Why Should Growers Take the Bactericide Survey?

Kelsey FryAgriculture, Bactericides

Dr-Browning-Speaker-2-SmallWith the 2016 Citrus Expo approaching, Harold Browning, chief operations officer of the Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF), is reminding Florida growers to take the bactericide survey if they haven’t already done so.

The deadline to complete the survey is August 10. It can be found online at citrusexpo.net.

Browning said that the bactericide survey results will be a beneficial tool to the citrus industry. He said this year is the first of, hopefully, many years of the program.

Growers are encouraged to participate in the survey whether or not they are spraying the bactericides because it is important to know where they stand on the situation.

Browning said the CRDF would like to get a sense of how many people are using the bactericides, how they are using them, which products they are choosing and the percentage of acreage they are spraying.

According to Browning, one concern growers have is not seeing any results after the first few bactericide applications, and wondering if they should continue to apply the products.  His answer to that is, “I think we will learn as the season turns to harvest and next spring with new flush and bloom. We are going to start to see the full effects on a season-long program.”

He said that the presentation of the results will be a good reminder of what the overall plan was and where they are on the timeline toward implementing the full season-long program.

“We hope to use (the survey results) in the program at Citrus Expo in August to highlight what the growers have told us, and then follow it up with some more details, presentations and grower panels on the fine points of what’s going on out in the field,” concluded Browning.

Share this Post

About the Author

Kelsey Fry

Kelsey@AgNetMedia.com