State and federal agencies have expanded California’s huanglongbing quarantined area after detections of the citrus disease.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the California Department of Food and Agriculture expanded the HLB quarantine in parts of Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, according to a news release.
The citrus disease has not been found in commercial groves, but after this most recent quarantine expansion, San Bernardino and Riverside county growers were invited to a meeting on Feb. 10 to answer questions on the mandatory protocols for growers in an HLB-quarantined area.
The 51-square mile expansion has put more than 1,275 square miles of Southern California in the HLB quarantined area, according to the Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program, which is funded by growers.
The new quarantine area links up with existing quarantines in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, according to the Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program. The first detection of HLB in San Bernardino County was in November.
The quarantine prohibits movement of all citrus nursery stock out of the quarantine area, but commercially cleaned/packed fruit citrus can, if protocols are followed. Fruit in quarantine areas that is not commercially cleaned and packed, can only be consumed on the property from which it came.
An updated map of California’s overall quarantine area for HLB is online.
Related stories:
Citrus growers continue to combat HLB
