The California county of Tulare now has an extra 110 square miles of quarantine zone for the pest Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), after two of the insects were caught in separate traps northwest of Ivanhoe.

A California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) release said the expansion took the total quarantine area in Tulare County to 856 square miles.

The department hinted at the possibility of another expansion later this month, after a single ACP was detected west of Exeter near the community of Farmersville.

"In addition to the developments in Tulare County, ACP quarantines remain in place in Fresno, Kern, Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties," the CDFA said.

The tough stance on ACP is because the little pests can carry the Huanglongbing (HLB), also known as citrus greening, which has devastated crops in Florida, Mexico, Central America, Brazil and elsewhere.

"All citrus and closely related species are susceptible hosts for both the insect and the disease. There is no cure once a tree becomes infected," the release said.

"The diseased tree will decline in health until it dies.  HLB has been detected just once in California – in 2012 on a single residential property in Hacienda Heights, Los Angeles County."

Photo: Jeffrey Weston Lotz, Florida Department of Agriculture, via Wikimedia Commons

www.freshfruitportal.com