Citrus Canker

The United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed the presence of citrus canker disease in a nursery in South Carolina. The nursery sells plants to consumers through online sales. Citrus canker causes citrus leaves and fruit to drop prematurely, and results in lesions on citrus leaves, stems and fruit. Fruit infected with the bacterium that causes citrus canker (Xanthomonas axonopodis) is safe to eat, but it may not be marketable because of the lesions. Citrus canker is not harmful to people or animals.

Together with state partners, APHIS is working to collect and destroy the plants shipped to consumers in 11 states and trace plants that were sold to determine additional locations of potentially infected plants. The states include Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington. If you live in one of the 11 states and bought citrus plants online that came from South Carolina between August 5, 2021, and February 17, 2022, please keep your plants for now. If you purchased a plant or plants that might be infected, APHIS and/or state officials will contact you in the next several days to collect and properly dispose of any plants purchased from the nursery. You can also call your local USDA office.

Effective immediately, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is removing a portion of Harris County within the Braeswood area of Houston, Texas, from citrus canker regulations. The successful partnership between APHIS and the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) has resulted in a citrus canker-free status in this area since 2016.

On May 20, 2016, APHIS confirmed the positive identification of citrus canker in two adjacent sour orange trees in a city park in the Braeswood area of Houston, in Harris County, Texas. TDA removed and destroyed both positive citrus canker trees. TDA established an intrastate quarantine area for citrus canker that paralleled the federal citrus canker regulatory requirements specified in 7 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 301.75. APHIS completed a comprehensive delimiting survey around the area and found no additional citrus trees positive for citrus canker within the survey area. The removal of this quarantine area is reflected on the APHIS website, which also contains a description of all the current federal citrus canker quarantine areas.

U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) employees in Zapata, Webb, Hidalgo, Willacy and Cameron Counties in Texas are working with the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) to inspect fruit trees in residential yards and commercial properties for signs of invasive citrus pests and diseases. Inspectors are hanging and servicing traps with lures set to combat fruit flies in those counties, while surveyors in South Texas examine citrus trees for signs of citrus canker and other diseases. These programs are a collaborative effort with TDA and the citrus industry to protect Texas citrus. APHIS asks residents and business owners to help limit the spread of citrus pests and diseases by cooperating with survey teams and allowing them to access your property for survey work.