CITRUS NURSERY SOURCE: Programs Benefit Nurseries

By Peter Chaires

The 2024–25 citrus season is another challenging one for Florida’s valued citrus nurseries. Uncertainty has been the consummate challenge for nurseries trying to anticipate grower needs. One large nursery grower recently interviewed believes that door-yard propagations are now nearing commercial propagations.

Who would have ever thought we would see this happen? However, after a dismal 2022–23 propagation year, the 2023–24 year witnessed a slight but welcome surge to approximately 1.7 million commercially budded trees. This is well below where we need to be and may foreshadow the loss of more valuable nursery capacity, but it is slow movement in the right direction. Credit the popular and well-supported Citrus Research and Field Trial (CRAFT) program for incentivizing growers to stay in the game. These trees will not only benefit nurseries, but data generated from CRAFT plantings will help inform grower planting decisions in the near-term.

Diversity is the target for some nurseries, but it’s easier said than done. Peach tree sales have seen a slight surge, which will help a bit, but it is not enough. Other nursery lines, such as bamboo and eucalyptus, do help, but to a lesser degree. Forestry sales will benefit from national forestry replanting programs. Anything that offsets cost and contributes revenue is welcome.

EXPEDITED PROPAGATION PROGRAMS

The Florida Citrus Commission (FCC) approved the Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC) Program for Expedited Propagation to include Lennon Early R20-T30-Parson Brown, Lennon Early R21-T36-Hamlin, Hamlin N14-10, Sweet Orange UF OLL-DC-3-36 and Sweet Orange UF OLL-DC-3-40.

Agreements with citrus nurseries have been approved by the FCC and are in the hands of nurseries to be executed. Twenty-two nurseries have declared interest. Licensing details are being negotiated between Florida Foundation Seed Producers Inc. and New Varieties Development & Management Corp. for the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences varieties. Nurseries will be supplied through the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Department of Plant Industry (FDACS-DPI) Accelerated Budwood Initiative program.

The Accelerated Budwood Initiative started in 2021 with the introduction of the Donaldson tree. The Donaldson tree was submitted into the FDACS-DPI Parent Tree Program to mass-produce clean budwood that would be commercially available to the Florida citrus industry. Since the introduction of the Donaldson, four other varieties (Carney Orange 2, Carney Orange 3, Roble and Parson Brown) were included in the program with mass quantities of budwood and nursery source trees being produced at the FDACS-DPI Trenton facility.

In the fall of 2024, five new varieties were added to the Accelerated Budwood Initiative program: Lennon Early R20-T30-Parson Brown, Lennon Early R21-T36-Hamlin, Hamlin N14-10, Sweet Orange UF OLL-DC-3-36 and Sweet Orange UF OLL-DC-3-40. Budwood and source trees for these varieties are currently being mass produced to be available to industry in the spring/summer of 2025. Registered citrus nurseries will be able to request budwood and source trees for propagation of field trees. Funding to plant these new varieties has been included in Cycle 6 projects submitted to the CRAFT program. These are the same five new varieties that were included in the Program for Expedited Propagation through the FDOC, which also offers funding for these varieties.   

SEED UPDATE

Much of the seed fruit at the A.H. Whitmore Farm was blown off in a hurricane. However, salvage operations did have some success in recovering useable fruit. Seed was extracted for some of the more popular rootstocks and made available through the Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association’s seed sale. This included US-802, US-812, US-897, Rubidoux, Willits, Super Sour 2 and 3, C-54 and US-942.

A few years back, FDACS-DPI decided to support seed supply efforts by planting a seed source block in Chiefland. These trees are now beginning to produce. They are coming on strong. In support of industry, FDACS-DPI donated its seed fruit to the seed sale. Its seed lines included Sour Orange, Swingle, X-639, Volk, US-812, C-54 (Carpenter) and Kuharske Carrizo.

Escalating costs for picking and extraction have necessitated an increase in the seed price to $200/quart. The combined sales from this seed, after production costs, will support the Florida Citrus Research Foundation. University of Florida rootstocks are primarily produced in private seed blocks and in a seed source block located at the Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred. Private seed source blocks are a continuing challenge for nurseries, as they represent an embedded cost that is not recovered when tree orders are low.

Acknowledgment: Many thanks to FDACS-DPI and FDOC for supplying information for this article.

Peter Chaires is executive director of New Varieties Development & Management Corp.

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