http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20100212/NEWS01/2120327/Chinese+New+Year+tradition+could+spread+citrus+bug++ag+expo+speaker+warns

Chinese New Year tradition could spread citrus bug, ag expo speaker warns

BY DAVID CASTELLON • dcastell@visalia.gannett.com • February 12, 2010

A tradition of the Chinese New Year of giving citrus trees to friends and family has raised concerns among citrus experts. They say that could help a citrus pest migrate to Central and Northern California.

The problem, said Ted Batkin, president of the Citrus Research Board in Visalia, is the Asian citrus psyllid, which feeds on leaves and branches of various types of citrus trees.

The gnat-sized insect is capable of spreading huanglongbing (also known as "HLB" and "citrus greening"), a disease fatal to citrus plants.

"The concern is moving plant material around," Batkin said. In particular, the worry is over people shipping or bringing citrus plants from Mexico or Southern California, where Asian citrus psyllids have been located, to the Valley and other parts of the state where they have yet to be found.

A tradition of the Chinese New Year of giving citrus trees to friends and family has raised concerns among citrus experts. They say that could help a citrus pest migrate to Central and Northern California.

The problem, said Ted Batkin, president of the Citrus Research Board in Visalia, is the Asian citrus psyllid, which feeds on leaves and branches of various types of citrus trees.

The gnat-sized insect is capable of spreading huanglongbing (also known as "HLB" and "citrus greening"), a disease fatal to citrus plants.

"The concern is moving plant material around," Batkin said. In particular, the worry is over people shipping or bringing citrus plants from Mexico or Southern California, where Asian citrus psyllids have been located, to the Valley and other parts of the state where they have yet to be found.

If citrus plants carrying psyllids are brought here, they could spread, said Batkin, whose nonprofit organization is funded by citrus growers.

He was at the World Ag Expo in Tulare this week with others from his organization educating farmers and the public about the threat from citrus psyllids and HLB.

In recent years, the Research Board has become involved in testing psyllids and trees for HLB, which can cause citrus trees to produce misshapen fruit and eventually die.

There is no cure for HLB.

So far, no psyllids have been found in insect traps placed in Valley orchards. But some were found in a bag of curry leaves — another plant that attracts the insects — shipped last year to Fresno. And at least one of the bugs was infected with HLB, Batkin said.

To prevent people of Chinese descent from unintentionally spreading the bugs, the Research Board has issued a warning about gifting citrus plants during the holiday, from Sunday to Feb. 28.

That tradition dates back hundreds of years across China, said Franklin Ng, a professor of anthropology at California State University, Fresno, who is of Chinese descent.

"Certain fruits have certain meaning" as gifts, particularly oranges, said Dr. Karmay Kwong, a Visalia physician who is a native of China and organizer of the Feb. 20 Chinese New Year celebration at College of the Sequoias.