SOQUEL -- Whether state agricultural officials or their critics will win the battle to spray for the light brown moth or not, the sure loser has been the local nursery business.
Nursery owners across the county are being asked to pay for interim eradication measures that many of them doubt will pay off. Most are being forced to shut down, at least temporarily.
Soquel Nursery Growers, where several moth larvae have been found, estimates the cost of lost business due to two state-mandated closures for localized pesticide spraying has topped $100,000 since spring when inspectors began trolling local nurseries for the dreaded moth.
Garden Haven Nursery in Soquel, which has been closed three times for spraying after inspectors found moth larvae, has lost more than $50,000 in business and costs, according to owner Ross Paratore.
"These people don't know what they're doing," said Paratore, who's owned the nursery for 45 years with his wife, Anna. Located at the end of Allred Lane just off Old San Jose Road, the Paratores have about 10 acres of neatly lined plants for wholesale. Ross Paratore calls inspections a futile disruption to business.
"It's not just the closures but the salaries of paying people to look for these things," said Tish O'Reilly of Pacific Ground Cover & Nursery on Mattison Lane in the unincorporated area of Santa Cruz. "I've got one guy who every day looks for these things. That's 20 percent of my salaries. That means nothing else is getting done."
What the nursery owners want is a way to keep business open and minimize their economic hardship when the light brown apple moth is found on their property. The moth larvae has been found at 46 nurseries in Santa Cruz County, all of which have been required to take certain measures.
Flurry over the moth
The moth, which burrows into leaves and crannies of plants, eats just about anything and threatens the economic and environmental equilibrium of Santa Cruz County, according to state and federal agencies. The moth is responsible for significant economic losses in Australia and New Zealand. Canada and Mexico have restricted imports from infested areas in California.
Santa Cruz County has reported the state's highest infestation levels by far. Of the total 8,691 moths found by state survey teams employed throughout California, 7,418 were found in Santa Cruz County. In Monterey County, 550 were found, according to an Oct. 11 summary posted by the state on its Web site.
The state estimates that eradication could take several years but is possible if strict measures are taken immediately.
Last month on the Monterey Peninsula, the state conducted one round of aerial spraying of a synthetic pheromone that seeks to confuse the male moth out of mating. A judge last week suspended spraying there until concerns about the pesticides safety could be addressed; a hearing is scheduled Thursday.
Spraying is scheduled to begin in Santa Cruz County in early November, though efforts are afoot to fight it.
"We think populations are still building," said Steve Lyle, California Department of Food and Agriculture spokesman. "We've caught this at a relatively early juncture, but the belief is that damage could occur far and wide because of the huge host range of this pest."
An overreaction?
Nurseries are at odds over several issues with the state Department of Food and Agriculture.
They want to end what they consider draconian alternatives when a moth or larvae is found on their property. They want to spray only the area in question or throw out the plants in a specified area rather than shut down operations completely and send home all workers.
The state offers them a choice of actions once an infestation -- which may include a single larva -- is detected. Nurseries are "put on hold" or effectively shut down completely until they take corrective action and are reinspected and given the green light to open again.
Nursery owners may spray chlorpyrifos, a broad spectrum pesticide that kills just about everything, nursery owners say. It is the only chemical known, however, that kills both eggs and larvae. It requires a 24-hour waiting period before a final inspection can take place. Nursery owners may try Bt and spinosad, both organic pesticides, which require longer mandated "holding" periods before a final inspection. Or, they may choose to dump the stock in question and quarantine the nursery for 30 days until an inspection clears them for business.
Each alternative is too costly and unrealistic, nursery owners say.
"For them to come in and find one larva and have us spray 14 acres doesn't make sense," said Christine Altermann, product manager at Soquel Nursery Growers. "Finding one doesn't mean you're going to find others."
The state is acting on an abundance of caution, Lyle said.
"The light brown apple moth has a host range of well more than 1,000 plants," he said. "Just about everything in a nursery is a potential host and vulnerable to infestation. Additionally, the eggs are extremely difficult to find. We want to make sure those nurseries are free from pests before they resume shipments."
Nursery owners also stress that large-scale spraying of chemicals throughout their property, which is often near watersheds, is not only dangerous to the environment, but ineffective since a moth could fly over from a neighboring land the next day.
"We're supportive about controlling it, but we feel it can't be controlled," Altermann said.
Teresa Aquino, owner of Blue Bamboo Nursery on Ocean Street Extension in Santa Cruz, refused to spray chemicals in June when inspectors found a larva on her property.
"Because my nursery is in front of my house, next to an organic farm and I'm opposed in general to the use of pesticides, for me there were not really any options initially," she said.
Eventually she hung pheromone wicks in her trees and sprayed with organic chemicals. She reopened a month later after peak season.
Nursery owners also argue that the pest is not nearly as dangerous as the government is claiming. State officials say they first detected the moth in 2005, but nursery owners say the moth has been here for years.
Altermann says the moth is just a leaf-roller that has been in the community for years.
"They're putting it out as being devastating, but we think it is more of a political thing," she says. "The huge economic risk is that other countries won't buy our things."
Contact Jennifer Pittman at kalexander@santacruzsentinel.com.