Federal and state agriculture officials have expanded the citrus black spot (CBS) quarantine area in Florida. They have added four sections in Collier County and five sections in Glades County. The action was taken by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) in cooperation with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Division of Plant Industry (FDACS DPI).
APHIS expanded the quarantine area because of confirmed detections of Phyllosticta citricarpa (formerly known as Guignardia citricarpa), the causal agent of CBS, during annual surveys conducted during the 2021 growing season by APHIS and FDACS DPI. APHIS is applying safeguarding measures and restrictions on the interstate movement, or entry into foreign trade, of regulated articles from the quarantine area as outlined in Federal Order DA-2012-09.
In 2010, CBS was first identified in Collier and Hendry counties in Florida. The disease is currently confined to portions of six counties in Southwest Florida.
Fresh citrus fruit moved interstate from the CBS quarantine areas must be processed using APHIS-approved methods and packed in commercial citrus packinghouses operating under a compliance agreement with APHIS. APHIS prohibits the movement of any other citrus plant parts outside the quarantine area.
APHIS will publish a description of this CBS quarantine area expansion at this website. The website contains a description of all the current CBS quarantine areas, federal orders and APHIS-approved packinghouse procedures.
Additional information regarding the CBS program may be obtained from Shailaja Rabindran, APHIS director of specialty crops and cotton pests, at 301-851-2167.
Citrus black spot reduces fruit quantity and quality. All commercial cultivars are susceptible, but late-maturing cultivars and lemons are most vulnerable.
Learn more here about CBS in Florida, including scouting and management suggestions from University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences plant pathologist Megan Dewdney.
Source: USDA APHIS
