California Officials Destroy 223 Grapevines After Sharpshooter Turns Up in Costco Shipments
Updated
Updated · KFSN-TV · May 28
California Officials Destroy 223 Grapevines After Sharpshooter Turns Up in Costco Shipments
11 articles · Updated · KFSN-TV · May 28
Sacramento and Napa officials destroyed 223 grapevines after the glassy-winged sharpshooter was detected in Costco-bound shipments from Burchell Nursery in Fowler around April 21.
Napa destroyed 63 of 220 delivered vines after finding one egg mass, while Sacramento inspectors destroyed more than 160 vines to keep the invasive pest from reaching commercial vineyards.
The insect itself does not harm people, but it spreads Pierce's disease — a bacterial infection that can rapidly move vine to vine and devastate vineyards.
Officials say homeowners may not notice the pest in purchased vines, raising the risk it could be carried into neighborhoods near wine-growing areas.
California already runs extensive trapping and monitoring because the sharpshooter was part of a major 2005 agricultural outbreak, underscoring the state's long-running effort to suppress the pest.
With hundreds of infested plants sold to the public, is California's biosecurity defense too reliant on consumer reporting to stop an outbreak?
As invasive pests spread via big-box stores, are screening protocols for plant suppliers fundamentally broken and in need of national overhaul?