citrus

All In For Citrus Podcast, March 2020

Taylor HillmanAll In For Citrus Podcast

The March episode of the All In For Citrus podcast covers how the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Citrus Research and Education Center (CREC) is operating under COVID-19 restrictions and some of the research that continues. CREC Center Director Michael Rogers starts the episode with the impacts COVID-19 is having on the citrus research team …

researchers

Even in Times of Crisis, Citrus Research Continues

Daniel CooperCitrus Greening, Industry News Release, Research

(UF/IFAS) —The coronavirus has upended daily routines, events and schedules. From work to schools to shopping, every aspect of life changed overnight and continues to change with each passing day. Even with a global pandemic, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) citrus researchers plow forward in their quest to find answers to fighting the devastating disease …

Effect of Planting Density and Enhanced Nutrition on Grapefruit

Tacy CalliesNutrition

By Rhuanito Soranz Ferrarezi, Dinesh Phuyal, Davie Kadyampakeni and Kelly Morgan The Indian River District is the world’s premier grapefruit production region due to a warm, ocean-facing humid climate and Flatwoods soils. The geographical location leads to the production of fruit with thin rinds and exceptional juice and color that has been a high-value export delicacy in Europe and Asia. …

Hemp Advice: Start Small, Be Cautious

Ernie NeffAlternative Crops

There are numerous challenges facing potential growers of industrial hemp in Florida, said Jerry Fankhauser at the recent Florida Agricultural Policy Outlook Conference. Fankhauser is assistant director of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station and lead oversight manager of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Industrial Hemp Pilot Project. Researchers involved in the project are looking …

Root Hair Enhancement With Low Phosphorus Concentrations

Tacy CalliesNutrition

By Laura Waldo and Arnold Schumann It has been the accepted belief for many years that citrus varieties and rootstocks do not develop root hairs. However, research has shown that root hair growth can be stimulated when soil phosphorus (P) concentrations are extremely low. It is possible that in Florida, citrus roots could fail to produce root hairs due to …

crop forecast

March Citrus Crop Forecast Sees Slight Decreases

Daniel CooperCrop Forecast

Mark Hudson of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA/NASS) reported the latest update to the 2019-2020 citrus crop forecast on March 10. Non-Valencia Oranges The Florida non-Valencia forecast is lowered 1 million boxes to 30 million boxes. The row count survey conducted Feb. 25-26 showed 98 percent of the early-midseason rows are harvested. California remained at …

acp

Advice for Psyllid/HLB Control

Ernie NeffHLB Management, Psyllids

Even with the virtually 100 percent level of HLB infection found in Florida citrus trees, reducing Asian citrus psyllids improves tree health and yield, entomologist Lukasz Stelinski says. Stelinski is a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) professor at the Citrus Research and Education Center.   Stelinski reports that trials the late UF/IFAS researcher Phil Stansly …

sales

Florida Grove Sales and Prices Reported

Ernie NeffMarket

SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler Real Estate summarized Florida citrus land sales in 2019 during the company’s annual Land Conference Feb. 27-28. Company founder and managing director Dean Saunders pointed out that citrus acreage in Florida is approximately half of its pre-HLB disease level. He said the 300 boxes of production that are now considered good would have been a …

Sneak Peek: March 2020 Citrus Industry Magazine

Tacy CalliesSneak 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, …

Florida citrus growers

Keeping Citrus Greening out of Georgia Groves

Tacy CalliesCitrus Greening, Georgia

By Clint Thompson Citrus greening disease is not yet a problem in Georgia. Jonathan Oliver, University of Georgia (UGA) assistant professor and small fruits pathologist, wants to keep it that way. The disease that has impacted citrus production in Florida for more than a decade has only been observed in backyard plantings in Georgia. However, since the state is expected …

