The December All In For Citrus podcast episode includes Muhammad Shahid, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) assistant professor at the North Florida Research and Education Center. He discusses winter preparations for the cold-hardy citrus region. For an area where freezes are common, these are important considerations.
In addition to preparing for the cold, Shahid shares information about a new mandarin variety showing potential for the region. The variety is UF-1424, which has earned the nickname Greenie due to its tendency to not color up well in more southern regions. Despite its lack of orange color, it has been a favorite in fruit displays due to its other fruit characteristics and excellent, sweet flavor. In Shahid’s trials, the variety has averaged 14.5 Brix. It also is cold tolerant, easy to peel and has some tolerance to HLB.
According to Shahid, Greenie has colored up well in the cold-hardy region due to the cooler temperatures there. One concern has been how the fruit would run on packing lines due to its bell-shaped tip.
“For the past three years, I have observed that this a good variety candidate for this area,” Shahid said. “The fruit does have a small neck on the top, so the growers and packers were concerned that it might be a problem on the packing line. This season, I harvest about 700 pounds of the Greenie variety and ran the fruit on a collaborating citrus packer’s line. It went very well and not even a single fruit was ruptured.”
Don’t miss the latest All In For Citrus podcast to learn more about UF-1424 and get tips on how to prepare for winter and any freezes that come along. The podcast is a partnership between UF/IFAS and AgNet Media.
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