Georgia Citrus Conference to Be Online

Ernie Neff Georgia

Due to COVID-19, the 2021 Georgia Citrus Association (GCA) Conference will not be held in person. Instead, the GCA is launching a new website and membership platform. This state-of-the-art tool will allow members to view presentations by experts at any time. Topics include weed management, citrus diseases and disorders, testing for diseases, precision agriculture, crop insurance, cold protection and the …

Keep Your Pesticide License Current

Tacy Callies Tip of the Week

By Ajia Paolillo Do you hold a Florida restricted-use pesticide (RUP) license? With the new year approaching, this is a great time to review the continuing education units (CEUs) that you have earned toward the renewal of your RUP license. Your license comes up for renewal every four years, and it is easy to forget about this with everything we …

Herbicides: What to Mix and What Not to Mix

Tacy Callies Herbicides, Tip of the Week

By Ramdas Kanissery Tank-mixing different herbicides with multiple selectivity and modes of action will broaden the range of weeds controlled in a single application. Although it is an effective and popular strategy, when components (herbicide products and spray additives) in the tank mixes are not compatible with each other, the resulting combination can produce unintended and unsuccessful results. THINK BEFORE …

Enhancing Soil Health With Cover Crops

Tacy Callies Cover Crops, Soil Improvement

By Sarah Strauss, Antonio Castellano-Hinojosa, Davie Kadyampakeni, Ramdas Kanissery and Tara Wade Soil health is generally synonymous with soil quality and refers to the capacity of a soil to sustain biological productivity, maintain environmental quality and promote plant health. Soils are complicated ecosystems, and discussions of soil health must consider the links between soil functions and soil-based ecosystem services, such …

Understanding the Fate and Persistence of Herbicides in Soils

Tacy Callies Herbicides, soil

By Ramdas Kanissery, Rachel Fenn, Biwek Gairhe and Davie Kadyampakeni Chemical weed control, using herbicides to manage weeds, is an important production practice in citrus groves. Herbicides applied in groves can end up in the soils from direct spray hits, indirect or non-target spray movement (also known as drifts) or release from the dead weeds and vegetation. In soil, the …

Sneak Peek: October 2020 Citrus Industry

Tacy Callies Sneak Peek

Get the dirt on soil in the October 2020 issue of Citrus Industry magazine! Soil is not the most glamorous subject, but it’s one that seems to be getting more attention in the citrus industry lately. As citrus growers work to keep trees productive in the HLB era, they are implementing practices to improve soil health. Providing roots with a …

Growers Sustain Losses

Ernie Neff Economics

Not many watching a recent virtual Citrus Expo presentation were surprised by Ariel Singerman’s declaration that “taking into account total cost, on average, growers sustained a loss” in the 2019-20 Florida citrus season. Singerman, a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences economist, pegged the average per-acre losses at $1,606 for early-midseason oranges and $1,254 for Valencias. Singerman …

Kanissery Wins Extension Award

Ernie Neff Awards

University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) weed scientist Ramdas Kanissery has earned a Dallas Townsend Extension Professional and Enhancement Award. Kanissery works at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center (SWFREC) in Immokalee. “The award recognizes a state Extension specialist for demonstrating an outstanding ability to plan and implement Extension programs that address needs that have …

Sneak Peek: September 2020 Citrus Industry

Tacy Callies Sneak Peek

In just two days, more than 1,100 Citrus Expo participants viewed 28 educational videos. If you didn’t get a chance to visit the virtual Citrus, Vegetable & Specialty Crop Expo on Aug. 19–20, you can find highlights from the event in the September issue of Citrus Industry magazine. The educational videos will remain on the Citrus Expo website through the …

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Snails Posing Problems in Florida Groves

Ernie Neff Pests

A snail causing problems in Highlands County and South Florida groves “appears to be popping up all over the state,” said entomologist Lauren Diepenbrock. The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) researcher identified the snails as Bulimulus sporadicus. “It was first documented in Florida in 2009,” Diepenbrock said. “Citrus is not the only crop to be …

