You cannot ship or bring citrus plants into Alabama unless those trees come from an USDA certified citrus nursery with a USDA-APHIS approved screen house that does not utilize overhead irrigation and follows the USDA Citrus Nursery Stock Protocol.  Alabama has strict rules for importing citrus plants to protect the state’s citrus industry from pests and diseases. Citrus trees that come from nurseries that do not meet these requirements, cannot be shipped into Alabama.  Homeowners should only buy citrus trees from their local nursery or garden center as those trees have come from an approved source. Homeowners moving to Alabama with citrus trees, cannot bring those trees with them when they move to Alabama.

We strongly discourage homeowners from buying citrus trees from an online source, even if the website says they ship to Alabama. The same goes for buying citrus directly from an out of state nursery and having it shipped to Alabama.  If that nursery isn’t allowed to import citrus into Alabama, you shouldn’t purchase from them.  Likewise, nurseries should investigate the source for citrus trees they want to purchase before doing so. Consumers and business may contact the state department of Agriculture of the state the nursery is located to see if they are eligible to import citrus into Alabama.  Only citrus trees produced at a nursery that has a USDA-APHIS approved screen house and follows the USDA Citrus Nursery Stock Protocol is permitted to import citrus into Alabama.  Unpermitted citrus found in Alabama will be confiscated and destroyed.

No, the requirements are the same whether the destination is a homeowner, a citrus producer, or a nursery.

Yes, with some restrictions.  You can share citrus plants with local friends, family, and neighbors but you should never ship, transport, or share citrus plants (including seeds) with people who live outside of your immediate area and never move citrus plants out of a citrus quarantine area into an area that is not under the same quarantine.

You can report your concerns to your designated ADAI Agricultural inspector, the Alabama Plant Pest Administrator, or the Plant Protection division.

Federal penalties for violating quarantine regulations can range from $1,100 up to $60,000 per violation according to the USDA. State penalties can include a fine of up to $500 and may include incarceration up to 6 months in jail.  If you have a nursery certificate to sell plants, that certificate can be revoked, and you may be barred from selling any plants in Alabama.

A disease-free plant will be healthier and more productive. There is no guarantee that a healthy-looking tree is disease free but one that seems vibrant, green, and thriving is more likely to be healthy than not.  ADAI takes steps to limit the likelihood that infected trees are imported into the state.  You should ask the vendor if their citrus trees were initially grown in a facility that protected it from exposure to citrus pest and diseases, if the citrus trees came from a nursery in a quarantine area and whether they are following the federal, State, and local citrus quarantines.

That depends on what we find.  If the pest known as the Asian citrus psyllid is found, you can treat your trees with a foliar spray to treat for the pest.  You can find out what spray to use by visiting your local garden center or by contacting your Alabama Cooperative Extension Agent.  However, if one of the citrus diseases is discovered, especially citrus greening or citrus canker, those trees will need to be removed and destroyed following a specific protocol to ensure that the disease is not spread in its destruction.  The infected tree will not produce fruit that will ripen and will eventually die. If not removed, the tree will serve as an inoculum of the disease and infect all the other citrus trees that are exposed to it.  If none of the other trees test positive, they can remain but should be closely monitored for any signs of disease.  If the disease or pest were not identified by ADAI inspectors, you need to call your local Agricultural Inspector (See Map) or the Plant Protection division at the Department of Agriculture and Industries for the steps you need to take in disposing of the tree. A Representative from ADAI will need to supervise the disposal.

There is nothing you can do that will guarantee that your trees won’t be infected by a citrus disease but there are some things you can do that will lower the risk.  First, check with your local county extension agent or the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service website (www.aces.edu) for tips and information about growing citrus. Secondly, avoid overhead irrigation by using drip irrigation instead. Next, clean your tool regularly to avoid cross contamination and inspect your trees regularly for any signs of disease.  With early detection, you may be able to prune your trees to remove infected branches.  Do not use the cuttings in compost or put out as trash but bag the cuttings and call ADAI to report the discovery so they can test the suspect plant for disease.  The proper application of fungicides and pesticides can be a preventative. Ask your garden Center or Cooperative Extension agent for those recommendations.

The Citrus Nursery Stock Protocol provides standards and requirements for the interstate movement of citrus nursery stock from areas quarantined for Citrus Canker (CC), Citrus Greening (CG) and/or Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP). All interstate movement of citrus nursery stock is prohibited unless the conditions in this protocol are met.

For requirements for areas quarantined for Citrus Back Spot (CBS), please refer to CBS Federal Orders.   View the Citrus Nursery Stock Protocol (227.22 KB)

For information about Alabama’s Citrus restrictions, visit the State’s Citrus Page.

A certificate is issued by the USDA for citrus nursery stock that is eligible for interstate movement to all areas of the United States.  That citrus has been grown in a closely inspected USDA-APHIS approved screen house following Citrus Nursery Stock Protocol.  Alabama no longer issues limited permit tags.

If we are not aware of your citrus grove, you may contact us and provide us the information.  ADAI inspectors perform biannual surveys on citrus groves, nurseries, and homeowner’s citrus trees.  There is no charge for this service.

That depends if anything is found.  If a regulated disease was found on your property during our survey, a formal letter will be sent to you, provided we have your address on file.  Otherwise, we will try to contact you by any means we can to let you know.  If nothing was found, we will not contact you.

