Well why isn’t everyone compelled to be tested, Richard?
@Barkslip
I’m not sure. It’s definitely a pilot program. It’s possible that they had more volunteers than they had resources to test.
I’ve seen the insect on my citrus trees. I’ve reported to the appropriate agricultural department. They’ve responded that they’re aware the insect is in the county, but nothing else needs to be done because the bacteria has not been detected yet. My trees are thriving without issues.
@Martin
The ACP insect is ubiquitous in southern CA.
Incubation for HLB is 2-5 years.
Early detection of bacteria presence is key to controlling the disease.
Of the trees that tested positive in Ventura county by this new assay method, none showed any outward signs of infection.
… by the outdated USDA method.
The APHIS pathologists tell me that they believe a majority of southern California homeowner citrus is asymptomatic.
If the disease is as ubiquitous as you suggest, I’m not sure how they’d control it at this point.
@Martin
All diseased trees found and removed in southern CA prior to this measurement in Ventura county have been found in homeowner properties. In all cases, the tree(s) in question were traced to online sellers lacking any nursery certification – serving the desires of a public looking for cheap plants. These members of the public have also been cheap in regards to maintaining their plants, which is why we have ACP in California today.
I killed everything on my nursery stock before I shipped any of them. And shot them again in the middle of shipping. It’s illegal for me to ship to the West Coast, however;
I did my job correct.
You just have to open FB Marketplace or Craigslist and you’ll find a ton of listings for citrus trees (here in Nor. Cal) from unlicensed sellers. Even though CA has done a decent job with quarantine, the rules are not explained to public very well. CCPP raising their rates by 233% doesn’t help either.
The scary citrus sellers are in FL and TX offering plants on eBay.
@kinghat
Good.
In summary, they state: “[HLB] as a transmissible disease is full of contradictions.”
A few months ago, I called up a citrus farmer friend. By this time, it had become clear to me that HLB was not what I was told it was, or was going to become, in 2012. I didn’t know much about it, but I knew it wasn’t that. But this farmer manages large acreage and is involved in the highest levels of research discussion about HLB in California and maybe he knew secret stuff that I didn’t. Maybe he could put the worry back in me.
I asked him about many aspects of the citrus HLB situation, but none of his answers put the worry back in me, especially his answer to my last question.
“Have you personally seen, with your own eyes, a tree infected with HLB?” I asked him.
“No,” he said.
@kinghat
Mr. Alder has suspicious motivations for his statements. Nearly all my experiences with HLB are the opposite of his.
i dont know the guy. what are the “suspicious motivations”?
Restrictions on shipments of plant material.
if i had not been on citrus lists as a home grower i wouldnt know about the citrus diseases so might be ignorance or Fear . people pay alot for citrus trees get them to rooting age then find out they have to Cut them down if the tree is infested with disease . i just bought oranges from fredmeyers and im tellen ua they where the WORST EVER
This is akin to someone saying they aren’t afraid of driving without a seatbelt because they don’t see someone fly through a windshield every day.
That’s the thing about public health and epidemiology. When it works, you don’t see it working.
He also doesn’t really understand what qPCR is or does, so his entire argument is suspect:
So how exactly is a citrus tree determined “HLB positive”? According to page 33 of the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Action Plan for Asian Citrus Psyllid and Huanglongbing, “testing of plant samples for the presence of CLas [is done] using two USDA-validated multiplex TaqMan Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) tests.”
The important thing to note is that even if you grant that these PCR tests are accurate, then all you are acknowledging is that they can detect whether DNA unique to the CLas bacteria is present within a tree. Only. PCR tests do not diagnose illness, sickness, disease.