Despite its name, the plum pox virus can infect all "stone-fruit" trees, including peach, plum, apricot and cherry trees. In Europe, more than 100-million trees have been infected, but only a few cases of the virus have popped up in the United States -- all in Pennsylvania.

Fruit from infected trees is safe to eat, but according to Penn State University plant pathologist John Halbrendt, the virus disfigures the fruit, making it hard to sell. And Halbrendt says the threat to farmers doesn't stop there.

"If a tree is infected for more than a few years, it starts to abort the fruit so you're not even producing fruit anymore, you're just growing trees."

Pennsylvania's one of the top ten producers of domestic peaches... but since plum pox was discovered in 1999, the state has been slipping down that list. Nancy Richwine, with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, says that's why its important to wipe out the disease as soon as possible.

"Unfortunately there is no method for curing an infected plant once it becomes infected with the virus. So when a tree is infected, the trees are removed and destroyed as well as any peach, plum, nectarine or apricot trees that would be within 500 meters of that positive detection."

Richwine says farmers do receive some compensation for their lost orchards, but they won't be able to replant the trees until the quarantine is lifted. And that won't happen until three years after the last case of plum pox is reported in the state.

More information's available on the web at GreenWorks.tv. I'm Brad Linder.