Citrus greening disease is a disease has been around since the early 1900’s. It is starting to make a very large impact in the home landscapes of Florida.

The disease is very hard to detect. A bug called the Asian Citrus Psyllid has a bacteria on it that infects the citrus trees. I have found that Grapefruit trees are very susceptible to this disease.

The disease can go un-noticed for up to two years until it is too late. At that point there is nothing the home grower can buy to kill this bacteria.

Symptoms include: Yellowing of leaves, fruit drop, fruit remains small, and twigs die on the tree.

I have had this on my Meyer Lemon and two grapefruit trees. I noticed the yellowing of the leaves and thought that I had a problem with over watering the citrus trees. When providing to much water to citrus the leaves turn that light yellow color. After making sure to water my plants sparsely, I thought I had a minor element issue. It appeared that the tree was dying off.

It wasn’t until I was visited by the Florida Department of Agriculture until I learned that I had Citrus Greening Disease. The Florida Department of Agriculture was in my area due to a Med Fly problem (Mediterranean Fruit Fly). They recognized my problem immediately and advised this problem with the greening could wipe out the citrus industry in Florida. There is no known cure for this greening and it eventually cuts all fruit production and kills your citrus tree.

I have a picture of the leaves on a citrus tree with the greening disease at the top of this article.