Florida Officials Find More Canker

Florida inspectors have found three canker-infected citrus trees just outside Cape Coral’s canker quarantine zone, and now they’ll probably expand the zone to engulf about 1,000 more houses, state officials said Tuesday, Nov. 18.

The new find means about 1,700 more citrus trees on 648 properties could face the chain saw, noted Michael Barnes, who heads the state canker eradication program in Southwest Florida.

It also means the 5-square-mile quarantine zone hasn’t kept all canker from leaking out.

“This is not unexpected, but it is disappointing,” Barnes said Tuesday night. “Anytime you find more citrus canker, it’s a disappointment. It means the disease has spread farther than we’ve detected. It also means the canker wasn’t contained.”

A decision to expand the quarantine zone could be made next week, Barnes said.

The move will widen the quarantine zone in a 3,800-feet radius from 4901 Seville Court, where the new infected trees were found, Barnes observed. The state agriculture department plans to step up its inspections of lawn-care workers, considered the likely reason for the recent spread of canker, said Mark Fagan, a spokesman with the state agriculture department.

The quarantine requires lawn workers to spray down with antibacterial mist after every yard.

More than 4,500 cankerous or canker-exposed trees have been chopped in Cape Coral since August 2002.

Citrus canker isn’t harmful to humans, but it blemishes fruit and causes premature fruit drop. The bacterial disease is considered a threat to the state’s citrus industry.

Source: The News-Press