California Costcos receive more shipments with invasive pest
More plants with an invasive pest, the glassy-winged sharpshooter, arrived at California Costco stores last week, including in Sacramento County, marking the second time in roughly two months that the bulk grocery store chain received infected plants.
The Sacramento County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office told The Sacramento Bee that shipments of desert willows, a type of ornamental plant, had viable egg masses on their leaves. It is possible that some of the plants got sold, the county office said. The plants were shipped from a nursery in Tyler, Texas.
California’s Department of Food and Agriculture said on a Monday call with grape and wine industry professionals that approximately 655 plants from the Texas shipment were sold in the state. The department is working with Costco to notify anyone who may have purchased a plant.
These plant shipments were expected at more than 85 Costco locations in 25 counties throughout the state, according to an email shared between county agricultural offices obtained by The Bee and the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Some shipments were intercepted before they arrived at their destinations, the state said. The glassy-winged sharpshooter infestation was first discovered at the Novato Costco in Marin County, the Marin County Agricultural Office confirmed to The Bee.
The glassy-winged sharpshooter can spread Pierce’s Disease, which kills grapevines, and poses significant risks for both California’s wine and table grapes. The pest does not pose a threat to humans or animals.
With wine consumption at historic lows, the wine industry is already facing significant challenges. Some grape growers and winemakers are shutting their doors because they can’t afford to be in the business anymore. The leaf-hopping insect destroyed more than 1,000 acres of grapevines in Northern California from 1994 to 2008, causing $30 million in damage, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Asked how the plants made it to Costco with pests and out on the sales floor, Sacramento County Agricultural Commissioner Chris Flores said the shipments did not have inspection notices upon their arrival at the stores. Agriculture border stations that are spread throughout California are first-line pest defense, and they are supposed to stop vehicles with commodities and hand them inspection notices to be given to retailers once they arrive at their destinations.
It is possible to get into California without being stopped for inspection. Some of the stations have staffing issues, Flores said, and there are border entries without stations. There are 16 border facilities located on the major highways entering the state. The Texas shipment came into the state on about 10 trucks, the state agriculture department said on the Monday call.
For the Texas shipment, the plants were sent with a certificate that said they had been preventatively treated for glassy-winged sharpshooter, the Sacramento County Agricultural Office said.
Flores’ team destroyed 209 of 215 infested plants at various Costcos, she said, and she pulled staff out of other programs to help. Right now, Flores said, her office does not know where the remaining six plants are. She encouraged anyone who purchased a desert willow to call her office.
“The counties are being very diligent in trapping and trying to alert our nurseries to give us calls,” Flores said. “... We do not want this stuff getting out.”
Joe Deviney, agricultural commissioner for Marin County, said Costco asked his office Thursday morning to inspect the plants, even though the shipment, which required inspection, did not have proper inspection paperwork upon arrival at the retailer. That same morning, his team discovered six egg masses in various stages of development — including two egg masses that showed the pests had already emerged. His team destroyed all 24 desert willows in the shipment before any could be sold and alerted the other counties in the state.
On the Monday call, which included California Department of Food and Agriculture Sec. Karen Ross, the state agency said an investigation into the Texas shipment is ongoing and that the department will continue to share updates on a weekly basis online. The agency is trying to get a better sense of the scope of the situation by looking into the source of the infestation, where the trucks entered the state and if there are other plants that were previously shipped and/or are still in transit. The California department contacted the Texas Department of Agriculture to address any potential issues at the shipments’ origin.
The California department did not respond to requests for comment.
The infected plants discovered in May were from Burchell Nursery, Inc., located in Fresno County, officials said. The invasive pest was found on grapevines sold at Costco stores in Sacramento County and dozens of other counties throughout the state.
While no infected plants were sold in Marin County this month, Deviney said the county is still searching for grapevines sold to customers in the May shipment and urged residents to call his office for inspections.
In a June 16 letter, U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and 12 House members urged U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to provide $32.2 million in emergency funding to the state to combat the threat of the glassy-winged sharpshooter.
The funds would come from the Commodity Credit Corporation, a funding initiative through the federal agency, and would go toward tracing, surveying and trapping response programs for the next three years.
The wine and grape industries are billion-dollar enterprises in California. The state produces 99% of all table grapes and around 80% of all wine in the U.S., according to industry groups. If unaddressed, the lawmakers said that the glassy-winged sharpshooter could cost the state $104 million annually.
If you purchased a desert willow recently, contact your local agricultural commissioner’s office.
This story was originally published June 29, 2026 at 11:39 AM with the headline "California Costcos receive more shipments with invasive pest."
