Kim Wharton
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I am an outgoing person who love nature. And so i do plenty outdoor activities.
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flesh eating bacteria
Man Has Weird Round Spots On Finger - When The Doctors See It They Call The Cops When Mark first noticed the strange holes in his thumb, he freaked out completely. He had no idea what could have possibly caused this or how potentially dangerous this was, but he soon learns he went to the doctor that very afternoon. But when that man took a look at it, the message for Mark was not good. The doctor called the police immediately after determining what was going on. Mark was just left without any explanation. The doctor had done some tests on him and after seeing the results, he immediately informed the police and ran out of the room, leaving him behind. Mark was starting to panic now, as he now felt how serious this probably was. And when he found out that the doctor had locked the door on him, peter started to see red. He started banging against the door with his full weight, trying to break it open, and with a couple of hits, it gave way. He was now facingtoface with the doctors that had locked him in. The doctor was now forced to give Mark an explanation as to what he had discovered. And upon hearing it, Peter collapsed onto the floor. What were these holes in Mark's fingers? And why did the police need to get involved here? Before we go on like this video, smash the subscribe button and click the notification bell. Let's proceed with the video. Mark didn't notice anything wrong when he woke up. It seemed like any other morning he had gotten up and shuffled to the kitchen to make his coffee. He didn't even notice anything wrong while he made the coffee until he was about to pour it into his cup when he saw it and he was ready to scream. 40 year old Mark was a single man he had dated in the past, but it had just never gone well. He hoped that this time it would be different. He'd spent a lot of time preparing for the date. He really wanted it to go well and it would be the first time they'd meet in person. But not everything would go to plan. He'd met the woman online and knew it was a long shot, but he met up with her. The date was nothing extraordinary. She really didn't seem that interested, and he wasn't sure yet if he wanted to see her again. But the next morning, he was sure he didn't. After all, what was beyond strange? He didn't want to pull her into it when he didn't even know what was going on. Mark discovered that there was something strange about his thumb. It ate a bit, but it wasn't until he looked closely at it that he saw exactly why his thumb was hurting and it scared the living daylights out of him. What was happening to him? Mark's thumb was covered in tiny holes. He thought that maybe something had stuck to his thumb, but bringing it closer to him, he saw that the holes were digging into his skin. He pressed on it with his other fingers, and it hurt a bit more. Something was very clearly wrong. But what? Marks thought a bit. Maybe some insect had bitten him or even crawled into him. Maybe it had latched onto his thumb in the night. But he'd never seen a bug do anything like this. Mark searched online and came to the conclusion that no bug had done this. It had to be something worse. The more Mark looked at his thumb, the more confused he became. These weren't just tiny holes. There was something inside the holes. He couldn't make it out, but he was sure there was something else there. The holes were hard, and whatever inside was too. He needed to do something, and he had just the idea. Mark decided that he was going to try and dig out whatever it was in his thumb with Tweezers. He went to the bathroom and pulled out his Tweezers. But before he could dig into his thumb, he hesitated. He didn't really have any idea what he was dealing with. Doing this could make it even worse. But he still had to do something. Mark didn't like doctors. He preferred to take care of things by himself. He rarely would go unless something was severely bad. And as much as he hated the idea of going to the doctor, he knew that this wasn't something he should take care of by himself. So he took the leap and called the doctor. The doctor's office set up a semiemmergency appointment for that same afternoon. They told him that there would be others ahead of him, but they would definitely see him by the end of the day at the latest. In the meantime, the doctor told Mark that he needed to do something for him. The doctor told Peter that he needed to think about anything that was different recently that could have caused this. Anything out of the ordinary. It would greatly help the doctor figure out what exactly was wrong. Mark agreed to think about it and hung up the phone. What could have done this? He didn't really know. Mark thought back over the last week. He hadn't really done anything too out of the ordinary. He went on a hike through the forest a couple days ago. He easily could have touched something out there before. Maybe a mushroom or a contaminated piece of moss. That could definitely be an option. Maybe. As Mark continued thinking the hike didn't make that much sense. Surely other people had gone hiking on that same trail. It was a popular route. He wouldn't