Florida CUPS: From a Small Plot of Potted Plants to 1,500 Acres

When University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Professor Arnold Schumann started a citrus under protective screen (CUPS) plot in Florida in 2014, the grapefruit trees were in above-ground pots. The plot at the Citrus Research and Education Center was on 1.33 acres that included 1 acre of planted citrus.

After five years, the grapefruit trees on U.S. 897 and Sour Orange rootstocks were rootbound and producing small fruit. In January 2022, Schumann and fellow researchers replanted the trees in soil, the practice used in conventional Florida citrus groves.

With Schumann’s experimental plot showing success in the face of HLB, commercial citrus growers began planting Florida citrus for the fresh market in CUPS. In an Aug. 7 virtual presentation, Schumann estimated that commercial CUPS facilities now house 1,500 acres of Florida citrus, producing about 1.2 million boxes of fruit per year and revenue of $30 million.

The largest CUPS producer in Florida is Dundee Citrus Growers Association. Schumann reported that Dundee’s CUPS project had less than 2% fruit drop in 2023–24. That’s much lower than the fruit drop found in Florida groves since HLB began devastating the state’s citrus in 2005. Excluding HLB-spreading psyllids and taking other measures to mitigate HLB were prime reasons for the establishment of CUPS in Florida.

Schumann’s presentation about CUPS was titled “Breaking the HLB Cycle: CUPS as a Practical Solution for Sustainable Citrus Production.” It included details on the strong performance of CUPS, as well as additional information on the sweet spot for CUPS size, a new CUPS artificial intelligence tool and more. Mongi Zekri, Southwest Florida multi-county UF/IFAS citrus Extension agent, hosted the presentation.