Posts Tagged: Asian citrus psyllid

Another attentive dog averts disaster

A FedEx package filled with curry leaves and guavas arrived in Sacramento Wednesday infested with 100 Asian citrus psyllids, the Los Angeles Times reported today. In a scenario eerily similar to one that took place in Fresno two weeks ago, a trained dog alerted authorities to the package, the pests were trapped, analyzed at a lab and determined to be free of the bacteria that causes the citrus disease Huanglongbing (HLB).

The package destined for Fresno was mailed from India; the package in Sacramento came from Houston, Texas.

"We know that this has been going on but it is just now that we are getting a feeling for how bad it is as we get more federally funded dog teams out there," the article quoted Beth Grafton-Cardwell, a UC Riverside citrus entomologist based at the UC Lindcove Research and Extension Center in Exeter.

UC scientists are working with CDFA, USDA and the citrus industry to prevent establishment of Asian citrus psyllid in California. But the effort has been met with several recent setbacks. Their greatest fear is for the incurable HLB disease that the psyllid transmits.

Psyllids not infected with HLB were found in Imperial and San Diego counties early last year; this week isolated populations turned up Los Angeles and Orange county backyard citrus trees.

Grafton-Cardwell believes the pests' eventual spread through the state's citrus regions is inevitable.

"It's only a matter of time before the huanglongbing disease finds its way to California from Mexico or elsewhere," Grafton-Cardwell told LA Times reporter Jerry Hirsch.

White, waxy tubules are a tell-tale sign of Asian citrus psyllid.

UC asks Californians to watch for citrus pest

The Los Angeles Times reported this afternoon that Asian citrus psyllid has been found in a Los Angeles County backyard citrus tree. Just yesterday, officials confirmed the pest was found in Orange County. These were the first finds outside of San Diego and Imperial counties, where the exotic pest was first captured in California in early 2008.

UC citrus entomologist Beth Grafton-Cardwell is asking Californians to pitch in on the battle against Asian citrus psyllid, which in other parts of the world carries the devastating citrus disease Huanglongbing (HLB, or citrus greening disease.)

Anyone with a citrus tree in their yard or apartment complex can look closely at the tender young leaves of the late summer and fall citrus flush, the place where immature stages of Asian citrus psyllid congregate. The small, yellowish-orange nymphs extract sap from the tree as they feed. They excrete honeydew, which can turn leaves and fruit black from sooty mold, and they produce tiny white, waxy tubules.

For more information, see http://ucanr.org/detectingpsyllids. For pictures of Asian citrus psyllid and the symptoms to look for in infested trees, see the accompanying video.

One quarantine lifted, another imposed

CDFA announced in a news release yesterday that five Asian citrus psyllids were found in the Orange County community of Santa Ana, triggering the first ACP quarantine north of San Diego and Imperial counties.

The northward movement of the psyllid may raise fears of the state's citrus growers, but there is also some good news about the effectiveness of state-sponsored pest eradication programs. CDFA announced in another news release yesterday that a Mediterranean fruit fly infestation San Diego's Spring Valley has been eradicated.

To eradicate the pest, ag officials released nearly 3 million sterile male Medflies over an 11.2 square-mile zone at the core of the quarantine area. Fertile female flies mate with the sterile males but produce no offspring, eventually eradicating the pest. 

Medflies can infest over 260 types of fruits and vegetables, threatening California’s crops and exports as well as urban and suburban landscaping and gardens.

CDFA said the new ACP quarantine in Orange County will restrict movement of plant material at wholesale and retail nurseries within five miles of the find site. In addition, the agency is planning a treatment program and monitoring the area to detect additional psyllids.

USDA's ACP map shows where the pest has been found.

Los Angeles Times credits Fresno dog for saving citrus industry

On his Twitter feed, Los Angeles Times reporter Jerry Hirsch suggested his followers "learn how a Labrador retriever saved California's orange industry from disaster."

While the story's heroine, a plant-sniffing dog named Chelsea, didn't appear in the article until the 17th paragraph, UC Riverside citrus entomologist Beth Grafton-Cardwell was the first expert quoted, way up in the third paragraph.

Grafton-Cardwell told the reporter that a disease carried by the Asian citrus psyllid - an insect already established in northern Mexico - is "a citrus grower's worst nightmare."

Citrus greening disease was established in Florida in 2005 and quickly spread to every citrus-growing county in the state, killing about five percent of trees every year, the Times article said. It has wiped out much of the citrus industries in China, India, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and has ravaged parts of Brazil.

The alert dog pointed officials to a duffel bag at a Fresno FedEx facility. The bag contained curry leaves from India, which turned out to be carrying Asian citrus psyllids infected with the dreaded disease. The bag was separated from a traveller that was visiting family in North Fresno.

Fresno County ag officials placed 100 monitoring traps around the home where the bag was destined, and so far no Asian citrus psyllids have been detected, according to a Fresno Bee story published today.

Scientists are trying to develop citrus trees with resistance to citrus greening disease, but Grafton-Cardwell told Hirsch that such a tree was still probably years off. In the meantime, California officials are focused on setting traps and eradicating psyllid populations.

"We need to buy time for the scientists," Grafton-Cardwell was quoted.

Dog sniffs out Asian citrus psyllid near Fresno airport

A specially trained dog found curry leaves inside a package at a Fresno FedEx facility that were carrying Asian citrus psyllid, according to the Associated Press. Even more chilling, authorities announced yesterday that the pest was smuggling a serious citrus disease, said an article in the Fresno Bee today.

"It's very, very scary," the Bee story quoted Joel Nelsen of California Citrus Mutual. "This is not hyperbole. That could destroy our citrus industry in California."

UC scientists are working closely with industry groups to monitor the movement of Asian citrus psyllid, which was found near Tijuana, Mexico, in July 2008 and in San Diego in September 2008.

The Asian citrus psyllid found on the curry leaves in Fresno were the first ever found in California that have tested positive for the disease, called huanglongbing, or citrus greening.

The disease is one of the most devastating in the citrus world and has no cure. It turns the fruit green, misshapen or bitter and makes it unsuitable for sale, the Bee story said.

(The AP story contained some errors. This is not the first find north of quarantine area, the insect was dead, and the disease is a bacterium not a virus.)

Yesterday, director of the UC Lindcove Research and Extension Center Beth Grafton-Cardwell said experts hope the Fresno find will raise awareness about the potential danger of illegally importing agricultural products into the United States.

To help spread the word, I will be videotaping an interview with Grafton-Cardwell at Lindcove this afternoon to send to UCOP for development into audio and video stories for Science Today, which is produced by Larissa Branin for Westwood One/CBS Radio Network.

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