Agricultural officials hit San Jose Wednesday, trying to retrieve about 1,300 grapevine plants purchased at Costco that may be infested by the “glassy-winged sharpshooter” insect.
Agricultural workers were once again going door-to-door, this time in San Jose, to the homes of people who bought some of the 1300 grapevine plants from Costco.
As in south county, workers are leaving bags with instructions for scheduled pickups.
“There’s a much higher density of people here who own the plants. So, we’ve got a lot more people in this area that we have to get to, to send out this information so we can get these plants back,” Associate Biologist Standards Specialist Vivian Volpe said.
The plants are being examined in a lab at the Agricultural Division offices. Researchers are looking for the glassy-winged sharpshooter, including the type of eggs observed under a microscope. The dark spots are the eyes of the insect.
The main concern is that the pest can carry “pierce’s disease”, the real danger to crops.
“It’s not just grapevines alone that they infest. They can also go to, say, a citrus, to local trees like the crape myrtle. There are myriads of different other types of plants and trees that they can infest and harbor and stay there. And then, those plants can become carriers of the disease. So, if left unchecked, they can spread and keep spreading,” Agricultural Biologist Khoi Nguyen Said.
Agricultural crews were out in Gilroy again on Wednesday collecting bags people left out after being notified Monday.
The deputy agricultural commissioner says they’re making good progress, but there will be more to do even after all the plants have been collected.
“The next phase from that would be a ‘monitoring phase’ where we would be placing glassy-winged sharpshooter traps at regular intervals throughout the county to detect any insects that would have come off of the grapevines and gotten out in the community,” SCC Deputy Agricultural Commissioner John Sorfleet said.
One person who turned in their plant was relieved.
“I was worried about all the plants. It can go around the block,” Gilroy resident Angelica Sanchez said.
It will take at least a couple of months to complete retrieving all the grapevines. The Agricultural Division is asking anyone who bought the grapevine plants but has not been contacted to please call their office.