Are pesky bugs munching holes through your leaves? Careful; it may be the Diaprepes root weevil.
The Caribbean beetle has forced University City into a 4-square-mile quarantine, north from the intersection of Genesee Avenue and Interstate 5 to Eastgate Mall and I-805, and south along Governor Drive, following the railroad tracks to Highway 52. The root weevil, a black beetle with orange to cream-colored markings, was discovered in the area on May 2.
The weevil is a significant threat to agriculture in San Diego County, since its larva consumes roots and the beetle eats through leaves. The weevil has 270 host plants, including citrus and ornamental plants ” San Diego County’s main crops.
Landscapers and residents are asked to contact the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) before moving nursery stock, plants, soil, sand, plant parts and products, gravel, and dying or dead plant material from the quarantine area.
Green waste from the quarantine can be disposed at the Miramar Landfill Green Waste Disposal Site, but the material should be contained in a bag or covered with a tarp.
Officials are unsure how the beetle found its way to UC, although the quarantine area is 90 percent commercial and landscapers tend to rotate their plants more often than residential areas, said Dawn Nielsen, deputy agricultural commissioner with the region’s office of Agriculture, Weights & Measures (AWM). A week ago, the weevil was also discovered in Olivenhain in San Diego, and it has also been located in Orange County and Los Angeles.
“It’s fairly localized and doesn’t like to move very much, which is very fortunate,” Nielsen said.
Little is known about the Diaprepes root weevil, but state officials are studying the insect to learn more about its biology and life cycle and to determine if an animal could control it by predation. The weevil has been found in Florida and Texas, but the difference in climate may necessitate a separate approach.
The weevil was discovered by chance when a graduate student collected it outside his apartment in San Diego and submitted it to his professor at California Polytechnic State University, leading state and county officials on a hunt for the weevil in UC, Nielsen recounted.
AWM inspects hundreds of plants and plant material that enters the county but budget cuts have chopped that service. In 2003, the department received approximately $730,000 for high-risk inspections; this year funds have fizzled to $52,000.
“We don’t do nearly the inspections that we did 10 years ago,” Nielsen said.
To contact CDFA about moving waste from the quarantine area, call (80) 491-1899.