In Brazil’s São Paulo citrus belt, infections of fruit by black spot usually occur from petal fall, in September/October, until the end of the rainy season, usually in April. Black spot can reduce production by up to 85%. Some studies have shown that the amount of fungicide applications to control black spot can be established according to the orange variety. …
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 …
HLB Concerns Government Officials in Brazil
Brazil’s Fundecitrus on Feb. 15 participated in a meeting with state and local government representatives to discuss the country’s citrus greening (HLB) situation. Representatives of the Department of Agriculture and Supply (SAA) of the state of São Paulo and mayors of some municipalities in the citrus belt also attended. Mayors and representatives of city halls expressed concern about the economic …
Examining Hamlin Survivor Trees
By Gary England, Fred Gmitter and Manjul Dutt In 2014, most groves in Central Florida had citrus greening infection rates approaching 100%, but a Lake County grower reported that some trees in his Hamlin on Swingle blocks seemed to be relatively healthy. Some visual HLB symptoms were observed on these “surviving” trees, but they did not have the massive fall …
Pest Management Findings Shared
Foliar sprays of insecticides timed to citrus flushing provided a significant reduction in Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) populations compared to standard grower practices, researcher Jawwad Qureshi reported. Timing sprays to flushing also led to a reduction in sprays, the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences associate professor of entomology said in a virtual presentation on Feb. 22. …
BMP Updates Highlighted at Workshop
The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) hosted a water and nutrient management workshop at the Citrus Research and Education Center in mid-February. In addition to seminars, a grove tour was provided to demonstrate a nutrient-rate trial currently underway at the center. Kelly Morgan, UF/IFAS professor of crop nutrition, spoke on recent activity to update citrus …
Why There Is a Lack of HLB in Georgia
HLB has yet to become a major problem for Georgia’s citrus producers. Jonathan Oliver, University of Georgia assistant professor and small fruits pathologist, attributes the disease’s lack of presence in Georgia’s commercial groves to multiple factors. “It still comes down to the fact that, number one, you don’t see symptoms for a while. A lot of our trees are young,” …
There Is No Crystal Ball
By Ajia Paolillo There is no crystal ball when it comes to anything in life, including agriculture. Growers are at the mercy of Mother Nature’s glory and fury. Over time, the citrus industry has developed production techniques and practices to help during the hard times. Microsprinkler irrigation is used both to provide targeted, much needed water during bloom, fruit set …
OLL Sweet Oranges Producing Pre-HLB Fruit Quality
By Jude Grosser, Fred Gmitter and Maria Brenelli The new OLL (Orie and Louise Lee) series of sweet oranges (OLL-4, OLL-8 and OLL-20) are very high-quality processing sweet oranges that generally produce higher soluble solids and better juice color than Valencia. OLL trees are more vigorous than Valencia, and anecdotal evidence suggests they are slightly more HLB-tolerant than Valencia. Trees …
Alico Shares Quarterly Update
Alico Citrus harvested 841,000 boxes of early- and mid-season (early/mid) oranges for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2022. That’s a decrease of approximately 6.1% from the same period in the prior fiscal year. The company will complete harvesting of early/mid oranges in the current fiscal year. It said it will recognize an overall decrease in the number of early/mid …
Prepare for the Possibility of Postbloom Fruit Drop
By Megan M. Dewdney Postbloom fruit drop (PFD) is a sporadic flower disease. It is primarily caused by the fungus Colletotrichum acutatum. While infections only occur on flowers, the fungus is present on trees throughout the year. It survives by producing resting structures on leaves and stems. How the inoculum survives multiple years between infections is still unclear. The fungus …
Old Variety Gets a New Look
The Parson Brown is an early-season sweet orange that J.L. Carney identified in 1875. By the 1920s, the variety had become a popular cultivar among growers, but eventually plantings declined as Hamlin became the go-to selection for the early season. However, because of its apparent tolerance to HLB, Parson Brown is again stirring interest among growers. Manjul Dutt, assistant professor …
European Orange and OJ Production
European Union (EU) production of oranges and orange juice (OJ) are projected to decline in 2022–23 from the prior year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS) projected. ORANGESOrange production in the EU is forecast at 5.8 million metric tons (MMT) in 2022–23, a 12% reduction from the prior season. The decline is mainly explained by production …
PIECES OF THE PAST: A Tall Tale in the Name of Marketing
By Brenda Eubanks Burnette I came across a gift fruit brochure for Pioneer-Chester Groves, which had an interesting story on the inside cover regarding the history of the company. The story, by Dr. Bob (Schlernitzauer), is as follows: “Back in the days when the land along the Indian River was nothing but jungle, and the white settlers were few, a …
Investing in Artificial Intelligence
By J. Scott Angle, jangle@ufl.edu, @IFAS_VP University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) breeders produce new citrus plants more quickly than they can figure out if consumers like how the new fruit varieties taste. In the race to create versus evaluate, creators lead evaluators by hundreds of individual plants at a time. It takes a post-doc a …
Artificial Intelligence to Assess Crop Damage
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) researchers plan to use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to quantify damage to fruits and vegetables caused by extreme weather events. One such extreme weather event was Hurricane Ian, which struck Florida on Sept. 28, 2022. The storm’s damage to all crops, livestock and aquaculture products was initially estimated at up …
More CYVCV Detected in California
Two new detections of citrus yellow vein clearing virus (CYVCV) have been confirmed in rural residential citrus trees in the city of Visalia in Tulare County, California. The detections resulted from an ongoing survey and sampling activities conducted by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). CYVCV had previously been confirmed in August in the city of Tulare; learn …
Preparing for Freezing Temperatures
With temperatures plummeting over Christmas weekend, the latest episode of the All In For Citrus podcast is well timed. Chris Oswalt, a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) citrus Extension agent covering Polk and Hillsborough counties, joined the podcast to discuss tips on preparing for freeze events. Oswalt encouraged growers to find a reliable source of …
PIECES OF THE PAST: Doing Together What Cannot Be Done Alone
By Brenda Eubanks Burnette Frank Sullivan III, of Sullivan Victory Groves, recently gave me a few boxes of his gift fruit catalogs, books, records and memorabilia for the Citrus Archives. Since December always reminds me of sending gift fruit to friends and family, it’s only appropriate that I share this story. One of the items he donated was a booklet …
Research Center Gets Largest Gift From Grower
The late citrus grower John T. Moose left the largest individual gift ever to the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Indian River Research and Education Center (UF/IFAS IRREC) in Fort Pierce. The $260,000 contribution came in 2022, the same year as the center’s 75th anniversary. The gift will help serve local agriculture and natural resources protection …





























