The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced Oct. 1 that it was expanding the citrus greening (also known as huanglongbing or HLB) quarantined area in California.
APHIS is adding 155 square miles to the quarantined Murrieta area of Riverside and San Diego counties. This expansion impacts 125.6 acres of commercial citrus. The agency expanded the quarantined area in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).
APHIS is taking this action because plant tissue samples from residential properties tested positive for Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, the bacterium that causes citrus greening. This quarantine expansion parallels CDFA’s intrastate quarantine established on Sept. 11…