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Avocado crop may be beetle invasion casualty

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BY NEIL JOHNSON

TAMPA TRIBUNE

Published: February 6, 2009

TAMPA - Holy moly, no more guacamole?

An invasive beetle moving through Florida could ravage the state's $30 million-a-year avocado industry as well as thousands of backyard trees.

In the seven years since the redbay ambrosia beetle was found in Georgia, it has moved through that state and as far south in Florida as Okeechobee County.

The beetle carries a fungus that causes a condition called laurel wilt, which is deadly to a variety of trees, including avocado, redbay, camphor and sassafras. Beetles deposit the fungus as they bore into a tree.

The beetles and their young feed on the fungus, which spreads through the tree's vascular tissue, clogging its supply of water and nutrients.

It is a rapid and merciless killer. Once infected, a tree dies in two to four weeks. And once infected, there is no way to save the tree.

In one area, researchers found 90 percent of host trees died within 18 months.

The beetle is native to Southeast Asia and likely hitchhiked to the United States in packing material or pallets. It has been found in nearly 30 counties in southeast Georgia and reached Duval County in Florida in 2005.

Since then, the beetle has expanded to nearly a dozen Florida counties.

It could reach the 7,500 acres of commercial avocado groves in Miami-Dade County in three years, maybe less. Along the way, backyard avocado trees would fall to an invader about the size of a grain of rice.

"It's not if," said Jonathan Crane, a University of Florida professor and tropical fruit crop specialist. "It's when."

Researchers think the beetle infestation can spread 20 to 30 miles a year.

That's if it doesn't get a boost from people.

In 2005, the beetle jumped from near Gainesville to Indian River County but wasn't found anywhere in between. That means people moved the bug, said Edward Evans, UF professor and agricultural economist.

It's likely someone moved wood from an infected tree, possibly for firewood.

The state Division of Forestry is asking people not to transport firewood.

Scientists see little hope of stopping the beetle's spread.

There is a fungicide that may protect redbays and other native trees, but it can cost hundreds of dollars per tree, Crane said, and injecting a poison may cause problems with the fruit.

Researchers have not found any of Florida's 30 varieties of avocado immune to the beetle's attack.

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