April was a busy month for citrus events. The Florida Citrus Show was held April 3 in Fort Pierce followed by the Florida Citrus Growers’ Institute in Avon Park on April 9. These events were a topic of discussion between All In For Citrus podcast host Frank Giles and Michael Rogers, director of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Citrus Research and Education Center, during the April episode.
The Florida Citrus Show was held at the neighboring UF/IFAS Indian River Research and Education Center (IRREC) and U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory.
Rogers shared some news regarding the IRREC in the podcast; a new center director has recently been named. Mark Kistler will take the leadership position in June. Kistler currently is professor and dean of the School of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia.
“Mark is a longtime Floridian originally,” said Rogers. “He grew up in Winter Haven. We are glad to see him coming back to lead that station as they move forward with their research plans.”
Rogers also provided some highlights from the Florida Citrus Growers’ Institute. The event covered an array of citrus production topics.
“We heard an update from Dr. Ute Albrecht on oxytetracycline trunk injections. She continues to see some promising data in her trials in terms of yield increase and possibly some Brix increase,” Rogers said. “They are still looking at how much fruit quality is impacted, but it is probably more of an overall tree health issue, as they are managing the HLB bacteria levels and seeing results that manifest in terms of leaf growth and how that affects fruit quality down the road. She also gave growers tips based on what she’s finding in her research.”
To hear more about April’s citrus events and to learn about ways to maximize citrus irrigation, don’t miss this episode of All In For Citrus. The podcast is a partnership between UF/IFAS and AgNet Media.
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