Citrus Leprosis Poses a Threat to Florida

Tacy CalliesDiseases

By Amit Levy, Ozgur Batuman, Peggy Sieburth and Lauren Diepenbrock Citrus leprosis is an exotic viral disease not currently present in Florida. This disease is of interest since it was reported in citrus in Florida and Brazil in the early 1900s, where it caused great crop and tree losses, but it was eliminated from Florida in the early 1960s. Currently, …

orange

Florida Citrus Forecast: Grapefruit Up, Oranges Down

Daniel CooperCrop Forecast

The 2019–2020 citrus crop forecast released Feb. 11 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) showed changes for Florida orange and grapefruit production levels. ORANGES The February forecast for Florida oranges is 2 million boxes lower than last month’s figures. However, if realized, the Florida all-orange forecast of 72 million boxes will be up slightly from last season’s final production. …

Planning for Foliar Disease Management in 2020

Tacy CalliesDiseases

By Megan Dewdney and Evan Johnson In 2019, the trend of fewer problems with foliar fungal diseases for Florida citrus continued, which was good news for the industry. Despite the El Niño conditions during the spring, little postbloom fruit drop (PFD) was observed because the temperatures were low (< 75 F) when it rained during bloom. The southern parts of …

trained

Trained Dogs Are the Most Efficient Way to Hunt Citrus Industry’s Biggest Threat

Daniel CooperCitrus Greening, HLB Management, Industry News Release

(USDA/ARS) — Dogs specially trained by Agriculture Research Service (ARS) scientists have proven to be the most efficient way to detect huanglongbing— also known as citrus greening — according to a paper just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Currently, the only solid hope of curtailing the spread of citrus greening is to eliminate trees with the …

Georgia Citrus Association to Host Annual Conference

Tacy CalliesGeorgia

By Clint Thompson Georgia growers interested in adding citrus to their farming operation are invited to the fourth annual Georgia Citrus Association Conference on Monday, Feb. 24, at the University of Georgia (UGA) Tifton Campus Conference Center. Scientists from UGA and the University of Florida, as well as producers who are already growing citrus trees, will be in attendance to …

nutrition

CRDF Acts on Bayer HLB Effort

Ernie NeffHLB Management

The Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) on Jan. 28 did its part to continue a Bayer Crop Science effort to develop new technologies to combat HLB. “What we agreed to do was partner with the California Citrus Research Board (CRB), Pepsi and Coca-Cola and share equally in the costs (of continuing the HLB effort) for another six months,” said …

citrus

All In For Citrus Podcast, January 2020

Taylor HillmanAll In For Citrus Podcast

The first episode of the year of the All In For Citrus Podcast includes efforts to get research information out to growers, threshold numbers on production costs that are a little shocking with current juice prices the way they are, nutrition programs that continue to help manage HLB-affected trees, and breeding work to solve citrus challenges. Senior Correspondent-at-Large Ernie Neff …

planting

HLB: Learning From Brazil

Ernie NeffHLB Management

University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) researcher Rhuanito (Johnny) Ferrarezi reports on a trip to Brazil to learn about HLB control methods. Ferrarezi, who works at the UF/IFAS Indian River Research and Education Center, made the trip with former multi-county citrus Extension agent Steve Futch. “Their disease incidence is way lower than in Florida,” Ferrarezi says. …

Florida

Georgia Citrus Industry Gaining Ground

Tacy CalliesCitrus, Georgia

By Clint Thompson Georgia’s citrus industry is expected to double in acreage by the end of 2020, according to Lindy Savelle, president of the Georgia Citrus Association. The projected increase from 1,000 to nearly 2,000 acres this year presents the growers with an interesting challenge as they prepare for when these trees start producing fruit. “We project by the end …

Citrus Pest Management: More Than Just Psyllids

Tacy CalliesPests

By Lauren Diepenbrock Non-psyllid, soft-bodied insects are common in Florida citrus. Their ability to cause damage varies by pest, pest population size, tree age and tree variety. Soft-bodied insects include scales, mealybugs, whiteflies and aphids, all of which are small and can be hard to detect until the telltale sign of sooty mold development appears on their excrement (honeydew) or …