be the first person to be experiencing this. There'd have to be other signs. He decided to rule it out as an answer. But there had to be something else. It was difficult to think of anything that was out of routine. Mark was an average guy. He didn't do much except hike occasionally and go to the local coffee shop. He worked from home and didn't go outside that much. He really was a boring person. But then it hit him there was something else that was out of the ordinary. Mark had gone on the date the night before. He'd been talking with the woman online for a while and had eventually decided to go on a date. Mark had been excited to try out dating again. He still hadn't found his soul mate and was hoping that this date would go well. Things would end up taking an unexpected turn. From the moment the date began, peter felt like something was off about the woman. She didn't really seem interested in him. It was almost like she despised him. But as soon as he would start thinking that she'd do something, that showed that she was invested. It was just a strange date. But there was something more. Thinking back, Mark wasn't sure why she'd even contacted him in the first place. Looking through his messages with her, he could see more and more that she didn't really like him. He'd just been a bit desperate and wasn't thinking clearly. Could she have something to do with all of this? Mark couldn't see how she'd have anything to do with this. They hadn't gotten physical at all and he hadn't contacted her since last night. She had not messaged him either. If she had done something, wouldn't she have said something? Mark was not sure, but it was time for his appointment. He had to go. Mark had no clue what was going on with his thumb when he left for his appointment. He continued to think while driving to the doctor's office, but he came up with nothing. Luckily, the holes on his thumb didn't seem to be changing too much. They'd grown a bit bigger and were more obvious to the eye now. But it wasn't that bad, right? He got to the doctor's office and sat in his car for a second, trying to come up with any more answers. Mark really couldn't think of anything else. With a deep breath to calm his nerves, Mark walked into the doctor's office and signed in. He figured he'd have to wait a long time to see the doctor. But people had different plans. While in the waiting room at the doctor's office, Mark was getting a ridiculous amount of attention. At this point. The holes in his thumb were very plain to see and everyone around him was shocked by what they were seeing. Mark did not notice too much until the rest of the people's curiosity became increasingly obvious. The other people in the office did not try to hide their curiosity. The few kids there wanted to go look, but their parents held them back still. It was as if everyone forgot why they were there with their own medical complaints. Everybody wanted to know what was happening with him. To be fair, so did Mark. It was then that the doctor came out to call in the next patient. Everyone there collectively agreed that Mark should be seen first. None of their problems were serious, but Marks clearly was. Mark was a bit put off by this, but thanked them nonetheless. It was concerning, but surely he could wait. The doctor did not agree. Once inside his office, the doctor was able to take a proper look at Mark's thumb and he was shocked. He had never seen anything like this. He would remember if he had. Something like this was not something you just forgot. In addition, even more, the doctor hadn't even heard of anything like this in his medical books. He was clueless. The doctor knew that this was going to take some time. He made a few calls to have his waiting patients sent to other doctors on call. Mark needed his attention the most and he was going to make sure that they were going to find a cure for whatever was going on here. The doctor ordered tests for Mark and while they waited for the results, he studied Mark's thumb intensely. The strange thing was that while earlier Mark had felt some pain, he did not anymore. His whole thumb was completely numb. It did not even hurt when the doctor pushed on it. This was a bad sign. The doctor continued to investigate Peter's thumb and when he got the first results back, he was disappointed. The tests he had ordered had not found anything yet. There were still some others he could have done, but he needed Mark's permission. It would take up a lot of Mark's time. What would he do? Mark agreed to the tests, and while they waited for those results, the doctor, who still had not found anything helpful, posted a few pictures of Mark's thumb on a medical forum. He was hoping that some other doctor had seen something like this before. It would be a while before they got any response. Mark decided that he needed some air and went to use the bathroom. While he was gone, the doctor received a private message from the forum. He opened it eagerly, hoping that it was the answer he had been seeking. In addition, to his luck, it was. But it was also terrible, terrible news, and everything would have to change fast. Another doctor had indeed seen this condition before and if they did not do something soon, it could turn into a very big problem for everyone, including Mark. The doctor read the message again and