Insect puts citrus crop in jeopardy

Tag : Sky Fruit
of the world's leading authorities on citrus greening. "We don'thave an adequate strategy at this moment."
Gottwald likens the potential impact to Dutch elm disease, whichhas wiped out nearly the entire elm population in England andEurope.
Recent news that the bug was found within four blocks of the SanDiego County line sent orange juice futures up and spread panicthrough the industry. Industry officials worry international tradecould be affected, as California supplies 85 percent of the U.S.fresh orange market, and 30 percent of the state's production isshipped overseas.
"The sky could fall unless everybody is constantly on top ofeverything on this," said Christopher Mundt, a plant epidemiologistat Oregon State University who studies grains, but was askedrecently to bring fresh eyes to the citrus problem. "There's notgoing to be much room for error on this one."
DNA tests on 138 psyllids trapped so far in Tijuana have given noindication those bugs carry the bacteria.
Still, officials are being vigilant.
Border patrol agents have stepped up monitoring for orange-treecuttings and even certain types of curry leaves at airports andcrossings. Some nursery ornamentals such as mock oranges andcertain orange jasmines can be silent carriers of the disease.Officials also worry that citrus greening already could be presentin California but until now has lacked a carrier.
California agricultural officials have placed 1,065 traps in a120-square-mile grid at the border in San Diego and Imperialcounties.
"Unfortunately, pests don't observe international borders," saidSteve Lyle of the California Department of Agriculture. "Should thepest cross the border, and there's little reason to believe that itwon't, we'll be able to detect it as fast as we can."
After that, agriculture officials say they aren't sure what they'lldo.
The California Citrus Research Board also is launching its ownfight Friday, enlisting growers and master gardeners from San Diegoto Ventura to help bait and trap the bug by pruning sentinel treesto encourage the new growth the psyllids favor.