Fruit in the cold-hardy citrus region is expected to be in short supply next season due to the trees’ alternate bearing cycle. The fruit also could be too large to sell, creating another concern for growers heading into next season.
“Trees with a low crop load tend to have large fruit,” noted Mary Sutton, University of Georgia (UGA) assistant professor and citrus Extension specialist, in the UGA Citrus Blog. “In some cases, this fruit can be too large to market.”
That would be a tough pill to swallow for growers trying to make the most of what is expected to be a diminished crop. The December 2022 freeze led to trees being thrown into an extreme alternate bearing cycle. The crop load was subsequently very low in 2023. Trees had extra resources that were invested into what was a massive crop load for 2024. But now the trees are approaching that next season where they have to fall back to a low crop load to recover from a heavy load.
“If we only have a very small amount of fruit, we will definitely expect to see a much larger fruit size. Last year, on the trees I saw that had 400-plus pounds, I was surprised by how large those fruit were,” Sutton said. “Usually, if you have such a huge crop load, the fruit are going to be very small. That shows last year was a huge overabundance and overproduction.”
Alternate bearing refers to the tree’s tendency to produce a heavy crop followed by a light crop the following year. It is a common problem in multiple mandarin varieties. Very heavy years can be followed by one or more low seasons. It results in trees not producing as consistently as growers would prefer.
“Everyone was very excited to have a big year last year, but there was only so many places they could sell the fruit. You’d much rather have 300 pounds of fruit per tree every year than 600 one year and zero the next,” Sutton said.
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