How to Spot Citrus Yellow Vein Clearing Virus

Haylie Shipp

So you hear there’s a new citrus virus here in the United States that’s spread rapidly in countries such as Pakistan, India, Iran, Turkey and China. And now you just wait to see if there’s a problem, right? Probably not.

Although the finding of citrus yellow vein clearing virus happened in California, I know there are alarm bells here in the southeast. So how does the virus express itself?

Victoria Hornbaker, Director of the Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Division of the California Department of Agriculture…

“When you see a green citrus leaf that has yellow, clear veins, that’s pretty good indication that you’ve got citrus yellow vein clearing virus. What we’re seeing right now in the Valley is the trees look healthy but we do see that yellow venation. It can also look like water soaking on the back of the leaf.”

Then there’s also that word that we’ve gotten too familiar with during the pandemic: asymptomatic. She says that there are quite a few varieties that do behave that way. What’s more, the weather can be tricky…

“Once you get over 90-degrees, sustained 90-degrees, you see the symptoms and the titer, or the concentration the virus in the tree, start to fade away."

This has been part three of a multi-part look at citrus yellow vein clearing virus. Get past episodes at AgInfo.net and join us right here tomorrow for more discussion.