Comments on: Santa Ana area quarantined for citrus-attacking insect

By: Marcus Wilson

Marcus Wilson — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 02:04:13 +0000

I got all excited about this one. At first I thought it was a story about the vermin who work for and run the city.

By: Pat Brennan, green living, environment editor

Pat Brennan, green living, environment editor — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:52:19 +0000

I’m really glad to see such a lively discussion on this but please remember, no personal attacks on other commenters.

By: Jane Delahoyde

Jane Delahoyde — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:10:45 +0000

This bug in particular attacks citrus trees – lem, lime, orange, grapefruit, mandarins, kumquats, murraya (curry leaf), najaro jazmin, etc…any and all. Orange Jasmine (mock orange) is one of its favorites. Check yards in most So Cal homes, and you’re likely to find a citrus variety. The bug is hard bodied, and a strong flier. It’s the size of an aphid, and reproduces like aphid, meaning it doesn’t have to breed to have babies. The populations escalate exponentially. It has mouthparts like a syringe. It pierces the plant and drinks the juice like a mosquito. Like a mosquito that spreads malaria, if it bites a diseased tree, everything it feeds on after that, it will spread the disease to. The death in baby trees takes months, in mature trees, years. It is very hard to see if the tree is diseased – the symptoms look like nutrition deficiency. Trees can have the disease and not show symptoms. This is why the industry is freaking out. Besides the fact that most citrus taste great and are a healthy food source, the citrus industry is a multi billion dollar business for the US providing thousands of jobs. That’s why the state is putting traps out. Hopefully people will look and call their counties if they see this pest. It’s devastating if you love oranges, lemons, mandarins, etc. like I do.

By: Emily

Emily — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:08:49 +0000

We received a mailer regarding these bugs, and called several times for someone to come check our tree. No one EVER called us back. Must not be that important to save the trees.

By: gemstar

gemstar — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:08:26 +0000

including yourself!

By: Sandra

Sandra — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:01:26 +0000

Great.. Now I have to worry about My trees..
they need to do a better Job Control what Plants come in and out of
the Country…

By: Tustin Guy

Tustin Guy — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:57:28 +0000

Will they expand the testing into other areas? Can those of us with citrus plants volunteer to be tested or monitoring stations set up?

By: Robin

Robin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:03:28 +0000

Only in Santa Ana. The next thing we will hear is a UFO sighting from there. lol

By: Bruja 68

Bruja 68 — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:42:23 +0000

I live in an unincorporated area & they hang stuff on this or that tree sometimes, but never follow up on it. Why bother if you’re not going to follow up? Someone even hung a type of glass bottle jar, but never came back to check it.

By: Check That

Check That — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:37:37 +0000

Can you give a little more detail as to why they have bug traps and what bugs they are trying to find and why they are trying to find them? It doesn’t seem like Santa Ana is a huge agricultural area. I could understand if they were trapping bugs in the Coachella Valley or places like Delano or Modesto or Santa Maria, but why Santa Ana?

Please add some details.