The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has announced that it is expanding the areas quarantined for Huanglongbing (HLB; Citrus Greening) in California with immediate effect.

HLB, which is spread by the Asian citrus psyllid (diaphorina citri) (ACP) transmitting bacteria to the tree while feeding on new shoots, is the most serious citrus disease and has been present in Florida since 1998.

More recently, it was detected in samples of plant tissue collected from several locations during routine surveys in California. As a result, APHIS has decided to take action in collaboration with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).

APHIS will connect parts of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, merging CDFA HLB quarantine boundaries thus creating a single HLB quarantine.

In addition, APHIS is establishing a quarantine in a portion of San Diego County, and expanding Quarantine area already existing there.

There is no cure for HLB and all commercial varieties of citrus are susceptible. Therefore, in citrus-producing areas with low or no HLB incidence, early detection and removal of infected trees, as well as control of the ACP vector, is critical to preventing the spread of the disease to non-infested areas of the US. Maintain productive citrus.

APHIS is implementing safeguards on the interstate movement of regulated articles from isolated areas in California. These measures are in parallel with the intrastate quarantine established by the CDFA. like the whole state FloridaLouisiana, Georgia, Texas, among others, are currently in quarantine.

Specific changes to quarantined areas in California are attached and can also be viewed at: http://www.afis.usda.gov/plant-health/citrus-greening