptop. The lighter green leaves at the top of the plant does resemble a deficiency(iron maybe?), but the other leaves look like HLB to me. I looked at many different symptom picures and identification keys before posting here, but I'll admit I'm not expert.

Sorry I'm kinda piggy backing, but I didn't want to open a new thread for the same topic. I am also wondering about my young citrus possibly having HLB. About 6-8 mth ago the end of the branches were covered with could've possibly been ACP. I didn't know it at the time, since I was unaware of what they were. I treated the plant for aphids and they went away. Having hence educated myself on HLB and ACP, I think they looked very similar and now I'm starting to have some yellowing leaves. Could this be a nutrient deficiency or do you think it has the disease?

Hi flyinbtsomypants (great username, btw). I don't believe your tree has HLB. The leaf in the second picture is showing some signs of a nutrient deficiency. The difference? HLB produces asymmetrical mottling on leaves. Your leaves appear to be symmetrically discolored. The leaves in the upper picture are fine, there seems to be a faint mirror image of the discolored spots.