For home-growers in Central Florida read the last paragraph.
http://www.dailycommercial.com/localnews/story/120109nursery
published: Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Nursery owners charged with transporting quarantined citrus trees
ROXANNE BROWN
Staff Writer
CLERMONT -- The owners of a Clermont nursery have been charged with trying to move and distribute more than 500 quarantined citrus trees.
Gary Allen Mahon, 31, and his mother Shelby Albercombie Mahon, 61 -- owners of John's Citrus Trees nursery in Clermont -- were arrested Nov. 19, said Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson in a press release.
The arrests stem from an early October incident when a rental truck was detained at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Agricultural Interdiction Station in Suwanee County. Gary Mahon was in the truck.
Investigators discovered the nursery permit number had been falsified. They also suspected the trees had come from an unregistered nursery.
Inspectors from the department's Division of Plant Industry were called to inspect the citrus plants in the rental truck, some of the plants were infected with citrus canker.
Investigation learned the 500 trees on the rental truck came from the family's nursery, which is under quarantine due to a citrus canker outbreak.
"It was a deliberate attempt in selling citrus trees they knew were under quarantine," Chief of Investigations Major Bob Johnson said.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Web site, citrus canker is a plant disease caused by a bacteria that defoliates and damages citrus trees and fruit. There is no cure for citrus canker.
Johnson said the quarantined tress could have spread the canker to other trees in Florida and quite possibly across the country, depending on where the trees were planted.
The matter was turned over to the State Attorney's office, and Gary and Shelby Mahon were arrested at Laws Road in Clermont, nursery's address.
Charges include knowingly distributing quarantined nursery stock, knowingly selling or distributing nursery stock without a certificate of registration, the improper use of nursery stock certification and intentionally selling or offering for a sale a non-visable plant.
The charges violate state statutes involving the movement of citrus products from a quarantined location.
Officials at the State Attorney's Office said the two were booked at the Lake County Jail on $2,000 bond, which they posted the same day.
An arraignment for both Gary and Shelby Mahon is scheduled Dec. 9.
Until recently, Florida was under a statewide quarantine by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and citrus fruit could not be exported without a Federal Certificate. On Oct. 22, the restrictions were eased for fruit shipments.
Citrus trees, leaves and other citrus plant parts continue to pose a high risk of spreading citrus canker, and therefore cannot be moved to other states, according to the USDA.
Shipping restrictions still apply to homegrown citrus, which may not be shipped out of state unless packed by a commercial operation. Commercial processing removes plant debris and washes and disinfects the fruit. Several packinghouses in Florida will process home-grown fruit, including Nukom Groves, Inc., in Zephyrhills and The Orange Shop in Citra. 
