Marysville Officials Warn Costco Plant Buyers After May 21 Sharpshooter Detection Threatens California Vines
Updated
Updated · YubaNet · May 26
Marysville Officials Warn Costco Plant Buyers After May 21 Sharpshooter Detection Threatens California Vines
6 articles · Updated · YubaNet · May 26
Marysville-area agricultural officials told anyone who bought grape or citrus plants from Costco since May 21 to contact county inspectors after invasive glassy-winged sharpshooters were found on grape plants.
The leafhopper spreads Xylella fastidiosa, the bacterium behind Pierce’s disease, which kills grapevines and can also damage almond, citrus and ornamental plants.
Officials said buyers should bag grapevines in two garbage bags, avoid returning, moving or trashing the plants, and arrange inspection for citrus plants through county agriculture departments.
The warning covers planting stock for home gardens—not edible grapes—and aims to stop the pest from spreading beyond Yuba County into the Bay Area.
First detected in California in the 1990s, the sharpshooter is already established in parts of central and southern California and feeds on about 250 plant varieties.
How did an invasive pest bypass state inspections to land in Costco stores across ten counties?
Will the nursery that shipped infested plants across California face penalties for breaking quarantine laws?