again and knew that if this other doctor was right, that he needed to take quick action. Mark's doctor waited for the results, which came in almost immediately after he'd read the message from the forum. This was it. He had the results and it chilled him to the bone. The other doctor had been right. Mark's doctor left his office and soon the whole place was upside down. Mark returned from the bathroom. His thumb was not looking good. The holes were starting to spread to the rest of his hand. He was getting really scared. Now. But he knew he had to show the doctor. There was just one problem. The doctor wasn't in his office when Mark got back. What was he to do? Mark was just deciding what to do when he heard something happen behind him. The door he'd just come through had been locked from the outside. He had been trapped in here. And to make things even worse, he could hear the doctor telling others that he had called the police what was happening. Mark begged for an explanation through the door, but no one was talking to him. All the nurses and doctors were frantically talking to each other and nobody was answering his questions. All he was told was that he needed to stay calm until the police arrived. But this was good enough for Mark. Nervous and scared, the staff's reaction to his thumb was really starting to worry him. What was so wrong? Was he going to die? A million thoughts were running through his head. He tried to stay home, but that was becoming impossible. Mark did not want to die. Soon enough, those fears were turned into anger. Why was nobody talking to him? With no other idea, Mark began to kick at the door. He was desperate to get out. The doctors on the other side were yelling at him to stop, but Mark couldn't hear them over his own banging. He was determined to get out. After a few kicks, the door lock broke and the door swung wide open. The people on the other side started screaming and Peter's doctor stood back. Mark stood there panting hard. It hadn't been easy to kick the door open, but he needed answers and someone had to tell him what was going on right now. Mark's doctor ordered everyone else to get away and told Peter to stay back. He shouldn't get close to anyone right now. The fear on his doctor's face told Mark everything he needed to know about his fate. But Mark was determined. He told them that he wouldn't stay back unless they gave him answers. Before his doctor could speak, three armed officers came into the building and spotted Mark. The doctor pointed at Mark and started screaming at him. All three officers took out their pistols and aimed them carefully at Mark, who was feeling faint. Now. What the heck was going on? Mark quickly threw his hands up into the air as the police turned their attention to him. He almost had tears in his eyes and he begged them all to just tell him what was going on. Seeing that the holes on Mark's thumb had taken up almost half of his hand now, the police told him to stay back. One of the officers calmly explained to Mark that they would tell him everything, but he needed to be isolated immediately. Mark agreed to the terms, but firmly told them that he wouldn't hesitate to break open another door to get answers. He was terrified and no one was telling him anything. Mark went back into the doctor's office and the door was closed after him. Mark could see the staff coming in with heavy cleaning materials and they started cleaning everything. The floors, the walls, the door, you name it. Finally, the doctor came to the door to tell Mark what was going on. His doctor firstly apologized for not telling Mark what was happening. He'd been scared. It wasn't every day that a person with an awful flesh eating virus came in and he had to follow procedures that he'd never had to do before. He felt awful. But there was more. He discussed with Mark what he'd been doing the day before. Mark had taken a hike and then had gone on a date that night. Luckily for Mark, the bad date hadn't been the cause of all of this. Instead, it was more likely that he touched some infected plant while out on his hike. But which one? Mark wasn't sure what to tell them. He told the police and his doctor which route he'd taken and what he'd seen that might be helpful. He didn't know what else he could do. He was focused more on what the treatment plan was. Could they even treat him? Or would this virus eat his hand off? Luckily for Mark, the hospital had the medication they needed. But he'd have to be in isolation for a while. The police had gotten involved because they had needed to talk to Mark about his height. But when they'd seen him out of the isolated room, they had panicked because his doctor had panicked. It was a big mess, but there was more. They also had to make sure that no one else would get infected. Mark was transported safely to a better hospital, where he could be in isolation and get treatment for the virus eating his hand away. Fortunately, the medication paused the virus from spreading and within a few days, it started reversing the problem. But what about the plant? The officers had kept everyone off of the trail and after some heavy searching, had found a plant that wasn't native to the area. It was tested and found to be the cause of Peter's problem. It was uprooted and disposed of. There haven't been any cases since. And