Apr 21

The World’s MOST WANTED BUG! Have you seen the Asian Citrus Psyllid?

You may remember hearing that the Asian Citrus Pysllid was found recently in Hacienda Heights (suburb of the San Gabriel Valley in LA County) generating renewed concern about the possible spread of the devastating and incurable citrus disease, Huanglongbing or Citrus Greening Disease which could desecrate our 1.2 BILLION dollar citrus industry in California as it has in Florida. First arriving in the U.S. in Florida in 1998 (not detected until 2005), Huanglongbing originated in Asia and identified in China as early as 1919. The history of this disease is long and its effect devastating.

UC Davis just released this helpful infographic…

Very interesting and Informative Video from UC Riverside on how our experts are fighting to combat this disease:

Here are other great resources on this disease and what to do when you see it in your yard

Center for Invasive Species Research – UC Riverside

USDA’s Save Our Citrus App for Iphone and Ipad helps you ID HLB

USDA’s Map of Affected Areas in the US

Save Our Citrus Facebook page

How to Report Citrus Physllid Sighting in Your Yard

This disease is found across the globe…

Asia – it is now found from southern Japan and Indonesia in the east, westwards to
Pakistan, as well as in Saudi Arabia, Mauritius, Reunion and most recently in Papua New Guinea.

Africa – now occurs at higher cooler elevations throughout eastern and southern Africa, and in Yemen and the Indian Ocean islands.

South America– The citrus pysllid has been present in Brazil for many years but HLB was only confirmed there in 2004. Argentina, Costa Rica

Mexico

U.S.

Micronutrient Deficiency Can Look Like HLB Infection – Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California.