No. Detections of a citrus disease within a facility indicates a failure of the system’s approach and violates the central tenet of the protocol to “start clean and stay clean”. The facility must be cleaned and recertified after a detection of a citrus disease. Following recertification, the facility must reset with clean material from a certified source and implement an intact systems approach to be eligible to ship interstate.

Buying trees from a clean source and maintaining that they remain disease free is the best way to minimize the spread of pest and disease.  However, once the trees enter a quarantine area, unless they are kept in a USDA-APHIS approved facility, they are susceptible to the possible exposure to citrus disease or pest.  Even if the risk is very small, there is still a risk and therefore we must restrict their movement.

The signs are a measure used to inform the public that Alabama is under Federal Citrus quarantines, and it is a violation to move them out of those areas.  The signs have QR codes and websites addresses included that direct the consumer to educational information about the quarantines.  Unfortunately, other state under quarantine were not as diligent in enforcing the quarantine and allowed diseased trees to enter our state, thereby affecting our citrus industry and requiring us to now fall under those citrus quarantines.  We encourage you to use the signs as an opportunity to educate your consumer about plant pest and diseases.  The posted signs are just one step ADAI is taking to protect the citrus industry, nurseries, and homeowners.  These steps were not taken lightly nor were they taken to protect a single business but are a result of months of discussion with State and Federal regulators to safeguard the industry as a whole.  If you have suggestions as to how we can educate the public and ensure that plants do not leave a quarantine area, all while not placing a burden on business, we will be glad to entertain those ideas.

Both Georgia and Mississippi have restrictions on importing citrus from quarantine zones and from facilities that do not follow the USDA regulations for growing citrus for export.  However, regardless of what a state’s restrictions might be, Alabama prohibits the exportation of any citrus plants unless that plant has been grown in a USDA-APHIS approved screen house that follows citrus nursery stock protocol.

Moving citrus trees from a quarantine zone into an area not under quarantine is the fastest way that citrus diseases are spread. There are four serious citrus diseases found in the United States include Huanglongbing (also known as citrus greening or HLB for short), citrus canker, citrus black spot, and sweet orange scab.  Our Gulf coast counties are quarantined for three out of the four. Learn more about each disease by visiting the Citrus Survey Program page on the Alabama Department of Agriculture website.  Without proper biosecurity practices in place, when infected trees, fruit, clippings, equipment or even workers are moved to a new area, the disease comes with them. It is not just commercial citrus that is susceptible to these diseases. Homegrown citrus trees can easily become infected and spread disease.

Yes, you can but where they come from is another matter.  Trees imported into Alabama must come from a source that has produced those trees in a certified USDA-APHIS facility or purchased from an Alabama nursery within the same quarantine area you live in.  Homeowner citrus trees are still subject to regular inspections by ADAI.

The end purpose for the citrus trees doesn’t matter.  Trees that have been exposed to disease and pest pose a risk to Alabama’s citrus industry and to the many homeowners with citrus trees. It is also a risk to your investment.  The proper operation of a citrus grove can be expensive, and an outbreak of a citrus disease can result in your entire grove being condemned and destroyed. Therefore, buying your citrus from a clean source is not only practical business sense, it a state requirement.

For the same reason that you cannot move citrus from one quarantine area in Alabama to a non-quarantine area in Alabama.  Both states are recognized as citrus producing states and can only import citrus trees that have been grown in USDA-APHIS approved structures from certified clean stock. Producing citrus trees for interstate commerce is very expensive and citrus trees grown in the majority of the nurseries found in these states, do not meet the criteria for interstate commerce, therefore it is illegal to move or transport citrus from one citrus producing state to another citrus producing state if that nursery does not meet the strict USDA Citrus Nursery Stock Protocol.  There is no distinction between a commercial entity transporting the trees or a homeowner.

Different parts of Alabama are under different citrus quarantines.  It is illegal to move trees out of a quarantine area into an area not under the same quarantine.

You can purchase your citrus from an approved citrus nursery that is certified to import citrus into Alabama or you can purchase your citrus from an Alabama nursery that is in the same citrus quarantine area as the one you live in. You can view the Citrus quarantine maps found on the citrus page on the Plant Protection website.  Basically, if you live in any one of Alabama’s 67 counties, you can purchase citrus from any nursery in any of those counties except for Baldwin or Mobile counties.  Nurseries in Mobile may only sell citrus to residence in Mobile and Baldwin counties while nurseries in Baldwin may only sell to those that live in Baldwin.  There is one noted exception.  One Baldwin County nursery has a USDA-APHIS approved screen house that permits them to export out of Baldwin County.  Your safest bet is to buy your citrus from a trusted local nursery or Garden Center in your area.  If you wish to purchase citrus from out of state, the nursery you buy from must have a USDA-APHIS approved facility and follow USDA Citrus Nursery Stock Protocol.  Those nurseries are always changing so you will need to inquire about their status before you purchase your citrus trees.

The devastating citrus disease, Citrus Canker, was only a problem in the southern part Florida in 1995. In 2004 four hurricanes swept through the state and when it was over, citrus canker was found in nearly every corner of Florida. While other citrus diseases are spread by pest, Citrus Canker is driven by wind and rain. Research has shown that the disease from one area was found over 50 miles away after a storm passed over the area. If a citrus tree was exposed to a citrus disease, then was purchased and moved before it showed signs of the disease, it could potentially threaten unexposed trees, miles away before anyone suspected there was a problem.