HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. – A deadly tree disease that has swept across Florida is threatening residential yards throughout the Tampa Bay area, putting backyard avocado trees, camphor shade trees, and native bays at risk, according to a report from Panorama Tree Care.
Laurel wilt, a lethal vascular infection caused by the fungus Raffaelea lauricola and carried by tiny wood-boring ambrosia beetles, has now been detected in all 67 Florida counties. The disease blocks the movement of water inside infected trees, causing them to wilt and die within three weeks to three months. Once a tree catches the fungus, there is no cure.
The disease was first found in the United States in 2002 near Savannah, Georgia, arriving in imported wooden packing crates. Since then, it has wiped out more than 300 million redbay trees across the Southeast. In Florida, the disease moved into central parts of the state by 2006, reached Hillsborough and Manatee counties by 2012, and caused heavy losses in Miami-Dade County’s commercial avocado groves…