Cold Hardy Citrus Association (CHCA) growers predicted this year’s harvest would be favorable at the season’s start, and groves are producing beyond those early expectations. “We are seeing good quality, bigger size and lots of volume left to pick on trees, especially for satsumas,” said CHCA President Kim Jones. CHCA represents growers, handlers, shippers and allied businesses in North Florida, South …
Citrus Breeder: Growers Need to Think More Out of the Box
If cold-hardy citrus growers diversified their crops and not put all of their eggs in the satsuma basket, it would provide them a better chance at long-term sustainability. It would allow producers an opportunity to combat the negative national stigma concerning citrus juices, says Jude Grosser, a professor of plant cell genetics at the University of Florida Institute of Food …
Sweet Valley Citrus Ahead of Schedule This Season
Citrus producers in the Sweet Valley Citrus region are about a week or two ahead of schedule this season. The area consists of a tri-state zone in North Florida, South Alabama and South Georgia. Grower Kim Jones attributes the accelerated harvest this year to the cooler temperatures the region received during October. Jones, president of the Cold Hardy Citrus Association, …
Growers in Northern Regions Whetting Consumer Appetites
Citrus production in North Florida, South Georgia and South Alabama continues to expand rapidly. That increased production led to a successful marketing year for producers, says grower Kim Jones, who owns a citrus packing facility in Monticello, Florida, and is part-owner of a similar facility in Tifton, Georgia. “We’re selling every piece of fruit we pulled into both sheds this …
Row Crop Farmers Starting to Grow Citrus
Citrus acreage continues to increase across the North Florida, South Georgia and South Alabama regions. Interest has expanded to large row crop farmers, who see citrus as a viable alternative crop, said Kim Jones at the Feb. 17 Citrus Health Forum meeting at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences North Florida Research and Education Center. Jones …
Packinghouse Day Updates: Greasy Green Disorder and Cold Hardy Citrus
Updates on the so-called greasy green disorder and the Cold Hardy Citrus Association were presented at the virtual Packinghouse Day on Aug. 26. GREASY GREENThe greasy green disorder affecting fruit primarily in Florida’s Indian River region has “been getting worse the past two seasons,” researcher Mark Ritenour reported. Ritenour is a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural …
Georgia Citrus Up-and-Coming
By Ernie Neff Georgia’s fledgling citrus industry recently formed the state’s first citrus association with a retired federal law enforcement agent leading the way. “We are pioneers in this,” says Lindy Savelle, president of the Georgia Citrus Association (GCA). Indeed they are pioneers. Extension agent Jake Price for Lowndes County, Georgia, reports that about 40 growers had 150 citrus acres …
Management of the Invasive Peanut Snail in Citrus
Two University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) researchers and an Extension agent authored an article in the Cold Hardy Citrus Connection about the invasive peanut snail in citrus. The authors are Xavier Martini, associate professor of entomology; Issac Esquivel, assistant professor of entomology; and Extension agent Danielle Williams. Excerpts follow. Bulimulus bonariensis (also known as Bulimulus …
CITRUS NURSERY SOURCE: Strong Support for Cold-Hardy Citrus Growers
By Peter Chaires The citrus research program at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) North Florida Research and Education Center (NFREC) includes several projects aimed at assisting growers in the cold-hardy citrus region. Let’s take a look at what researchers are working on. EVALUATING SCIONS AND ROOTSTOCKS Presently, the citrus industry in North Florida faces …
CITRUS NURSERY SOURCE: Implications of New Citrus-Producing States
After Alabama was recently designated a “citrus-producing state,” there were questions on how this might impact the movement of citrus plant material and fruit. Citrus Nursery Source reached out to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) Division of Plant Industry and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Plant Protection and Quarantine (USDA-APHIS-PPQ) …
Potassium and Silicon Improve Cold Hardiness
By Muhammad Shahid Winter freeze is the main threat to the emerging citrus industry in North Florida, South Georgia and Southeast Alabama. Growers use microsprinkler irrigation as a freeze-protection strategy to protect the graft union of young trees, but it is not very effective in protecting aboveground plant parts in established trees. PLANT PROTECTIONUse of stress-mitigating substances could be an …
H-2A Wage Rates to Rise Again
Florida’s adverse effect wage rate (AEWR), the minimum wage for H-2A agricultural workers, is estimated to climb 3% in 2024. Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association (FFVA) reported the new Florida AEWR is estimated to be $14.77 per hour. Georgia’s AEWR is expected to rise 7%. Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA) reported Georgia’s new AEWR is estimated to be …
Season’s Expectations for Cold-Hardy Citrus
High quality and low quantity are in store for this year’s cold-hardy citrus crop in eastern Alabama, southern Georgia and the Florida Panhandle. Too many natural disasters negated the volume of this year’s crop load, according to Lindy Savelle, president of the Georgia Citrus Association and member of the Georgia Citrus Commission. “We had a freeze, and then we had …
UGA Citrus Research Benefits From Freeze
Research in South Georgia cold-hardy citrus requires freezing temperatures for studies to be effective. When temperatures dropped below freezing for multiple days around Christmas last year, it allowed Jake Price, University of Georgia (UGA) Lowndes County Extension coordinator, to conduct extensive research into various citrus varieties and rootstocks. He discussed his research during a citrus meeting in early August. “We’ve …
Early Reports: Citrus Fared Well in Idalia
The cold-hardy citrus region endured another test of Mother Nature on Wednesday with Hurricane Idalia moving through the Southeast. One industry expert is optimistic that the area’s trees survived this latest challenge. “I am happy to report that citrus in Georgia appears to have fared very well,” said grower Lindy Savelle, president of the Georgia Citrus Association and member of the …
Developing Management for a New Snail Pest
By Lauren Diepenbrock A recently established snail species, Bulimulus bonariensis (also known as Bulimulus sporadicus), has been growing in population throughout the Southeast for the past few years. Growers first reported concerns about this snail in 2020 when they found the pest covering microjets and interfering with irrigation in the late spring/early summer (Figure 1). At the time, it was …
Minimal Crop Expected in Cold-Hardy Citrus Region
Citrus harvests are just a few months away for growers in the cold-hardy citrus region of eastern Alabama, southern Georgia and the Florida Panhandle. Unfortunately, those harvests will be reduced to about 25% of the normal crop, according to industry leaders. The Christmas freeze event devastated this year’s crop in the region. Kim Jones, who grows and packs citrus in …
PIECES OF THE PAST: Centennial Celebrations
By Brenda Eubanks Burnette Gap Kovach, formerly head of HESCO, recently sent me a surprise packet of goodies for the Citrus Archives that included citrus labels, the 1986 Miss Florida Citrus program and the Winter Park Public Library 1985 calendar. The calendar was in honor of the library’s centennial celebration and featured numerous Florida citrus crate labels “as a salute …
The Seasonal Satsuma Bottleneck
The short timeframe for satsuma mandarins to be harvested and sold in the fall created a bottleneck of supply around the Thanksgiving holiday in 2022. An excess supply led to a challenge for growers attempting to sell their fruit when demand diminished, according to Kim Jones, who grows and packs citrus in Florida and Georgia. “The week of Thanksgiving when …
Satsumas Look ‘Pretty Darn Good’ Post-freeze
Satsumas in the Sweet Valley Citrus region appear to have aced their first test of multiple days of subfreezing temperatures. It is still a wait-and-see approach with other varieties, however. One grower was extremely optimistic about satsumas, the cold-hardy mandarins that look to have survived December temperatures in the teens. “Satsumas are pretty darn good. We lost some leaves, got …