pests

HLB Alters Nutrition Needs

Ernie NeffHLB Management, Nutrition

Yield and fruit size are not good measurements of the nutrition needs of HLB-affected trees, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) researchers have discovered. “So we decided to go with something that’s fruit independent for the study,” says UF/IFAS scientist Arnold Schumann of the Citrus Research and Education Center at Lake Alfred. Schumann says he and …

Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Consortium Get Grant for HLB Research

Tacy CalliesResearch

A Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientist at Weslaco will lead a consortium of researchers in major citrus-producing regions to conduct high-throughput screening in discovering antimicrobials that could prevent citrus greening. Citrus greening, also known as huanglongbing (HLB) disease, has devastated citrus fruit crops in Florida and has made its way to Texas and California. The research grant of approximately $1.2 …

The Sweet Spot

Tacy Calliesplanting, Production, Rootstocks, Scions

Moderate spacing and medium tree size could be the quickest way Florida growers can return to producing 100 million boxes of oranges per year. By Pete Spyke, Bill Castle and Ed Stover The Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC) recently released the results of a study originally titled “Restoring Florida’s Commercial Orange Tree Inventory: Economic Impacts of APS vs. Traditional Plantings.” …

Chaires Succeeds Chadwell at Citrus Administrative Committee

Ernie NeffCAC

Peter Chaires will succeed Arthur B. (Duke) Chadwell as manager of the Citrus Administrative Committee (CAC) on Aug. 1. Chadwell, who has managed the committee since January 1987, will retire today. Chaires becomes the fourth manager of the committee in its 80-year existence. He is also executive vice president of Florida Citrus Packers and executive director of New Varieties Development …

fungus

Scientists Use Fungus to Manage Asian Citrus Psyllids

Daniel CooperCitrus, Industry News Release, Psyllids, Research

  Fighting plant disease with jet blast sprays is standard practice for citrus growers. But, to spray a fungus to control a single insect that carries a disease-causing pathogen is uncommon. University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) and Florida Research Center for Agricultural Sustainability researchers have begun to test an insect-killing fungus applied with horticultural oil …

Black Discusses New CRDF Chief Operations Officer

Ernie NeffCRDF

Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) President Larry Black discusses the organization’s recent selection of Winter Haven attorney and former state legislator Rick Dantzler as chief operations officer. “Rick wasn’t part of the original candidate pool, but his name emerged in recent weeks as a strong candidate, a good leader,” Black says. “He had a great track record as the …

PIECES OF THE PAST: Remembering O.C. Minton

Tacy CalliesHistory

By Brenda Eubanks Burnette I was in Fort Pierce recently doing interviews for an oral history project and ran across some interesting photos and information on O.C. Minton, who was inducted into the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame in 1982. A hard worker who was totally dedicated to the Florida citrus industry, Minton’s defining moments came when fighting for identification …

HLB

New CRDF Leader Discusses HLB Battle

Ernie NeffCRDF, HLB Management

Moments after being chosen on July 24 as the next chief operations officer of the Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF), Rick Dantzler declared the industry will “whip” HLB. He chose Aug. 15 as his first day of work so he can meet many growers at Citrus Expo. “I wanted my first day on the job to be with citrus …

Sneak Peek: August 2018 Citrus Industry Magazine

Tacy CalliesCitrus Expo, Sneak Peek

At the center of the August issue of Citrus Industry magazine is the Citrus Expo show guide. Readers will find everything they need to know about Florida’s leading agricultural event. This year, Citrus Expo is expanding its reach to include vegetable and specialty crop growers. The Citrus Expo seminar and trade show is August 15–16 at the Lee Civic Center …

hurricane

Lawmakers Sign Off on Money for Citrus Farmers

Daniel CooperCitrus, hurricane, Industry News Release

Gov. Rick Scott said the state will “soon” begin accepting applications from citrus farmers whose crops and groves were damaged by Hurricane Irma, after the Joint Legislative Budget Commission accepted $357 million in federal funding for the industry on July 19. “It’s great that the LBC approved this funding today,” Scott tweeted. “We look forward to continuing to work with …

