A Little Bug Could Cause a Lot of Trouble

From Baldwin Park and West Covina south to La Habra and from El Monte east to Walnut, citrus is under quarantine. If you have an orchard – or just a backyard orange, lemon or grapefruit tree – you're not allowed to take a fruit off the property. What's at stake is nothing less than California's $2 billion citrus industry. We speak with a citrus researcher at UC Riverside and the manager of a family-owned grower in Ventura.

Abandoned Valencia orange grove west of Vero Beach, Florida

January 15, 2011 © David Karp

Tree from Hacienda Heights that tested positive for HLB

(CDFA removed it last week)

Symptomatic leaf blotches

Symptomatic leaf blotches

To learn more, contact CaliforniaCitrusThreat.org the California Department of Food and Agriculture or phone 800-491-1899

All images courtesy of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, unless otherwise noted.