Article 4. Caprifig Trees of California Food And Agricultural Code >> Division 4. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 11. >> Article 4.

Caprifig trees, unless properly controlled and regulated under supervision, constitute a menace because they are a source of infection and pests.

Except as otherwise provided by Section 6173, in the interest of the public welfare and general prosperity of the state and to provide for the control, eradication, elimination, and prevention of endosepsis and other plant diseases, all caprifig trees used for shade, ornamental, or decorative purposes, and caprifig trees in, or associated with, any fig orchard which produces calimyrna or other Smyrna-type figs that aggregate in number more than one and one-half percent of the fig trees in the orchard, are unlawful and a public nuisance.

Every commercial grower of calimyrna or other Smyrna-type fig may maintain at least one caprifig tree in connection with his planting.

The commissioner shall notify the owner of any fig tree which is a public nuisance under Section 6172 to graft or destroy it within a time which is specified in the notice. He may furnish to the owner, at the time of serving the notice, instructions for application of methods by the owner which are best designed to accomplish the purposes of the notice.

If the owner does not destroy or graft the fig tree within the time which is specified in the notice, the commissioner shall cause the grafting or destruction of the tree, at the expense of the owner, in a summary manner.

A calimyrna grower, regardless of the size of his holdings, shall follow the standard procedures for cleanup of caprifig trees by picking the mamme caprifigs before the wasps begin to issue. He shall treat the mamme caprifigs which are picked with a fungicide, according to recognized procedures.

The presence of both mamme and set profichi figs in the caprifig trees at the same time is a public nuisance. The caprifigs, or the trees, or both, shall be destroyed at the owner's expense by the owner or by the commissioner, pursuant to this article, before the profichi caprifig crop matures.