within a month, Peter was completely better and ready to go on dates again. What do you think of this story?Man Has Weird Round Spots On Finger - When The Doctors See It They Call The Cops When Mark first noticed the strange holes in his thumb, he freaked out completely. He had no idea what could have possibly caused this or how potentially dangerous this was, but he soon learns he went to the doctor that very afternoon. But when that man took a look at it, the message for Mark was not good. The doctor called the police immediately after determining what was going on. Mark was just left without any explanation. The doctor had done some tests on him and after seeing the results, he immediately informed the police and ran out of the room, leaving him behind. Mark was starting to panic now, as he now felt how serious this probably was. And when he found out that the doctor had locked the door on him, peter started to see red. He started banging against the door with his full weight, trying to break it open, and with a couple of hits, it gave way. He was now facingtoface with the doctors that had locked him in. The doctor was now forced to give Mark an explanation as to what he had discovered. And upon hearing it, Peter collapsed onto the floor. What were these holes in Mark's fingers? And why did the police need to get involved here? Before we go on like this video, smash the subscribe button and click the notification bell. Let's proceed with the video. Mark didn't notice anything wrong when he woke up. It seemed like any other morning he had gotten up and shuffled to the kitchen to make his coffee. He didn't even notice anything wrong while he made the coffee until he was about to pour it into his cup when he saw it and he was ready to scream. 40 year old Mark was a single man he had dated in the past, but it had just never gone well. He hoped that this time it would be different. He'd spent a lot of time preparing for the date. He really wanted it to go well and it would be the first time they'd meet in person. But not everything would go to plan. He'd met the woman online and knew it was a long shot, but he met up with her. The date was nothing extraordinary. She really didn't seem that interested, and he wasn't sure yet if he wanted to see her again. But the next morning, he was sure he didn't. After all, what was beyond strange? He didn't want to pull her into it when he didn't even know what was going on. Mark discovered that there was something strange about his thumb. It ate a bit, but it wasn't until he looked closely at it that he saw exactly why his thumb was hurting and it scared the living daylights out of him. What was happening to him? Mark's thumb was covered in tiny holes. He thought that maybe something had stuck to his thumb, but bringing it closer to him, he saw that the holes were digging into his skin. He pressed on it with his other fingers, and it hurt a bit more. Something was very clearly wrong. But what? Marks thought a bit. Maybe some insect had bitten him or even crawled into him. Maybe it had latched onto his thumb in the night. But he'd never seen a bug do anything like this. Mark searched online and came to the conclusion that no bug had done this. It had to be something worse. The more Mark looked at his thumb, the more confused he became. These weren't just tiny holes. There was something inside the holes. He couldn't make it out, but he was sure there was something else there. The holes were hard, and whatever inside was too. He needed to do something, and he had just the idea. Mark decided that he was going to try and dig out whatever it was in his thumb with Tweezers. He went to the bathroom and pulled out his Tweezers. But before he could dig into his thumb, he hesitated. He didn't really have any idea what he was dealing with. Doing this could make it even worse. But he still had to do something. Mark didn't like doctors. He preferred to take care of things by himself. He rarely would go unless something was severely bad. And as much as he hated the idea of going to the doctor, he knew that this wasn't something he should take care of by himself. So he took the leap and called the doctor. The doctor's office set up a semiemmergency appointment for that same afternoon. They told him that there would be others ahead of him, but they would definitely see him by the end of the day at the latest. In the meantime, the doctor told Mark that he needed to do something for him. The doctor told Peter that he needed to think about anything that was different recently that could have caused this. Anything out of the ordinary. It would greatly help the doctor figure out what exactly was wrong. Mark agreed to think about it and hung up the phone. What could have done this? He didn't really know. Mark thought back over the last week. He hadn't really done anything too out of the ordinary. He went on a hike through the forest a couple days ago. He easily could have touched something out there before. Maybe a mushroom or a contaminated piece of moss. That could definitely be an option. Maybe. As Mark continued thinking the hike didn't make that much sense. Surely other people had gone hiking on that same trail. It was a popular route. He wouldn't be the first person to be experiencing this. There'd have to be other signs. He decided to rule it out as an