As a result of continued efforts to trace plants infected with the citrus canker disease as well as assistance from the community, the Citrus Canker Emergency Response Team has successfully identified another plant infected with citrus canker.

Located on a residential property in Durack, this is the 14th infected plant found in the Northern Territory since the first citrus canker detection in April 2018.

The new infected plant, which was traced back to the original source of the disease, was located on the outskirts of the existing Palmerston restricted area. As a result of this detection, the boundaries for this restricted area have been amended to include an additional 281 properties.

A map of the updated Palmerston restricted area can be viewed on the citrus canker website at www.nt.gov.au/citruscanker.

Northern Territory Chief Plant Health Officer Dr Anne Walters said she was proud of the work the field teams were doing in identifying plants infected with citrus canker.

“The symptoms on this infected plant were very small and hard to see so it is great that our plant health inspectors have the skills and tools necessary to identify those symptoms,” Dr Walters said.

“All confirmed infected plants can be directly traced back to the original source which is a good indicator that there has been no natural spread of the disease.”

Anyone who has purchased or received a citrus plant since January 2017 is asked to call the citrus canker hotline on 1800 931 722 or email citruscanker@nt.gov.au to arrange for a plant health inspector to examine the plant.

“The successful eradication of citrus canker from the Northern Territory requires that industry, government and the community works together. We are asking the community to assist by reporting any citrus plants they might have purchased since January 2017, as well as by checking their citrus plants and reporting the results to the citrus canker hotline,” Dr Walters said.

The Citrus Canker Response Team will communicate directly with each new household and business in the Palmerston restricted area to coordinate surveillance of the properties and removal of citrus canker host plants.

Early detection, reporting and not moving infected plants is vital, and will offer the best chance of eradicating the citrus canker disease from the Territory.

More information on the response and maps of all the restricted areas in the NT can be found at www.nt.gov.au/citruscanker.

Media contact: Ashley Abbott 0428 040 551