Alternatives to Glyphosate in Groves

Ernie Neff weeds

There are good reasons glyphosate is the most popular herbicide in U.S. citrus groves, but there are also concerns about its use, says Ramdas Kanissery. Because of the concerns, the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences weed scientist suggests alternatives that growers can consider. Kanissery discusses glyphosate and its alternatives in a presentation originally intended for the …

Juice Imports, Fruit Prices and Production Costs

Ernie Neff Economics

In a recent presentation titled “Juice Imports, Fruit Prices and Cost of Production,” Ariel Singerman provided the price and yield required to break even growing oranges in Southwest Florida. “Average cultural cost of $1,847 requires prices for E&M (early and mid) and Valencias to be $2.31 and $2.01 per pound solids, respectively, just to break even,” the University of Florida …

Sneak Peek: April 2020 Citrus Industry Magazine

Tacy Callies Sneak Peek

As everyone strives to stay healthy amid the coronavirus crisis, the April issue of Citrus Industry magazine focuses on another kind of health — young tree health. In the first of four articles focused on practices for planting new trees, University of Florida (UF) researchers Ozgur Batuman and Megan Dewdney give growers advice on what to watch for when receiving …

Sneak Peek: March 2020 Citrus Industry Magazine

Tacy Callies Sneak Peek

The March issue of Citrus Industry magazine focuses on fertilization and other production practices to keep citrus trees healthy. Tripti Vashisth’s article summarizes a three-year University of Florida (UF) study that looked at 10 different controlled-release fertilizer treatments in two different locations. The research results revealed that when it comes to citrus nutrition, one size does not fit all. Surprisingly, …

Farewell to Futch

Tacy Callies Citrus

After 34 years of faithful service to citrus growers, University of Florida Extension agent Steve Futch readies for retirement. By Tacy Callies Steve Futch’s Florida citrus roots sprouted more than a century ago. His great-grandfather owned a Wauchula grove in about 1905. As a boy, Futch’s first hands-on citrus experience was hoeing trees in the family orange groves. Later, he …

Cover Crops for Citrus

Tacy Callies Cover Crops

By Sarah Strauss, Davie Kadyampakeni, Ramdas Kanissery, Tara Wade, Lauren Diepenbrock and Juanita Popenoe Cover crops are specific crops not intended for sale but for soil improvement and sustainability. They are increasingly common in the agricultural fields of the Midwest and other grain-producing regions because of the wide range of benefits not just for the soil, but also the cash …

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All In For Citrus Podcast, March 2019

Taylor Hillman All In For Citrus Podcast

March’s All In For Citrus podcast brings multiple citrus research updates to Florida’s citrus growers. Listen to the latest episode of the All In For Citrus podcast. First, Michael Rogers, center director of the University of Florida’s (UF) Citrus Research and Education Center (CREC), discusses the upcoming Citrus Growers’ Institute. He discusses the planned seminar program, which is jam-packed with …

Sting Nematodes: A Growing Problem for Young Trees

Tacy Callies Pests

By Larry Duncan Successive hard freezes in Florida in the late 1980s resulted in widespread replanting of citrus groves. Within a few years, many groves on the Central Ridge had discrete patches of poorly growing, chlorotic young trees amid patches of vigorously growing trees. Stubby root symptoms on the declining trees suggested damage by sting nematodes (Belonolaimus longicaudatus). This nematode …

Taking Technology to the Grove

Tacy Callies CUPS, Technology

By Ernie Neff Jerry Mixon’s use of netting to keep birds from blueberries helped pique his interest in growing citrus under protective screen (CUPS) to exclude HLB-spreading psyllids. But he credits University of Florida researcher Arnold Schumann with helping him bring his Polk County CUPS project to fruition. Mixon met Schumann in 2015, the year after Schumann’s 1-acre CUPS was …

Sneak Peek: December 2018 Citrus Industry Magazine

Tacy Callies Sneak Peek

Looking for the phone number of your local citrus association? Need to connect with a fertilizer vendor? Or perhaps you want to send an email to your Extension agent? Find all of the industry contact information you need in the 2019 Citrus Guide. Citrus Industry magazine’s annual guide is a directory of citrus organizations, agencies, researchers, Extension agents and vendors. …