Hi, Don. In answer to your question, "... does it affect hybrids grown up north?",the answer would be "Yes". The next question would be "How?" Because of the Internet and free trading across state borders, the canker disease can be spread back to Florida or other states by plants traded from Florida growers or from traders who have infected plants from Florida. Example: An infected tree is traded to a NY hobby grower. He is contacted by a CA hobby grower and sends a plant (illegally) to CA. The CA hobby growers lives in Riverside county and spread the disease to the UC Riverside ag school plants and beyond. The entire citrus industry of CA, AZ, or TX may now be compromised. Too many people don't think there illegal trades can cause problem, but the can and do. Do you remember about 10 years ago when they had the outbreak of Hoof (foot in UK)& Mouth disease in Britain? People in the US were still trying to make trades with people UK. If the soil borne disease had been transferred to the US, the entire cattle and swine industry could have been jeopardized. In short, the NY grower is unknowingly spreading the disease. An agricultural Typhoid Mary. The worst news for Floridians could be if the canker disease is ever contained in Florida, the citrus industry could be re-infected by hobby growers. It is sad to me as I drive along I-4 and remember how beautiful the citrus groves use to be from Tampa to Titusville. Now they are mostly gone. I remember when there were experimental groves at Gainesville (UF) along I-75 in the 1970s. Those too are now gone. I would surely hate to see the commercial groves along the FL Turnpike below Orlando disappear. Citrus has been a money maker for Floridians for many years. Speaking of commercial groves, how are they handling the canker disease? I hear about grandmas and grandpas fighting the state about cutting backyard trees but I never hear about mass cuttings in commercial groves. What is the story in, say, Indian River county?

I don't think this would work in Quebec. Legally, there is a notion here of "reasonable inconveniences of neighbourhood". This is simply a way of saying that, when you choose to move to a crowded neighbourhood, you should be prepared to endure the noise and traffic that it entails. It also means that if you move next door to a house that has a bunch of trees near the property line, you can't force your neighbour to come and clean up the leaves in the fall. Needless to say, it is understood to mean that you can't force your neighbour to change anything on their plot just because their landscaping is inconvenient for you. Unless their landscaping causes you prejudice that you can prove (such as damaging your property, and not such as not being able to use something that wasn't there in the first place), there isn't a thing you can do to force your neighbour to change anything on their property, which is just as well. What's next? Forcing the neighbour to demolish his house because it blocks out the afternoon sun? Having the neighbour put down his dog because it changes the acidity of the soil near the property line? Forcing the neighbour to give up his car and take up biking instead just because the sound of the car starting wakes you up in the morning? I am really glad this legal notion exists. This whole story sounds like a party having way too many rights while the other party is denied basic rights, like keeping whatever is on their property, which besides causes no harm to anyone. I sure hope the victim of this farce finds a way to have the neighbour destroy their solar system to allow them to do something perfectly legal on their own plot. Having said that, please don't accuse the "movement" of being careless and self-righteous. Accuse individuals instead. Many people in that very movement would happily chain themselves to those trees in order to save them. In any case, the judge must have been on drugs...

Here is the CA state Champion Afrocarpus gracilior tree, in Alameda Park, Santa Barbara, CA. I took this picture in 2019. It is about 87ft tall with a canopy diameter of about 68ft. The trunk is over 4ft in diameter at breast height. It is about 100 years old. It is neither a "monster" nor a "nightmare". It is a happy, healthy, beautiful, drought-tolerant, disease-resistant shade tree that just happens to require more space at maturity than most residential yards have. If you plant a row of 1-gallon Afrocarpus container stock to make a hedge in a narrow space then they will oblige you handily in just a few years. But it will be on you to prune them every year from now until forever and keep them in the allowable space, because this is what they will try to become if allowed to grow unchecked. You might do well to remove every other tree after a few years to give the remaining ones more room to fill in. Removing the whole hedge and starting over every 25 years or so might be a reasonable thing to plan for. If you want a hedge that will remain bush-sized then plant bushes, not baby trees with leafy dreams of being a glorious 100 foot tall urban forest. And don't call them "monsters" if you break the pact and drop the ball on maintenance. If you have room to let one grow for several decades and begin to fulfill its genetic destiny then you will have a gorgeous big specimen tree while you are still young enough to enjoy the shade. I have a 75 year old male tree growing 3 feet from my house (yes, that is closer than I would recommend) and it has not caused any appreciable damage to my foundation. In fact, it has helped keep my house from slipping downhill like most of the other houses on my street are doing. Thanks, big tree!

Lee, here's the recipe for the "Tropical Guacamole Dip", which the papaya lends it name to. Anyone know what a scotch bonnet pepper is? Tropical Guacamole Dip 1 red onion, cut into quarters 1 papaya, coarsely chopped 2 avocados, coarsely chopped 1 tomato, peeled, coarsely chopped 2 green onions, chopped 3 T. chopped fresh cilantro 2 cloves of garlic minced 1/2 Scotch bonnet pepper, minced 1/4 cup lime juice 1 T. cumin 1 t. hot pepper sauce 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/8 t. pepper Combine ... [first 8 ingredients] in bowl and mix well. Add ... [remaining ingredients] and mix well. Serve with tortilla chips or platain chips. Serves 10 to 15 Sounds yummy, doesn't it? I think I'll make chicken fajitas this weekend and serve that along with "Mango Papaya Relish" instead of pico de Gallo, which is also in this wonderful cookbook. Brenda