US-942 remained the top citrus rootstock in Florida for the third year in a row, and Valencia SPB-1-14-19 was the top variety.
ROOTSTOCKS
More than 1.28 million nursery trees were budded on US-942, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ (FDACS) Citrus Budwood Annual Report for 2020-21.
The next 14 most popular rootstocks, with the number of buddings, were:
- Kuharske (841,448)
- X-639 (678,095)
- Swingle (468,558)
- Own root (408,793)
- US-812 (296,664)
- Sour orange (176,322)
- US-897 (160,288)
- Volkamer (135,977)
- US-802 (119,887)
- Rough lemon (57,941)
- C-35 (39,142)
- C-54 (26,993)
- Poncirus trifoliata (18,106)
- UFR-04 (17,892)
VARIETIES
Valencia SPB-1-14-19 was easily the top variety in 2020, with slightly more than 2 million trees propagated. According to FDACS, this variety has become the most popular Valencia selection in Florida and is similar to SPB-1-14-31 and SPB-1-12-7.
Vernia UF 35-15 was the second most popular variety, with 464,156 trees propagated. The season for this variety is several weeks earlier than Valencia.
The next 13 most popular varieties in 2020, with the number of trees budded, were:
- Hamlin 1-4-1 (387,356)
- Valencia F-55-4 (281,808)
- Meyer lemon US (150,059)
- Star Ruby grapefruit DPI-60 (134,489)
- Key lime SPB-51-12 (118,594)
- Valencia SPB-1-14-31 (96,097)
- Ray Ruby grapefruit CGIP-103 (74,665)
- Bearss lemon SPB-341-95-33 (71,127)
- Flame grapefruit US 1-26-71 ((70,161)
- Valquarius LT UF SF14W-62 (58,558)
- Orri CGIP-134 (55,442)
- Persian lime SPB-7 (50,841)
- Hamlin 8-1-4 (47,642)
According to FDACS, more than 4.8 million nursery propagations were reported in 2020-21 from 45 citrus nurseries. That was the largest number of nurseries reporting propagations since 2016, when 54 nurseries reported. This was also the most propagations reported in the past five years.
Source: Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
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