Citrus Disease Emergency Proclamation
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has declared an emergency for twenty-seven cities and communities in Orange County, including the City of Cypress due to the presence of a citrus disease, huanglongbing (HLB), in citrus tree tissue and/or the insect vector, Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP).
HLB is one of the most devastating citrus diseases in the world and is spread by ACP as they feed on host plants.
What are the Symptoms?
Symptoms of HLB include yellow shoots with mottling and chlorosis of the leaves, misshapen fruit, fruit that does not fully color, and fruit that has a very bitter, rancid taste, which makes it inedible for human consumption. These symptoms often do not appear until a minimum of two years after infection, making this disease particularly difficult to contain and suppress.
What is CDFA doing?
Unless emergency action is taken to remove sources of the HLB inoculum and disrupt the ACP life cycle, there is high potential for sudden future detections of ACP in Orange County and transmission of HLB to other areas.
CDFA will be taking immediate action, inspecting and treating all host plants on properties within a 50 to 15-meter radius of each current and future detection site. All plants found to be positive for the disease shall be destroyed. Infected plants shall be removed.
Residents shall be notified in writing at least 48 hours in advance of any treatment in accordance with the Food and Agricultural Code (FAC), sections 5771-5779.
Following the treatment, completion notices are left with the residents detailing post-treatment precautions.
For any questions related to this program, please contact the CDFA toll-free telephone number at 800-491-1899 for assistance.
Read the full CDFA release HERE.