Update on Premier’s HLB Efforts

Ernie NeffBactericides, HLB Management

Harold Browning with Premier Citrus ApZ updates his company’s efforts to make bactericides more effective against HLB. He says Premier is “trying to move to commercialization as quickly as possible a technology to improve the absorption of materials that would kill HLB bacteria in infected trees.” “One of the challenges we face in trying to get materials into the phloem …

Move Your Jets

Tacy CalliesIrrigation

By Marshall Hartley At Florida Southern College, I remember doing an experiment using a large washtub with holes in the bottom. We filled the tub with very dry sand and then poured 1 inch of water over the sand and let it soak in. The water did not travel through the sand evenly. Instead, the water would find one area …

psyllids

Research on Heat Treatment, Bactericide Uptake

Ernie NeffBactericides

A University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researcher reports on an experiment to see if treating trees with heat would enhance the uptake of a bactericide commonly used for HLB. “We treated trees that were not HLB infected, so this wasn’t looking at the efficacy of heat treatment against HLB,” says scientist Christopher Vincent, who works at …

Greening

Steve Smith Named New Leader of Gulf Citrus Growers Association

Tacy CalliesIndustry News Release

Steven M. “Steve” Smith has been named executive vice president/general manager of the Gulf Citrus Growers Association (GCGA). He will begin his employment at GCGA on Aug. 1, 2018. Smith previously was employed by Alico, Inc., Babcock Ranch Management and the Peace River Valley Citrus Growers Association, where he served as executive director. Smith is a graduate of the University …

hlb

Ted Yoho: Citrus Greening Research Funding Is Imperative

Abbey TaylorCitrus, Citrus Greening, Farm Bill

The House and the Senate have passed their versions of the farm bill. Now it is time for appointed legislators to hammer out the details for the final version of the bill. Ted Yoho, U.S. Congressman and member of the House Committee on Agriculture, believes that including funding for citrus greening is vital for the Florida citrus industry. Yoho recently …

Grower Discusses Hurricane Relief Funds

Ernie Neffhurricane

Vic Story was one of hundreds of growers who attended Florida Citrus Mutual-sponsored meetings in early July describing how Hurricane Irma relief funding will work. “We got hit pretty hard in places last year, and we didn’t pick as much fruit as we thought we were going to, especially earlies (early-season oranges),” Story says. “And so, we can use some …

The Economics of Planting Density in the HLB Era

Ernie Neffplanting

University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researcher Ariel Singerman led efforts to analyze the economic viability of planting at different tree densities under endemic HLB conditions. The analysis describes the establishment and production costs of a new grove for three tree planting densities under different market conditions. “Excel files containing the analysis and a companion file describing …

aphis

Final Citrus Forecast of the 2017-18 Season

Tacy CalliesCrop Forecast

The 2017-2018 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Florida citrus forecast for July is unchanged from June. The all-orange forecast remains at 45 million boxes. The total is comprised of 19 million boxes of non-Valencia oranges (early, midseason, and Navel varieties) and 26 million boxes of Valencia oranges. All-Florida grapefruit production is unchanged at 3.88 million boxes. Of the total grapefruit …

Using Soil Moisture Sensors for Citrus Irrigation

Tacy CalliesIrrigation, Technology

By Arnold Schumann, Laura Waldo, Davie Kadyampakeni, Rhuanito Ferrarezi and Chris Oswalt Florida citrus trees may require irrigation throughout the year due to the extremely sandy soils with low water-holding capacities, and the warm subtropical climate with distinct drought periods in spring. A soil water sensor system can provide the most reliable data for effective citrus irrigation scheduling in these …

psyllid

Overcoming Psyllids’ Resistance to Insecticides

Ernie NeffHLB Management, Psyllids

University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researcher Lukasz Stelinski talks about the insecticide resistance that HLB-spreading psyllids develop and how to manage it. “There is insecticide resistance in Florida for Asian citrus psyllids,” Stelinski says. “It’s a phenomenon that occurs statewide, but in isolated areas.” “We actually have the tools and the knowledge to practice insecticide resistance …