Heads up California, Arizona and Texas.

http://thepacker.com/Citrus-greening-disease-found-in-western-Mexico/Article.aspx?articleid=966231&authorid=676&categoryid=122&feedid=215&src=top

Citrus greening disease found in western Mexico

Published on 12/10/2009 04:49pm By Don Schrack

Huanglongbing, the catastrophic citrus disease, has been found for the first time on the west coast of mainland Mexico.

Mexican officials alerted the California citrus industry Dec. 10 that scientists had confirmed 51 infected trees were found in the states of Jalisco and Nayarit, about 750 miles from the Mexican border with California and Arizona.

“The word we have is that the vegetative symptoms were pretty obvious, which indicates the trees had been infected for some time,” said Jim Cranney, president of the California Citrus Quality Council, Auburn.

All of the infected trees were limes and were found in residential backyards, he said.

Mexican scientists also confirmed more than one dozen Asian citrus psyllids found in traps tested positive as carriers of huanglongbing, also known as HLB or citrus greening.

“That the symptoms were so apparent signals that the disease may have been present for several years,” said Ted Batkin, president of the Citrus Research Board, Visalia. “The latency in healthy trees can be three to four years.”

Earlier this year, Mexico found HLB had infected some residential trees on the country’s east coast, about 1,000 miles from the new discoveries.

“The focus had been on the Yucatan Peninsula. Now to have it detected so far west and so much closer to California makes one wonder where else in Mexico it could be,” Cranney said.

The key to stopping the spread of the disease and to eradicating the Asian citrus psyllid could be a money issue.

Agricultural officials in Mexico are trying to urge the country’s lawmakers to commit more funds to the effort, he said.

“Getting the resources necessary to feed into something as big as this is always difficult,” Cranney said.

One positive note is that none of the HLB infections in Mexico was in a commercial grove, Batkin said. The infected trees in Jalisco and Nayarit are roughly 65 miles from the closest commercial groves.

Finding the disease on Mexico’s west coast, however, heightens the threat the psyllids may migrate north and reinforces the need to strengthen testing methods, Batkin said.

Mexico, Belize and the U.S. formed a coalition earlier this year to fight the disease and control the spread of the psyllids. That coalition, now joined by a handful of Central American countries, agreed at its November meeting on a plan that, among other things, requires growers to remove and destroy immediately any tree found to be infected with HLB and to treat all other trees in the area, Batkin said.

My guess is that there are already infected HLB trees in California. Because the symptoms do not show up for years, is one of the main reasons (causes) for the rapid spread of the disease. - Millet (1,131-)

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-psyllid15-2009dec15,0,482819.story

Report of citrus greening disease in western Mexico worries California orange growers

The discovery shows that the tree-killing disease, which has ravaged groves in Florida and Brazil, is working its way toward California.
By Jerry Hirsch
December 15, 2009

California orange growers say they see ominous news in a report out of Mexico last week that agriculture officials discovered 51 trees infected with the feared citrus greening disease in the western Mexico coastal states of Nayarit and Jalisco.

The discovery shows that the tree-killing disease is working its way toward California's $1.6-billion citrus industry.

It has already ravaged the citrus industries in Florida, Brazil and other prime orange-growing regions and poses a major threat to California growers, according to agriculture officials.

What's especially worrisome is that the infected trees were discovered by visual inspection and symptoms such as irregular blotching on leaves were obvious.

Citrus trees can be infected for several years before displaying symptoms. And that means citrus greening could be more widespread, said Jim Cranney, president of the California Citrus Quality Council in Auburn.

"Having a discovery so far west and so close to California is very alarming," Cranney said. "This shows that the disease is spreading in Mexico and is getting closer to California."

The disease was already detected far to the east in the Yucatan, but these latest discoveries are only about 1,000 miles south of California, Cranney said.

California is already home to growing populations of the Asian citrus psyllid, a tiny aphid-like insect that is one of the two components that are destroying orchards in many of the world's prime orange- and lemon-growing regions.

By itself, the insect won't do damage to a citrus crop. However, when it becomes infected with citrus greening disease, also called Huanglongbing, or HLB, the bug becomes a carrier.

It flies from tree to tree, feeding on the plant and spreading the disease.

This is how citrus greening has destroyed tens of thousands of acres of Florida orange groves, and state and federal officials are worried that the scenario will be replayed in California, which produces almost all of the nation's fresh oranges and lemons.

There is no cure for the tree disease and no known way to prevent a tree from becoming infected once a tainted psyllid feeds on it.

Until now, the nearest outbreaks of citrus greening have been in Louisiana and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. But the psyllid is a pervasive pest in Mexico.

"You can see why we are talking about 'when' the disease gets here rather than 'if,' " said Beth Grafton-Cardwell, a UC Riverside entomologist based in the San Joaquin Valley.

Mexican agriculture officials are trying to knock down the region's psyllid population by removing the trees and spraying pesticides in the area of detection. But, she said, the disease may already have spread to other regions in Mexico.

jerry.hirsch@latimes.com