Sacramento Digs Gardening logo
Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

Tiny bug could mean big citrus problem


The Asian citrus psyllid is only an eighth-inch long, but it can carry a devastating disease.
(Photo: Courtesy CDFA)
Finding of first Asian citrus psyllid in Sacramento cause for alarm




How bad can one little bug be? When it comes to the Asian citrus psyllid, the consequences can be devastating.

Imagine California without oranges. That’s what this bug can do.

That’s also why agricultural authorities are so concerned about the discovery of one psyllid in south Sacramento.

Found in the Lemon Hill neighborhood, the singular psyllid prompted the California Department of Food and Agriculture to quarantine all of Sacramento County. Citrus trees, nursery stock and plant parts (except the fruit itself) cannot be moved out of the quarantine area.

It’s not the damage this invasive insect can do on its own. They’re itty-bitty sapsuckers with an appetite for new shoots of citrus trees, causing deformed growth. But it’s the disease these bugs carry that sets off alarm.

Only an eighth-inch long, the Asian citrus psyllid ( Diaphorina citri ) is the primary vector for the bacteria that causes Huanglongbing (HLB), one of the world’s worst citrus diseases. Nicknamed citrus greening disease, HLB causes citrus trees to produce bitter, ugly fruit that stays partially green. The tree itself suffers intense dieback before succumbing to the disease. There is no cure.

Florida had its first HLB case in 2005, according to reports. By 2008, most of its citrus farms were infected. According to the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, citrus greening is responsible for the loss of $4.64 billion in revenues from orange and grapefruit production in the decade since HLB took hold in that state. It also cost an estimated 3,700 jobs and $1.76 billion in lost labor income.

California’s citrus farmers are worried the same could happen here.

Researchers are working on ways to combat the disease and the bug. As of yet, there are no HLB resistant varieties; all citrus is susceptible.

Fortunately, the citrus psyllid has several natural predators including lady beetles, hoverflies, lacewings and parasitic wasps, according to University of California research. No one insecticide fully controls it. Read more here:
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/r107304411.html

The key to stopping this invasion will lie with backyard citrus growers. In 2012, the first California case of HLB was traced back to a home gardener who grafted a piece of infected scion wood onto a backyard citrus tree. Now, there are more than 1,100 cases of HLB in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties.

Citrus psyllids have been spotted in the San Joaquin Valley and seem to be slowly creeping north, most likely hitchhiking on infected plant material.

The warning from the CFDA: Don’t buy a citrus tree in a quarantined area and move it to an uninfected county.

The Sacramento County Department of Agriculture set out 200 traps in the immediate area of the Lemon Hill find. In the meantime, Sacramento gardeners are asked to keep an eye out for possible psyllid activity.

Examine your citrus trees. The bug can be hard to see, but it leaves a distinctive trail of white waxy discharge that looks like little strings at the end of branches and growth tips on citrus trees.

If you see something, report it to the local or state ag office. Call CDFA’s pest hotline at 800-491-1899 or the Sacramento County agricultural commissioner at 916-875-6603.

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Lemon coconut pancakes

Find our winter recipes here!

Thanks to Our Sponsor!

Cleveland sage ad for Be Water Smart

Local News

Ad for California Local

Garden Checklist for week of Feb. 2

During this stormy week, let the rain soak in while making plans for all the things you’re going to plant soon:

* During rainy weather, turn off the sprinklers. After a good soaking from winter storms, lawns can go at least a week without sprinklers, according to irrigation experts. For an average California home, that week off from watering can save 800 gallons.

* February serves as a wake-up call to gardeners. This month, you can transplant or direct-seed several flowers, including snapdragon, candytuft, lilies, astilbe, larkspur, Shasta and painted daisies, stocks, bleeding heart and coral bells.

* In the vegetable garden, plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers, and strawberry and rhubarb roots.

* Transplant cabbage and its close cousins – broccoli, kale and Brussels sprouts – as well as lettuce (both loose leaf and head).

* Indoors, start peppers, tomatoes and eggplant from seed.

* Plant artichokes, asparagus and horseradish from root divisions.

* Plant potatoes from tubers and onions from sets (small bulbs). The onions will sprout quickly and can be used as green onions in March.

* From seed, plant beets, chard, lettuce, mustard, peas, radishes and turnips.

* Annuals are showing up in nurseries, but wait until the weather warms up a bit before planting. Instead, set out flowering perennials such as columbine and delphinium.

* Plant summer-flowering bulbs including cannas, calla lilies and gladiolus.

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Strawberries

Find our spring recipes here!

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

square-tomatoes-plate.jpg

Find our summer recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Muffins and pumpkin

Find our fall recipes here!