answer. But there had to be something else. It was difficult to think of anything that was out of routine. Mark was an average guy. He didn't do much except hike occasionally and go to the local coffee shop. He worked from home and didn't go outside that much. He really was a boring person. But then it hit him there was something else that was out of the ordinary. Mark had gone on the date the night before. He'd been talking with the woman online for a while and had eventually decided to go on a date. Mark had been excited to try out dating again. He still hadn't found his soul mate and was hoping that this date would go well. Things would end up taking an unexpected turn. From the moment the date began, peter felt like something was off about the woman. She didn't really seem interested in him. It was almost like she despised him. But as soon as he would start thinking that she'd do something, that showed that she was invested. It was just a strange date. But there was something more. Thinking back, Mark wasn't sure why she'd even contacted him in the first place. Looking through his messages with her, he could see more and more that she didn't really like him. He'd just been a bit desperate and wasn't thinking clearly. Could she have something to do with all of this? Mark couldn't see how she'd have anything to do with this. They hadn't gotten physical at all and he hadn't contacted her since last night. She had not messaged him either. If she had done something, wouldn't she have said something? Mark was not sure, but it was time for his appointment. He had to go. Mark had no clue what was going on with his thumb when he left for his appointment. He continued to think while driving to the doctor's office, but he came up with nothing. Luckily, the holes on his thumb didn't seem to be changing too much. They'd grown a bit bigger and were more obvious to the eye now. But it wasn't that bad, right? He got to the doctor's office and sat in his car for a second, trying to come up with any more answers. Mark really couldn't think of anything else. With a deep breath to calm his nerves, Mark walked into the doctor's office and signed in. He figured he'd have to wait a long time to see the doctor. But people had different plans. While in the waiting room at the doctor's office, Mark was getting a ridiculous amount of attention. At this point. The holes in his thumb were very plain to see and everyone around him was shocked by what they were seeing. Mark did not notice too much until the rest of the people's curiosity became increasingly obvious. The other people in the office did not try to hide their curiosity. The few kids there wanted to go look, but their parents held them back still. It was as if everyone forgot why they were there with their own medical complaints. Everybody wanted to know what was happening with him. To be fair, so did Mark. It was then that the doctor came out to call in the next patient. Everyone there collectively agreed that Mark should be seen first. None of their problems were serious, but Marks clearly was. Mark was a bit put off by this, but thanked them nonetheless. It was concerning, but surely he could wait. The doctor did not agree. Once inside his office, the doctor was able to take a proper look at Mark's thumb and he was shocked. He had never seen anything like this. He would remember if he had. Something like this was not something you just forgot. In addition, even more, the doctor hadn't even heard of anything like this in his medical books. He was clueless. The doctor knew that this was going to take some time. He made a few calls to have his waiting patients sent to other doctors on call. Mark needed his attention the most and he was going to make sure that they were going to find a cure for whatever was going on here. The doctor ordered tests for Mark and while they waited for the results, he studied Mark's thumb intensely. The strange thing was that while earlier Mark had felt some pain, he did not anymore. His whole thumb was completely numb. It did not even hurt when the doctor pushed on it. This was a bad sign. The doctor continued to investigate Peter's thumb and when he got the first results back, he was disappointed. The tests he had ordered had not found anything yet. There were still some others he could have done, but he needed Mark's permission. It would take up a lot of Mark's time. What would he do? Mark agreed to the tests, and while they waited for those results, the doctor, who still had not found anything helpful, posted a few pictures of Mark's thumb on a medical forum. He was hoping that some other doctor had seen something like this before. It would be a while before they got any response. Mark decided that he needed some air and went to use the bathroom. While he was gone, the doctor received a private message from the forum. He opened it eagerly, hoping that it was the answer he had been seeking. In addition, to his luck, it was. But it was also terrible, terrible news, and everything would have to change fast. Another doctor had indeed seen this condition before and if they did not do something soon, it could turn into a very big problem for everyone, including Mark. The doctor read the message again and again and knew that if this other doctor was right, that he needed to take quick action. Mark's doctor waited