“I don’t think there were any real surprises in the report today,” Indian River area grower and packer Cody Estes says in response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s report that Florida citrus acreage tumbled 4 percent. Florida acreage is now at 480,121, the lowest number since tracking began in 1966. “Hopefully with the anti-microbial treatments that are going on, …
Planting New Groves in the Face of HLB
Planting new groves in the face of HLB has become a daunting task for Florida growers. At the recent Citrus Expo, University of Florida researcher Ute Albrecht offered suggestions for those taking on the challenge. “Among the important things to consider when planting new groves are the site preparation, the planting of the trees, weed management, irrigation and nutrition, and …
Evaluation of HLB Treatments
By Stephanie Slinski Evaluating how well bactericides, nutritional programs or other treatments work against HLB can be difficult. Symptoms are not uniform between trees in a grove, and tree health fluctuates throughout the season, which may give the appearance of an effect. Rigorous field trials are the best way to test new treatments, but not every treatment program can be …
Trees Look Good but PFD and HLB Will Impact Yield
Several citrus growers attending a grower forum in Sebring last week said groves are looking very good even though fruit production is expected to be low this season. John Barben, a Highlands County grower and the new president of Florida Citrus Mutual, summarized the situation. “Trees are looking good,” Barben said. “We had a lot of rain the last couple …
HLB and ‘Tolerance’ as a Practical Matter in Choosing Rootstocks
By Bill Castle (Editor’s note: Click on the graphs throughout the article to enlarge them.) By classic biological definition, a particular citrus rootstock-scion combination when infected with Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) would be considered tolerant if infected trees had no more than slight reductions in performance, sometimes accompanied by a reduced level of the pathogen. That definition implies that the …
EPA Approves KPHITE® RX Systemic Bactericide for HLB Control
Florida-based Plant Food Systems announced that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the use of KPHITE® RX Systemic Bactericide for the control of HLB or citrus greening. The approval was granted based on research conducted by a panel of researchers demonstrating that the use of KPHITE® RX and Renew® RX reduces the effects of greening on citrus crops. Further field …
Research on HLB-Tolerant Varieties Conducted in Gainesville
Research on HLB-tolerant trees and better citrus varieties is being conducted in Gainesville, outside the Florida citrus belt. University of Florida scientist Jose Chaparro discusses the work. “In Gainesville we have essentially the youngest citrus breeding program in Florida,” Chaparro says. “In the future, we hope to be able to provide both HLB and canker resistance in our selections.” Such …
HLB Playbook for Growers in the Works
Michael Rogers, director of the University of Florida’s Citrus Research and Education Center, discussed the planned HLB Playbook at the recent Citrus Expo. The playbook should be available in print and on the Internet by January. Rogers says the playbook will feature “all the information we know about managing citrus groves in the face of HLB and how growers can …
Bactericide Survey Results Summary
By Stephanie Slinski and Harold Browning (Editor’s note: Click on the graphs throughout the article to enlarge them.) Bactericides have been available to growers as a new tool to improve the health of HLB-infected trees since early March 2016. This use has been under a crisis declaration from the Florida commissioner of agriculture, but on August 15 of this year, …
Panel on Bactericides for HLB Summarized
Harold Browning, chief operating officer of the Citrus Research and Development Foundation, summarizes a Citrus Expo panel in which four growers discussed their use of bactericides for HLB. The bactericides became available for use for HLB this spring. “They’re kind of working in the dark,” Browning says of the panelists and other growers trying bactericides. “They’re having to test and …
Snively Discusses Use of Bactericides for HLB
Jim Snively of Southern Gardens Citrus says his company is trying bactericides for HLB on one-tenth of its 10,000 citrus acres. The company is working with the Citrus Research and Development Foundation to analyze fruit drop, tree condition and more in blocks treated with bactericides. He believes it will take two to three years to determine if the bactericides are …
Thank You for Another Great Year
Dear Growers, Industry Members and Friends: On behalf of everyone at Citrus Expo, we would like to extend our appreciation to all attendees, exhibitors and sponsors of this year’s event. We are overwhelmed with the generosity and support from all levels of participants that joined us this year. The Citrus Expo Shindig, held on Wednesday night, allowed everyone to relax …
Bactericide Research Appears Promising
U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist Bob Shatters updated Citrus Expo seminar attendees on results from ongoing bactericide research trials. He was among the many speakers who discussed tools for HLB in the seminar program. “The first year of applications, we were detecting reductions in the bacterial population of the plant,” Shatters said. “And we did see that continue after the …
EPA Approves Temporary Use of Bactericides for HLB
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week approved the temporary use of three bactericides on HLB-infected citrus trees. Florida citrus growers had already been using the products this year because Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam issued a crisis declaration allowing their use. Citrus Research and Development Foundation Chief Operations Officer Harold Browning announced the EPA decision at Citrus …
Post-Bloom Fruit Drop Survey
A Citrus Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) Research Management Committee meeting was called on June 29, 2016, to discuss post-bloom fruit drop (PFD) caused by Colletotricum spp. in Florida. In this meeting, it was suggested that there is an opportunity to retrospectively investigate PFD management strategies from 2016 to determine if grower treatment programs led to variable results. A survey …
UF/IFAS Scientists Zeroing in on Better Mandarins
In their quest to develop higher quality mandarins, University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) researchers are zeroing in on the traits that will help them breed the best fruit. Last year, they released the mandarin cultivar currently known as ‘7-6-27,’ which UF/IFAS researchers say is soaring with interest, and with more than 100,000 trees already ordered. Sponsored …
HLB Experiences and Thoughts Shared
Tom Stopyra, technical crop advisor for The Packers of Indian River, shares experiences with HLB and offers opinions on numerous other topics he addressed at a recent seminar in Immokalee. Regarding the record high populations of HLB-spreading psyllids throughout Florida’s citrus belt this year, Stopyra says: “We’ve never seen populations like we have this year, even though we’ve been spraying …
Record Psyllid Levels and the Good CHMAs Do
Populations of HLB-spreading Asian citrus psyllids have been at record levels since April, University of Florida Citrus Health Management Area (CHMA) Program Coordinator Brandon Page told growers at a recent seminar in Immokalee. Page thinks abandoned groves that aren’t sprayed and therefore harbor psyllids are part of the reason for the recent population increase. “I think we’re also seeing money …
Florida Producers Invited to UF Agriculture and Gardening Day
Anyone with ties to the agricultural industry is encouraged to get tickets for 2016 Agriculture and Gardening Day at the University of Florida Gators homecoming football game October 15th. Dr. Jack Payne, UF senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources, hopes farmers and ranchers from across the state will attend. Sponsored ContentTake the Sting Out …
Moving Murcott from the Top of the Tree to the Bottom
By Bill Castle and Luiz A.B.C. Vasconcellos Maybe it’s time to try a scion as a rootstock! Murcott is widely known as a scion variety, but it might be an interesting rootstock based on grower experience in Brazil as well as rootstock trial results and some commercial use in Florida. Mandarin rootstocks and their hybrids have generally good horticultural traits, especially …