Richard

As many of you know, last year I started a small nursery business in San Diego county (CA). A few months later, an independent nursery about 15 miles away decided to import some plants from a Florida grower going out of business. And of course, since they plants were really cheap why bother with the hassle of the phyto-sanitary certificate? So a month later the Asian Citrus Psyllid shows up on a routine inspection at that nursery and a quarantine was enacted on a majority of the county. This meant that to sell Citrus plants, I have to spray them every 6 weeks with Cyfluthrin and give them a soil drench of Imidacloprid every 90 days.

Understandably, the price of Citrus plants at many nurseries here went up due to the increased costs. So earlier this year a homeowner 5 miles from me is vacationing in Mexico and notices that the price of Citrus trees there is dirt cheap. He decides to smuggle a Mandarin orange tree across the border (through the Ag check station). Consequently, last month a pest inspector finds a Mediterranean Fruit Fly population in a park near the home and ultimately the source is discovered. This triggers a second quarantine in my area -- not just on Citrus but on numerous fruiting plants. This means that to sell these fruiting plants, all fruit must be removed -- which is a daily chore on plants like chillis. Further, fruit that originates in this quarantine area (my home included) can not be sold or distributed unless the plants have received 3 periodic soil drenches with Diazinon.

The next fun pest will be the Cherry Vinegar Fruit Fly which has destroyed over 40% of this years cherry crop in central California. I just can't wait ...

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