AceNewsDesk – Native to tropical Asia and South Asia, the curry leaf tree has managed to adapt to our climate and withstand pests, producing fresh leaves for diaspora cooks and others who love their potent flavor
Ace Press News From Cutting Room Floor: Published: May.14: 2024: Civil Eats News By Mary-Rose Abraham Published: May 8, 2024: TELEGRAM Ace Daily News Link https://t.me/YouMeUs2Â
If you want to brag to your friends, you show them a picture of how well your tree is doing and how big it’s gotten, and that’ll get all the heads turning,” said Lilani, who began her nursery four years ago. “It’s the topic of conversation.”
Lilani grows curry leaf plants from seed and tends them in their delicate early years so buyers have a better chance of keeping them alive.
She and her family have a long history with the plant. Her grandparents are originally from India’s Gujarat state, where curry leaves are used in a few dishes, including dal. During the upheaval of Partition, when the British granted India independence and it was divided into two nations, her grandparents migrated to the newly created Pakistan. In 1991, when Lilani was a year old, she and her family moved to Los Angeles, where her grandmother grew a potted curry leaf plant in a sunny kitchen window.
Despite this early experience and, later, a master’s degree in international agriculture, Lilani finds growing curry leaf plants challenging. Last November, when hard-armor bugs infested the plants’ stems, she manually removed them from each plant with rubbing alcohol. Overwatering was another issue. She experimented with different types of soils, trying to mimic nutrient-poor soils found in tropical areas.
“Growing vegetables I can do with my eyes closed,” she said, “but the curry leaf tree has kept me on my toes for so many years.”
A Deadly Disease
Since 2005, citrus greening has been detected in the southern United States, in most citrus-growing states except Arizona. The disease has devastated millions of acres of citrus crops and greatly reduced citrus production.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has set up quarantine areasfrom Florida to California to restrict the transport of citrus fruit or plants, as well as fresh curry leaves or plants.
Since 2020, Lilani has seeded and grown 2,500 curry leaf plants, but because her greenhouse is located in a quarantine zone, her customers can only buy on-site. Prasad, meanwhile, has a special USDA certification to ship outside his quarantine zone.
Besides sales restrictions, government scrutiny is another challenge for growers. Curry leaf and citrus operations are subject to inspections, according to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service(APHIS). In an emailed statement, the agency said curry leaf farms and nurseries, as well as citrus groves, are surveyed for pests and diseases at least twice per year by federal, state, or cooperating agencies.
Miguel Guerra gestures at a large curry leaf tree at Small Town Farm in Texas. (Photo credit: Cristen Andrews)
APHIS also clarified that curry leaf trees are a “preferred host”—but only for Asian citrus psyllids, not the HLB bacterium that actually causes citrus greening disease. However, because detecting microscopic bacteria requires time-consuming sampling and laboratory testing, inspectors focus on finding the carrier insects.
“The best way to prevent the introduction of HLB is to prevent the introduction of ACP,” said Abby Stilwell, national policy manager at APHIS.
To stave off the disease, inspectors from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, which works in partnership with the USDA, monitored Lilani’s greenhouse in March 2021 and watched as she sprayed her saplings with two different insecticides. She repeats the spraying every three months and logs her compliance with the Alameda County Department of Agriculture.
“It’s not ideal,” said Lilani. “But it’s mandatory for me to do.”
Prasad, too, faces government checks. USDA inspectors require that he spray the trees with insecticide every month. And he said one to three inspectors visit him for about an hour every Tuesday—his shipment day—on the lookout for the dreaded ACP, which Prasad said he has never seen.
But a scare in March 2012 had devastating consequences. When a lemon-pomelo graft tested positive for citrus greening disease less than five miles from Prasad’s farm, inspectors ordered that he chop down his trees. Prasad bulldozed them all, leaving his land littered with stumps. Slowly, the curry leaf trees germinated and began growing again.
Prasad pointed out that home growers of curry leaf trees could harbor ACP—as in the case of the lemon-pomelo graft—but they are not subject to regular agency inspections.
“[They] are harassing me because I’m a farmer,” said Prasad. “By stopping [me], you’re going to control all the bugs?”
A Growing Reach
It’s no longer just immigrant and diaspora communities that are interested in growing curry leaf plants. About an hour south of Austin, Texas, Cristen Andrews and Miguel Guerra co-own Small Town Farm, a one-acre homestead, wildlife habitat, and plant nursery.
After spending extended time in India, they fell in love with Indian cooking and the curry leaf tree, their favorite plant. A former co-worker gave them a sapling in a one-gallon pot. Their “curry baby” thrived in the humidity, went indoors during winter, and survived their initial overwatering. Its descendants now grow on their farm, with smaller plants grown from seed in the greenhouse.
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