Finds 2003

February 10, 2003
Monday morning, February 10, 2003, one of our inspectors found a viable GWSS egg mass on a 5-gallon size purple hopseed bush (Dodonaea viscosa purpurea) that was part of a shipment of ornamental plants from a large southern California wholesale nursery. The find, by Agricultural and Standards Service Worker Shelby McCoy, was the first viable egg mass found in Napa since 2001. The shipping nursery is located in Orange County, but the plants in question are thought to have originated at the nursery's off-site growing grounds in Ventura County.
The 71 hopseed bushes in the shipment were held off sale while the egg mass was taken to the CDFA entomology laboratory in Sacramento. Before the identification was made and a Rejection Notice was issued, the wholesale nursery decided to pick the plants up and take them back to Orange County. The plants were loaded back onto the truck by midday for return to Orange County. A short while later in the day, the CDFA lab confirmed that the egg mass was indeed GWSS and was viable when found.

March 13, 2003
Thursday morning, March 13, 2003, one of our inspectors found a viable GWSS egg mass on one of 25 red tip photinia (Photinia fraseri) plants that were part of a large shipment of landscape plants from a Los Angeles County wholesale nursery. The plants were intended for landscape planting at a new home project in Napa. The find, by Agricultural and Standards Service Worker Shelby McCoy, was the second viable egg mass to be found in Napa in 2003.
The egg mass was taken to the CDFA entomology laboratory in Sacramento the afternoon of March 13 for identification and determination of viability. Before the identification was made and a Rejection Notice was issued, the wholesale nursery decided to pick up the plants and take them back to Los Angeles County. The plants were loaded back onto the truck by midday for return. Late in the day on March 13th, the CDFA lab confirmed that the egg mass was GWSS and was viable when found.