Not far from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Citrus Research and Education Center (CREC) in Lake Alfred, Jason Griffin owns and operates a commercial citrus grove.
While commercial in nature, the grove also has become a working experiment for the CREC citrus breeders. Griffin has worked closely with UF/IFAS citrus breeder Jude Grosser to evaluate the line of OLL orange varieties he had developed over the years on various rootstocks.
Griffin has planted about 2,500 trees each year as part of the ongoing experiment. Recently, Griffin and Grosser hosted a field day to demonstrate the performance of various OLL varieties on different rootstocks.
Griffin joined the September All In For Citrus podcast to talk about the research in the grove and the field day. He discusses his observations in the grove and described two favorite combinations: OLL-8 on UFR-4 rootstock and OLL-20 on a X639 mutant rootstock. Both of these combinations have performed well and produced high-quality fruit.
He also describes the importance of a solid production program to promote tree health, yield and quality. His program includes slow-release encapsulated micronutrients as well as applications of compost and grinding/mulching of removed citrus trees. The addition of these amendments builds soil organic matter and improves water retention, he says.
When it comes to irrigation, Griffin believes in frequent and controlled doses of water to improve root uptake. He has also been applying trunk injection of oxytetracycline to reduce the HLB bacteria in trees.
Griffin attributes the success of the trees in his grove to the selection of HLB-tolerant scion/rootstock combinations, consistent fertilization and controlled irrigation.
To learn more about Griffin’s grove, don’t miss the September episode of the All In For Citrus podcast. The podcast is a partnership between UF/IFAS and AgNet Media.
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