By Mark A. Ritenour, Jiuxu Zhang and Megan M. Dewdney Decay of fresh citrus fruit is most often caused by fungal pathogens that grow and develop in the hot and wet conditions typical in Florida. While green and blue molds (Penicillium digitatum and Penicillium italicum) and sour rot (Galactomyces citri-aurantii) are the most common postharvest citrus diseases worldwide, the subtropical …
Texas Citrus: Fruit Flies and Other Pesky Problems
By: Ernie Neff Mexican fruit flies were a major nuisance to Dale Murden this spring. “As a fresh fruit grower in south Texas, I have to say Mexican fruit fly is our biggest worry,” the citrus grower and president of Texas Citrus Mutual said. The fruit flies infested Texas’ three-county (Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy) citrus industry in November 2015, prompting …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Citrus Growers Surveyed on Percent of Trees Infected
Florida citrus growers: 80 percent of trees infected by greening By: Brad Buck, 352-294-3303, bradbuck@ufl.edu Source: Ariel Singerman, 863-956- 8870, singerman@ufl.edu GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida’s citrus growers say as much as 90 percent of their acreage and 80 percent of their trees are infected by the deadly greening disease, which is making a huge dent in the state’s $10.7 billion …
Florida Citrus Hall of Fame Inductees
Citrus Industry Legends Inducted into Florida Citrus Hall of Fame Friday, March 11, was the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame Celebration Luncheon, where a crowd of over 400 citrus community and industry members welcomed three new inductees into the Hall of Fame. The inductees are Dr. William S. “Bill” Castle of Lake Alfred, John C. “Jack” Norris of Palm City, …
USDA Grant To Attack Citrus Greening
Researchers share $4 million USDA grant to attack citrus greening From UF/IFAS: By: Kimberly Moore Wilmoth and Kathleen Haughney GAINESVILLE, Fla. — International researchers, including ones at the University of Florida and Florida State University, are sharing in a $4 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to attack the problem of citrus greening, a disease that has …

















