Santa Barbara County is attacking the dangerous Asian citrus psyllid with a new area-wide treatment directed at commercial growers and homeowners with citrus trees. 

Working with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Committee and local growers have agreed on a plan to control the deadly pest, which can destroy citrus crops, according to the Agricultural Commissioner’s Office. 

“We all play a critical role,” said Cathy Fisher, Santa Barbara County Agricultural Commissioner.

“The best way to protect backyard citrus and the commercial citrus industry from the disease is to stop the spread of the pest.”

The agencies have adopted a psyllid management program where citrus growers apply coordinated treatments within their commercial citrus groves.

Santa Barbara County will join Ventura, Imperial and parts of Riverside and San Diego counties.

The county and the Department of Food and Agriculture have created 13 Psyllid Management Areas, where growers within those areas will participate in coordinated treatments later this month.

The county is also asking homeowners to voluntarily participate in the program. The county intends to apply a formulation of pyrethroid to the foliage of the trees and the imidacloprid insecticide to the soil beneath the trees.

The program for homeowners is voluntary, but the county is urging cooperation to help battle the pest.

The county plans a meeting with homeowners between 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Santa Barbara Ramada Lucian Room in Santa Barbara. Residents will be able to get their questions answered directly by experts in the field. 

The Asian citrus psyllid is a flying insect that transmits the huanglongbing virus to citrus trees. Trees with the disease produce bitter and deformed fruits, before eventually dying. 

The Asian citrus psyllid was first detected in California in 2008 and is now confirmed throughout much of the state, including Southern California, the Central Coast, the San Joaquin Valley and the Bay Area, according to californiacitrusthreat.org.

When the pest is found, quarantines are put in place to restrict the movement of citrus plants and plant clippings in order to limit spread of the pest.

— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.