- Author: CA Dept Food
Two additional trees in San Gabriel have tested positive for Huanglongbing. The two trees, an orange and a kumquat, are on separate properties but are both within the core area in San Gabriel where 10 diseased trees were confirmed last summer. Given the close proximity, there will not be a quarantine expansion.
One of the HLB-positive trees has already been removed and California Department of Food and Agriculture officials are in the process of contacting the other homeowner to schedule tree removal. Agriculture officials are working quickly in the area.
Citrus trees in San Gabriel had already been treated for the Asian citrus psyllid within the last few weeks as part of CDFA's routine HLB response. Asian citrus psyllid populations are closely monitored in areas where HLB has been detected and treatments occur if there is a noted increase in population size. Since trees have been recently protected, no additional treatments will take place at this time. Instead, CDFA will focus on sampling extensively in the area. Much of the area has already been sampled and CDFA's lab has identified all samples from San Gabriel as high priority.
The Citrus Pest & Disease Prevention Program is working with the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner's office and CDFA to develop a multi-lingual informational flier to notify residents of the significance of these finds and potential implications to other citrus trees in the area. CDFA staff will distribute this information as they go door-to-door sampling and surveying.
More information will be shared as it is available. In the meantime, the citrus industry is encouraged to keep a critical eye on all plant material moving into or out of your groves. Remove all leaves and stems, shake out picking bags, inspect harvesting equipment and educate fieldworkers. Additionally, get on board with area-wide treatments. Collectively, as a team, we can all save our citrus trees.
Residents in the area who think they may have seen ACP or symptoms of HLB on their trees are urged to call CDFA's Pest Hotline at 1-800-491-1899 or your local agricultural commissioner's office.
For more information on the ACP and HLB, please visit the CDFA ACP web site and the University of California's ACP/HLB Distribution and Management web site.
- Author: Ben Faber
Well it came again, the Citrus Tasting at Lindcove Research and Education Center in Lemon Grove near Exeter, close to Visalia and just down the road from Fresno and up from Tulare. They came, growers to see and taste new and old varieties. And then the next day, the general public with oooos and ahhhs to taste the range of flavors we call citrus. Big fruited pummelos and little fruited finger limes. Sweet, sour, not sweet, not sour, dull, and boing!. Growers came on Friday morning and the general public the following Saturday. It was crowded both days.
Citrus is wonderful, everyone knows, but it is also under dire threat of Huanglongbing and the potential destruction of this industry and the trees that are found in many backyards. So in a completely unscientific survey, I asked growers why they were there if their world was about to end. First of all, those who showed up were already optimistic about the future, so there was already a self-selection. But, growers felt like a solution would be found, science would find an answer. Driving across the Valley and through coastal counties like Ventura there are lots of new plantings......if there's water. But it's surprising how confident growers are about finding a solution. There are some hopeful signs out there like the new rootstock release from USDA of US-1516 which shows a lot of tolerance to the disease. Then there is the potential of disease tolerance in a citrus produced in Florida from a collaboration of Southern Gardens, USDA and a consortium of Universities. Yes, there is hope, but years are still needed to test and gear up for production for commercial applications.
So it was good to be around growers who have an enthusiasm for the future and looking for new planting varieites.
And they are both grapefruit, one is Melogold the one on right is Oro Blanco
Buddha's Hand citron
The Citrus Display at Lindcove Research and Extension Center, before the crowds
- Author: Ben Faber
To help Ventura County's citrus community better understand the nature of the ACP epidemic — and the bitter lessons from Florida's failure to address it proactively — Farm Bureau and the ACP-HLB Task Force will host a workshop on Dec. 2. As speakers, we've invited three experts whose presentations were among the most compelling at last February's International Research Conference on HLB in Florida:
- Mike Irey, director of research and business development for Southern Gardens Citrus (which farms nearly 15,000 acres of oranges in Florida), who will speak about conditions in his state and provide an industry perspective on what it's like to live with HLB for a decade;
- Dr. David Bartels, an entomologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Mission Laboratory in Texas, who will discuss his analysis of HLB survey data and what it can tell us about possible HLB infection sites throughout Southern California;
- Dr. Neil McRoberts, an epidemiologist and associate professor of plant pathology atUC Davis, whose computer modeling and research into the economic and social factors affecting disease spread can help guide development of an HLB management strategy for California.
The workshop will be from 1 to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 2, at the Museum of Ventura County, 100 E. Main St., Ventura. It's free, but RSVPs are required. Please contact us at info@farmbureauvc.com or (805) 289-0155 if you plan to attend.
- Author: Ben Faber
There is some variability in citrus susceptibility to both the psyllid (Westbrook et al and Hall et al) and the bacterial infection (Shokrollah et al and Stover and Mc Collum). It is not fully clear at this point which of these species would be best to include in a breeding program, but both scions (http://www.concitver.com/3erEIIC2011/Viernes_23_sep/Ed_Stover/Ed_Stover.pdf) and rootstocks (http://www.flcitrusmutual.com/files/4cbb1e3c-1e1f-4b04-a.pdf) are being evaluated.
Some varieties like Australian Finger Lime (Microcitrus australasica) might show more resistance/tolerance to HLB than other species. At the UC Citrus Variety Collection website, it's possible to see the wide range of citrus species that are available for breeding and the commercial availability of those species. The collection is a view into the different materials that breeders can select from, in order to improve resistance to this citrus disease.
Citrus Variety Collection
http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/
Australian Finger Lime Collection and Availability
http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/microcitrus.html
Susceptibility to Infestation by Asian Citrus Psyllid
Catherine J. Westbrook1, David G. Hall2, Ed Stover, and Yong Ping Duan
http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/66180000/Westbrook%20et%20al%202011%20HortScience.pdf
D. Hall, C. Westbrook, Y.-P. Duan, E. Stover, R. Lee and M. Richardson http://citrusagents.ifas.ufl.edu/events/fl_citrus2011/Hall%20ACP%20IR%20Citrus%20Expo%202011.pdf
Susceptibility to HLB
Hajivand Shokrollah, Thohirah Lee Abdullah, Kamaruzaman Sijam,Siti Nor Akmar Abdullah and
Nur Ashikin Psyquay Abdullah
http://thescipub.com/PDF/ajabssp.2009.32.38.pdf
Ed Stoverand Greg McCollum
http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/46/10/1344.full.pdf+html
Photos
Australian Finger Lime Fruit
Australian Finger Lime Tree
- Author: Ben Faber
Per CDFA:
One adult (female) Asian Citrus Psyllid was identified from a trap in Hollister CA. Delimitation trapping will commence, along with visual survey, treatment and quarantine activities, following the newly approved Northern California protocol.