02 December, 2019

Huanglongbing Disease Seminar - stop the Asian Citrus Psyllid!

This webinar has come to my attention and I encourage anyone who has citrus or wants citrus to register. This disease is virulent and is destroying citrus plants in California and Florida. Florida is fighting the disease with genetic modification while California has chosen to deal with it in a more sane manner. The first line of defense is knowledge and the second line is to prevent the spread of the insect that carries the disease and thus contain it while more research - hopefully - will help us understand how to deal with this VERY difficult pest on one of our most valuable crops.

If you are growing citrus now or intend to grow citrus in the future, make this a priority. Here is the UCANR post on the seminar: 


We hope by now most people have heard about and are aware of the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), a small brown insect that carries a deadly citrus disease called huanglongbing (HLB), threatening all backyard citrus trees as well as the statewide citrus industry.

This insect feeds on newly developed leaves of all varieties of citrus trees and can spread the bacteria that causes HLB. The HLB disease can kill a citrus tree in as little as 5 years and there is so far no cure or remedy.

Learn more about ACP and HLB by joining the free UC Ag Experts Talk on December 5 from 3:00pm to 4:30pm. Dr. Elizabeth Grafton-Cardwell, Director of Lindcove REC and Research Entomologist at UC Riverside, will address monitoring for these insects and the disease, as well as what Californian residents and backyard gardeners can do if they're in an HLB-infected area.


For PCAs and commercial growers, a separate webinar will take place on December 4, from 3:00pm to 4:30pm. 
https://ucanr.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DckhbNtyTcWFaES6JPloXAfor the PCA and commercial grower webinar.

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