My citrus collection started five years ago. I went to Florida and bought some roadside trees to grow in Charleston. The next year I went to a BIG citrus nursery to buy even more. At $12.00 a tree I really crammed them into the car. Ahh......... those were heady days. With hundreds of trees to choose from, you could really be picky about branch structure and spacing, as well as variety. It felt good buying trees near a town called Tangerine.
Then the quarintine area for canker came within 20 miles of my wonderland, and I started to really think about what I was doing. I was still in the throes of a serious citrus addiction. So I bought three or four that next year and then stopped. I hadn't really lost my buzz on growing citrus, but was maxed out on trying to keep that many trees growing strong and not getting zapped by frost.
This past weekend I went to Orlando once again for Thanksgiving. Black Friday in the past was when I would shop for citrus. I thought to myself,
what are the chances I'll bring HLB (greening) home on a plant, or carry a few asian citrus psyllids with me. So I looked at this
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/ep/citrus_greening/index.html
Sure........ doesn't show a case of HLB within 75 miles of where I'm talking about.
Well, with a latency of 1-3 years of no symptoms, you could buy a plant that looks totally fine, and end up screwed. That website convinced me to not buy any more trees from Florida.
What if you bought a tree that had HLB and you brought it home. If the vectoring insect...Asian citrus Pysllid........ was not going home with you,
in theory, you'd end up with one dead tree.
Well, I think one sap sucker is as dangerous as another. What if common SC aphids are just as good at spreading this menace to other trees. In theory, all your trees are dead.
I'm gonna keep my eye on this situation, and buy my next trees far from Florida. Scranton, Port Royal, Cali., Texas, wherever.
I used to lick my chops when a fresh load of trees came into my local s'Lowe's or Home Despot. Now when I see them I just cringe, shake my head, and sadly walk away.
Scott