for the results, which came in almost immediately after he'd read the message from the forum. This was it. He had the results and it chilled him to the bone. The other doctor had been right. Mark's doctor left his office and soon the whole place was upside down. Mark returned from the bathroom. His thumb was not looking good. The holes were starting to spread to the rest of his hand. He was getting really scared. Now. But he knew he had to show the doctor. There was just one problem. The doctor wasn't in his office when Mark got back. What was he to do? Mark was just deciding what to do when he heard something happen behind him. The door he'd just come through had been locked from the outside. He had been trapped in here. And to make things even worse, he could hear the doctor telling others that he had called the police what was happening. Mark begged for an explanation through the door, but no one was talking to him. All the nurses and doctors were frantically talking to each other and nobody was answering his questions. All he was told was that he needed to stay calm until the police arrived. But this was good enough for Mark. Nervous and scared, the staff's reaction to his thumb was really starting to worry him. What was so wrong? Was he going to die? A million thoughts were running through his head. He tried to stay home, but that was becoming impossible. Mark did not want to die. Soon enough, those fears were turned into anger. Why was nobody talking to him? With no other idea, Mark began to kick at the door. He was desperate to get out. The doctors on the other side were yelling at him to stop, but Mark couldn't hear them over his own banging. He was determined to get out. After a few kicks, the door lock broke and the door swung wide open. The people on the other side started screaming and Peter's doctor stood back. Mark stood there panting hard. It hadn't been easy to kick the door open, but he needed answers and someone had to tell him what was going on right now. Mark's doctor ordered everyone else to get away and told Peter to stay back. He shouldn't get close to anyone right now. The fear on his doctor's face told Mark everything he needed to know about his fate. But Mark was determined. He told them that he wouldn't stay back unless they gave him answers. Before his doctor could speak, three armed officers came into the building and spotted Mark. The doctor pointed at Mark and started screaming at him. All three officers took out their pistols and aimed them carefully at Mark, who was feeling faint. Now. What the heck was going on? Mark quickly threw his hands up into the air as the police turned their attention to him. He almost had tears in his eyes and he begged them all to just tell him what was going on. Seeing that the holes on Mark's thumb had taken up almost half of his hand now, the police told him to stay back. One of the officers calmly explained to Mark that they would tell him everything, but he needed to be isolated immediately. Mark agreed to the terms, but firmly told them that he wouldn't hesitate to break open another door to get answers. He was terrified and no one was telling him anything. Mark went back into the doctor's office and the door was closed after him. Mark could see the staff coming in with heavy cleaning materials and they started cleaning everything. The floors, the walls, the door, you name it. Finally, the doctor came to the door to tell Mark what was going on. His doctor firstly apologized for not telling Mark what was happening. He'd been scared. It wasn't every day that a person with an awful flesh eating virus came in and he had to follow procedures that he'd never had to do before. He felt awful. But there was more. He discussed with Mark what he'd been doing the day before. Mark had taken a hike and then had gone on a date that night. Luckily for Mark, the bad date hadn't been the cause of all of this. Instead, it was more likely that he touched some infected plant while out on his hike. But which one? Mark wasn't sure what to tell them. He told the police and his doctor which route he'd taken and what he'd seen that might be helpful. He didn't know what else he could do. He was focused more on what the treatment plan was. Could they even treat him? Or would this virus eat his hand off? Luckily for Mark, the hospital had the medication they needed. But he'd have to be in isolation for a while. The police had gotten involved because they had needed to talk to Mark about his height. But when they'd seen him out of the isolated room, they had panicked because his doctor had panicked. It was a big mess, but there was more. They also had to make sure that no one else would get infected. Mark was transported safely to a better hospital, where he could be in isolation and get treatment for the virus eating his hand away. Fortunately, the medication paused the virus from spreading and within a few days, it started reversing the problem. But what about the plant? The officers had kept everyone off of the trail and after some heavy searching, had found a plant that wasn't native to the area. It was tested and found to be the cause of Peter's problem. It was uprooted and disposed of. There haven't been any cases since. And within a month, Peter was completely better and ready to go on dates again. What do you think of this story?
