Greg ... thanks for the e-mail and heads up on this event. Definately sounds interesting and as co-incidence would have it my 50th birthday falls on the day after. So if there's something planned for me here, I'm out ... but if they'd prefer to have me out of town, I'm in !!!
It would be great to have a BC contingent attend the '09 Expo. Bob Duncan would have to be proclaimed as the head BC citrus nut / expert.

Cheers, Barrie.

Hey Gang,
Your 2009 Citrus Expo co-ordinator here.
We have run into a minor/major snag depending on your perspective.
Citrus Greening disease HAS BEEN discovered in Charleston County!!
I have been in contact with the Department of Plant Industries and I have been trying to get in touch with the USDA. With help from my fellow Master Gardeners we are trying to work out some of the kinks, BUT, as of right now there will be absolutely NO CITRUS moved out of Charleston County.
Which means No Vendors, they can sell but will have to remain here. Kind of Useless.
No visiting Citrus plants, they cross the county line, they are here to stay.
The sad part, Lazz and I live about 3 miles from each other, we can NOT pass anything back and forth. I live in Charleston County, he is Dorchester County.
Some good news, I have some Excellent speakers coming. Stan will be doing a lecture. I have Ryan Atwood from the state of Florida. He is an Extension Agent, Multi County Fruit Crops. He has traveled to South Africa and Brazil to work with their respective Citrus Industries and the Citrus Greening Disease.
Then I have Sherry Altman who is a representative from the Department of Plant Industry and C.A.T.S. (Cooperative Agricultural Test Survey) She works with Exotic plants and Diseases and is part of the group who has gotten the three counties in South Carolina Quarantined. She is my contact person who told me that the Greening disease is here.
I have a great lunch specked out and a live brass band to play during lunch. There will also be a Satsuma Seed Spitting Contest.
SO, PLEASE bear with me as I get the rest of the kinks worked out.
Any questions, feel free to e-mail me.
Later,
Darren

Darren do you have any links to this info ?

No Laaz,
I just got the phone call Tuesday.
They are working with the home owner on how they want to destroy and remove the tree. The USDA is watching the site and doing tests.
Sherry doesn't know the area real well, but said that the tree is located near a National Guard Armory...she was assuming downtown somewhere. I know of three armories and I have been trying to get down there to see what I could see.
As I get more info, I will pass it on. She promised to keep me in the loop.
Darren

Thanks, keep me posted.

After Stan brought this thread to my attention, I emailed a USDA in Charleston that is responsible for the Citrus Greening program here. He tells me that greening has been found in a lemon in downtown Charleston this past week. "The tree is 10-12 years old and evidence appears to indicate that it has carried the disease for a number of years." They are still working on a strategy for dealing with the problem and an announcement should be made next week.

It is an understatement to say this is not good. The fact that the tree has been infected for a number of years tells me it may have spread beyond the infected lemon. I think the least that will happen is that no citrus will be allowed to be transported from Charleston county. This will directly impact the Citrus Expo.

Ned

Sounds like it would be better to move the Expo back to Cypress gardens which is in Berkley county.

This is alarming but not suprising news. I had hoped it would somehow not make it up near you guys. Even though I'm way up in VA it still makes me nervous. One good hurricane could bring the psyllid vector up here. Looks like you have to try and start growing some guava trees around your citrus Laaz and Darren.

I should have noted that Darren first brought this to our attention.

Moving the Expo is certainly something to consider. I guess the best thing to do now is to wait and see what develops.

Ned

How about Milwaukee?
And then you can all stay for Thanksgiving

There is one consideration with Cypress Gardens, or any other non-quarantine area ins SC. No one from an area quarantined for psyllids will be able to bring citrus to Cypress Gardens, if authorities stictly apply the rules. They allowed such sales in Tifton, but it might be a good idea to present the idea to the USDA or SCDPI.

I might not be able to sell trees there myself. That is not a big problem for me, I didn't take many to Tifton anyway, but might impact others, and might limit citrus tree availability to buyers.

Just food for thought. I think discussing the issue with the people mentioned above would be prudent. Then again, I imagine the rules will change before the CE date arrives.

Ned

As per Stan the Expo will now be held in Lake City at Moore Farms, a private country estate that has formal gardens, meeting facilities etc.

More info will be posted shortly.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=map+of+Lake+City,+sc&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&gl=us&ei=FbIvSsqXKInKtgfpu5CEDA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1