http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/nov/19/2-county-quarantines-target-medflies-asian-citrus/

2 county quarantines target Medflies, Asian citrus psyllid

Thursday, November 19, 2009 at midnight

State officials have established two separate quarantine areas in San Diego County, one for the Mediterranean fruit fly, another for the Asian citrus psyllid.

Between Oct. 29 and Nov. 1, three Medflies were taken from traps in the Fallbrook area, triggering a quarantine of about 79 square miles.

County crews are conducting an eradication campaign in the area, releasing sterile Medflies to mate with the pests, which prevents them from reproducing.

In addition, the discovery of an Asian citrus psyllid in Valley Center has prompted an extension of an existing quarantine area, extending into north cental San Diego County by about 977 square miles.

Both pests present a threat to the state’s agriculture industry: Medflies lay eggs in fruit, while the psyllid can carry a bacterial disease fatal to citrus plants. A map of the medfly quarantine zone is online at http://bit.ly/4F5reo ; a map of the extended Asian citrus psyllid quarantine is at http://bit.ly/2UNF8p

LESLIE BERESTEIN

http://www.pe.com/business/local/stories/PE_News_Local_S_pest19.418384a.html

Quarantine of citrus trees extended

10:39 PM PST on Wednesday, November 18, 2009
By JACK KATZANEK
The Press-Enterprise

The California Department of Food and Agriculture has extended a quarantine of citrus tree parts into several areas of Riverside County, including the entire Coachella Valley, to control the spread of a pest that kills citrus trees.

State regulators initiated the quarantine after an adult Asian citrus psyllid was trapped in the Valley Center area of San Diego County. The pea-sized psyllid spreads a disease called the Huanglongbing disease, more commonly known as "greening."

The disease ruins the fruit and eventually kills the tree. No cases of greening have been reported in California, according to a statement.

Department spokesman Steve Lyle said the Valley Center discovery prompted extending the quarantine about five miles north of the county line to include areas of Temecula and east to the Aguanga area.

Also, several of the pests have been detected in Imperial County, Lyle said.

"Because we detected them this far north in Imperial County, the protocol dictated extending the quarantine into the entire Coachella Valley," Lyle said.

The third detection was in Pomona, which is in Los Angeles County. The quarantine covers most of Corona and a small part of Riverside.

The quarantine does not include the fruit, but it forbids shipment of leaves or stems that may be still attached. The pest lives in the tree and not the fruit, Lyle said.

"As long as the fruit is commercially packed, it can be shipped," Lyle said.

Lyle said it was hard to say how long the quarantine would last because the Asian citrus psyllid is new to California.

The state also initiated a quarantine of about 79 square miles in northern San Diego County after three Mediterranean fruit flies were found in traps between Oct. 29 and Nov. 1.

Reach Jack Katzanek at 951 368-9553 or at jkatzanek@PE.com