US (CA): State spraying for greening in Hacienda Heights
Because the disease has no known cure, its confirmed presence in the state has agricultural officials worried that it could spread to California's $2 billion commercial citrus crop. An outbreak in Florida is taking a heavy toll on that state's citrus industry.
Officials last week established a 93-square-mile quarantine zone centered over Hacienda Heights that extends south into Orange County and as far north as Baldwin Park. Citrus plants and materials may not be removed from that quarantine area.
The tree where the disease was first found was a lemon-pummelo hybrid, discovered in the garden of Mary Wang, 59. The tree has been moved already.
"They said it had huanglongbing," Wang said. "I said take it away."
Wang's front yard serves as a sort-of epicenter for control operations. State officials plan to test and treat every citrus tree within 800 meters of the home.
On Tuesday, workers were trundling along the surrounding streets in their work truck on a search-and-destroy mission. Upon spotting a citrus tree, they would fire up the truck-mounted compressor, drag out hoses and douse the tree and ground with two different pesticides intended to kill Asian citrus psyllids, an insect known to spread the disease.
Jason Barron, 38, lived in one house they stopped at. He had a large orange tree in his back yard, but wasn't concerned and didn't know much about the disease.
"I was in Vegas all weekend and I got home and I had this letter," he said, motioning to a notice about the disease still taped to his door.
In Barron's back yard, Erick Rodriguez, a state agricultural technician, was applying a pesticide to the ground around the tree, while Ricardo Munoz, an agricultural aide, sprayed the leaves of another tree with jets of pesticide.
Steve Lyle, a spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said the pesticide sprayed on the leaves will kill the psyllids immediately. The product sprayed on the ground soaks into the tree roots and provides protection for several months.
Spraying efforts are expected to continue through next week, depending on the weather, Lyle said. The treatment area could expand if infected trees or bugs are found outside the 800-meter radius currently being used. The results of testing should be known within a few days, he said.
Source: www.whittierdailynews.com
