It just so happened that tonight on CBS news there was a story about citrus greening which now affects about half of the citrus trees in Florida.  The fruit never ripens and the tree eventually dies.  The bug that carries this disease was imported in 1998 so that is not long ago.  It is so serious some people are saying you might someday kiss that glass of orange juice in the morning goodbye.  There is currently no cure for citrus greening.  The disease has spread to many citrus growing states.  It's easy to take lightly getting the plant you really want but at what cost.  I wonder how many people are employed by the citrus industry alone?

Well that's terrible news for California too!  Huge citrus industry.  Many growers here in Southern and Central California.  YIKES!  Where did the bug come from?  China?  Just curious.

Bummer!

I read today that out of country growers are not spraying their fruit imports as much with insecticides as people are complaining so much.and not buying as much. Only problem was a man bought grapes , opened the bag at home to wash and found a black wdiow spider!

Pattee, that is the WORST thing about having a vineyard.  Many spiders and assorted insects hide in those clusters!  Freaks me out!  Never found a black widow in a cluster, but they lurk in the woodpile, under the BBQ Island, and any dark place they can find.  JD has them under control with this spider spectracide stuff you get at Lowes.

I'm more worried about the citrus.  This is a very sad thing.

Suzi

[QUOTE=DesertDance]Well that's terrible news for California too!  Huge citrus industry.  Many growers here in Southern and Central California.  YIKES!  Where did the bug come from?  China?  Just curious.

Bummer![/QUOTE]Citrus greening, also called Huanglongbing or yellow dragon disease, is one of the more serious diseases of citrus. This bacterial disease is thought to have originated in China in the early 1900s. The disease is primarily spread by two species of psyllid insects. One species, the Asian citrus pysllid, Diaphorina citri, has been present in Florida since 1998. The bacteria itself is not harmful to humans but the disease has harmed trees in Asia, Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Brazil. There are three strains of the bacteria, an Asian, an African version, and a recently described American strain discovered in Brazil.

The Asian strain, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus was found in Florida in early September, 2005. To respond to the problem, USDA, APHIS, PPQ and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services deployed a Unified Command under the Incident Command Structure, and delimiting survey crews are working in southern Florida to define the extent of the problem.

Wow found in Florida in 2005 .So I wonder if they know how it got here.  Was it brought in from legal imports of fruits like the black widow spider or otherwise ?

I agree with TMC2009 100% if I understand what you are trying to tactfully say here. I have been biting my lip a lot of recent, not wanting to offend folks but when I read of people just ignoring laws that are in place for reasons just like this it upsets me. I was ignorant and tried to make international trade prior to reading here that it was prohibited so I am guilty as well as ignorance is not an excuse. It bothers me when I read right in the same thread discussing regulations people seem to be saying I will do it anyway, or saying “don’t say we can’t do it, because we do”.  Yes you do, and most likely the material will arrive undetected and without carrying any harmful pest or disease, but that is how things like this spread, and with world commerce and trade what it is it’s probably just a matter of time, until every pest or disease that can survive in your environment shows up there, but I don’t want to speed that up personally. I hope no one takes this personally, but I have been thinking the whole importation risk over a lot of recent, and I am not just discussing international, but within states as well. The regulations may seem overboard at times, and in some cases may be but they are still in place

I have 17 varieties of citrus in ground and greening does worry me.  A citrus grove about 4 miles from me has the greening but so far my trees are fine.  Luckily nobody close to me has citrus so maybe I will avoid it for awhile.

If the citrus greening is a bacteria, something like a Phage may help.  In tomatoe greenhouses Bacterial canker can cause a big concern, it is in Canada and Mexico.  Where ever outdoor tomatoe fields are there is a very big possibility that there is canker in them and it can be spread by being dust blowing away.  For each variation of the canker they can make a phage that is biological and can kill the bacteria, although it is costly and must be applied repeatedly.  While it is a big problem there may be solutions to slow the spread or eliminate it so I hope these things are able to help the citrus industry.

Learned a new word today.

Phage:  A virus that is parasitic (reproduces itself) in bacteria.

"phage uses the bacterium's machinery and energy to produce more phage until the bacterium is destroyed and phage is released to invade surrounding bacteria"