By Kim Wharton2 years ago in History
fruit diseases
In, 2021 florida had its worst orange crops since world war ii that's because this insect is waging a war on the state's valuable citrus trees so this tree is infected with citrus greening it produces small misshapen fruit just see the difference this disease can be a tree killer the insect spreads a disease called hlb or citrus greening and it's infected nearly every citrus grove in the state less canopy you can see there's just less foliage on the tree you can see through the tree the oranges are still edible the real problem is that citrus greening has slashed florida's production by 78 it's cost the state nearly 8 billion and driven many growers out of the industry you should go back in your mind 15 years to what this place once was as a collection of varieties this was full of beautiful green trees we've had freezes hurricanes but citrus greening has definitely been the most challenging issue we've faced in my career this group of scientists is racing to find a cure armed with some unique weapons this is about the size that we're going to put on most new trees now the researchers have helped growers produce oranges on the infected trees but they haven't found a long-term solution yet we will have to lift with the infected trees and just make the most out of them so can they keep this disease at bay before it wipes out the state's orange industry we head to florida to find out larry's a fifth generation farmer in fort meade florida we've been growing citrus in my family since the 1850s when i first started in the industry citrus occupied over 900 000 acres in the state of florida in fact some years we had too much fruit and market prices were depressed just 15 years ago his family packed a million orange cartons a year mostly valencia oranges the big sweet juicy kind you planted a grove expecting that to last for multiple generations the first case of citrus screening was reported in china back in 1919 it quickly spread across the continent devastating citrus groves in india and saudi arabia as well no one knows exactly how the asian citrus psyllid made it to florida but in 1998 it showed up on an orange jasmine plant in a backyard in palm beach county and it quickly spread throughout the state on infected root stocks but it would take another seven years before florida's orange trees showed signs of greening it spreads throughout the state before you even know it's present and in 2005 larry found his first infected tree it was a real challenge and an eye-opening for us we knew what a threat it could be to our operation and we were fearful there were more infected trees that just had not been detected at first larry tried removing all the sick trees but the insect moved faster soon infecting too many to control when a psyllid munches on a citrus tree it leaves behind the bacteria that causes greening here in the vascular tissue the bacteria replicates and blocks this important highway for removing nutrients underground the root systems thin and die out above ground you notice the yellow pattern the dark green spots if you can see me through the canopy of this tree that means this tree is really really sick while the trees do keep burying oranges for a few years the fruit essentially never ripens you see it's small in size it remains green and when i cut this fruit you see an odd shape you can still eat the fruit it's just not as sweet [Music] the orange juice from this fruit uh has lower sugar content or bricks than normal fruit but there's nothing wrong with the juice it's awful and 40 of those oranges fall off the tree sooner than usual the bacteria is actually starving and kills the tree over time today researchers estimate 90 percent of all orange trees in the state have the bacteria no longer do you see citrus trees abundant in the landscape larry has kept his trees alive in producing for 15 years using a combination of horticultural techniques developed by scientists at the university of florida some of our work that is going on right now is finding ways to keep those trees that do have the disease still producing fruit that are usable you guys want to see what some solids look like yes all right so they're very small oh there's an escapee actually they're small they kind of jump around a little bit so we use this thing called a an aspirator or the more fun term we use with children is pooter we just suck them up it's basically a little vacuum in my hand here lauren deep and brock can study the psyllids movement to learn what might keep them off a citrus tree using the aspirator is actually a really efficient way to collect psyllids she's figured out a few things that detract psyllids first this pink clay it's sprayed on the trees to hide the leaves from the insect which uses light wavelengths to see one study showed the clay was more effective than insecticides the second thing lauren is researching is these eight foot wide sheets of plastic called reflective mulch the idea is that it should make it where the cylinder can't find the host plant it could be that it blinds them or causes a visual deterrent i see the work uh somewhat we do get psyllids we do get them but we do get them at a reduced rate a few years ago farmers discovered that putting plastic bags around baby trees could help them grow stronger before infection lauren's now studying how effective these individual protective covers or ipc's actually can be so this is ipc mesh and as you can see there's little holes in it you can see my hand very clearly wind sun rain it all gets through here the goal is to really keep that asian citrus psyllid off the tree and then if you look underneath this is our irrigation the baby