The latest technical advice on citrus greening disease, tree nutrition, grove management and other aspects of Florida citrus cultivation will reach growers Aug. 14–15, as the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) unveils the newest edition of its annual guide at the 2019 Citrus Expo.
Known as the “Florida Citrus Production Guide 2019–2020,” the 275-page document is a comprehensive reference meant to assist growers in development and management of citrus groves in Florida, said Lauren Diepenbrock, a UF/IFAS entomology assistant professor and part of the guide’s editorial team.
Topics covered in the guide include planting, irrigation, fertilization, weed control, insect management and disease management, she said. It was previously known as the “Florida Citrus Pest Management Guide,” but the name was changed two years ago, after the content was expanded, she said. A team of about 50 UF/IFAS personnel contributed to the latest edition.
“Each year, we update the guide with new information as it becomes available, so that we can continue to meet the needs of our growers as we learn about and/or develop new tools and strategies for citrus production,” Diepenbrock said.
The 2019–2020 edition includes a newly added chapter on crop insurance and another offering a list of websites and mobile-device apps that growers might find useful, she said.
Hard copies of the guide will be available free of charge at Citrus Expo, held Aug. 14-15 at the Lee County Civic Center in North Fort Myers. For information on attending, visit https://citrusexpo.net.
At the event, the editorial team will also distribute a survey to users of the guide to collect their input regarding the possibility of reformatting pesticide tables found in the back of the guide, she said.
“We want to make this guide as user-friendly as possible, which means evolving to include the newest information for citrus production and present it in a clear format,” Diepenbrock said. “We would greatly appreciate feedback on that survey.”
For those unable to attend Citrus Expo, hard copies of the guide will be available from UF/IFAS Extension citrus county agents while supplies last. For a directory of citrus agents, visit http://citrusagents.ifas.ufl.edu/locate/index.shtml. Online, the guide will be posted Aug. 14 to the UF/IFAS Extension Electronic Data Information Source library at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu. It will also be available at the UF/IFAS Citrus Greening web page, https://crec.ifas.ufl.edu/hlb-information/greening/.
Source: University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences