Citrus greening disease epidemic getting USDA help

Citrus greening is an incurable bacterial disease that is not harmful to humans, but clogs a tree's vascular system, prevents fruit from maturing and eventually kills the tree. The disease is spread by a tiny insect known as the Asian citrus psyllid.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-11-scientist-ignites-orange-revolution-citrus.html#jCp


The U.S. Department of Agriculture will announce Thursday that it's creating an "emergency response framework" to battle citrus greening.
It will gather various groups, agencies and experts to coordinate and focus federal research on fighting the disease.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/12/citrus-greening-disease-usda_n_4431741.html

I'll have to keep an eye out for these nasties. But if they think that they can graze my citrus undisturbed, there are going to be a few thousand Argiope aurantia hatching over the next few weeks to change that idea.

John Elliott wrote:I'll have to keep an eye out for these nasties. But if they think that they can graze my citrus undisturbed, there are going to be a few thousand Argiope aurantia hatching over the next few weeks to change that idea.

I haven't heard of any effective natural defense against HLB, Do you think the garden spiders might have some effect?


personally, I'm hoping my isolation from normal citrus production areas will keep my handful of potted and in-ground trees safe.
I think monocropping of citrus is one of the main vectors of this disease.

I looked those psyllids up on Wikipedia and they kind of sound like jumping aphids. Wiki also listed some wasps as natural predators, but the psyllids may be thriving in Florida because the local predators haven't caught onto them yet and they have escaped their native predators in China. However, the number of little teeny spiderlings that emerge from just one egg sac can cover a whole tree and they are looking for any bug they can sink their fangs into.