trees will grow in the ipc's for two years so you can see the trees aren't perfect we're still going to have some stuff on them we do have some pest issues in here but they look really good compared to what's in the open field and this will actually give our trees a fighting chance once they're out in the environment and they could potentially get infected with sea last scientist tripty vashish thinks the key is in the soil we have been learning that the trees need these nutrients to fight infection the citrus trees because of this disease have very small roots or fewer roots so they are not very efficient in picking up the nutrients it's like a job of 10 people needs to be done by one person same with the roots she figured out that giving smaller doses of fertilizer and water more frequently helps the sick roots absorb nutrients better and it's similar like us at six small dough meals each day rather than three big meals are better same as with the fertilizer and irrigation smaller doses are better than big doses larry uses fertilizer custom designed for his trees he's also planting more young ones one of our strategies for dealing with greening is to plant the groves at higher densities we're planting 300 trees per acre compared to 140 to 150 trees per acre before we were dealing with the disease so if he knows all the trees will get infected with more planted hopefully some will survive growers have also tried releasing predator wasps and spraying insecticides while there's no silver bullet in combination these short-term solutions have sort of worked you can slow down the decline we've been battling citrus screening for 15 years and while the industry is not thriving we're definitely surviving but the problem is all these approaches tack on an extra 600 per acre onto production costs for growers our revenues are down by more than half on an individual growth basis growers are losing money and many couldn't swallow the losses by early 2022 half of florida's orange growers had left the industry so while he waits for a long-term solution larry's taking the hit so he can keep harvesting the same way his family always has workers quickly pick the oranges and drop them into bags once they've got a good batch pickers dump them into baskets in the grove workers then truck the oranges to the packing facility just down the road we have eight digital cameras that takes a picture of each piece of fruit as it travels through the packing line we use an electronic sorter to divide the crop by color if they're orange enough the fruit gets cleaned and hit with a layer of natural wax it preserves the fruit it extends its shelf life today because of hlb larry packs half as many boxes as he did 17 years ago if the oranges are a bit too green larry knows they'll be hard to sell on the fresh side so he sends them to get juiced at the florida's natural plant in lake wales larry owns the juicing plant along with other local growers as part of the company's cooperative about 90 of the fruit grown in the state goes to orange juice but just like growers the factory has been getting fewer oranges so less efficiency in the plant with a lower fruit volume the factory had to shut down one of its three processing lines nowadays sixty thousand boxes of oranges arrive at the plant from cooperative farms across central florida that's about 30 000 fewer than before hlb within 24 hours of harvesting the we juice the fruit this machine squeezes the juice out of every orange we pull out any seeds and we also collect the pulp where we can add that back to whatever degree we want to do that the juice gets pasteurized and then pumped into cartons but remember greening affects oranges natural sugar content so florida's natural has to blend infected oranges with sweeter ones from different regions or even seasons it still tastes like orange juice it's just not quite as sweet today the factory pumps out about a third less than pre-greening they need a home for their fruit where they can get maximum value that hopefully can sustain their operations until a solution to greening is found many scientists believe the long-term solution lies with re-engineering nature either genetically changing the bug itself or naturally breeding citrus trees ultimately a tree that's resistant or tolerant to the disease will be key that's the project fred gameter and his team are working on at the university of florida they're trying to breed for an hlb resistant orange variety meaning even if the disease shows up the tree won't get sick to do that he takes two different types of trees maybe one with yummy oranges and one that's resistant and essentially has the mate and their kid will hopefully still taste good but won't get hlb that's really the holy grail of citrus greening research but that's not easy finding a resistant orange is like looking for a genetic needle in a haystack it's extremely difficult to breed new oranges we know of some kinds of trees related to oranges that are resistant and we're trying to access the genetics of those resistant types by making crosses fred says it could take more than a decade so it's long term there's always an element of serendipity in this but armed with that miracle-resistant tree they could be better prepared to tackle future diseases it's a global interconnected world we live in people and plant diseases move about pretty freely and so there will be another problem another disease come along i believe science will continue to deliver new tools that will make growing citrus easier over time i look forward to those days i'm sure we'll have other challenges that we'll face in time but today citrus screening is here to stay
By Kim Wharton2 years ago in Families
