The Tropical Fruit Forum

Every week for the past year, researchers in Riverside, Calif., have overnighted an insulated box of glass vials, filled with honey and hundreds of tiny wasps the size of a grain of sand, to a facility in Yuma. There, the wasps are released by the thousands to do what evolution has perfected them to do — kill the Asian citrus psyllid. The wasps may be small, but their impact could be huge — researchers and farmers hope the wasp can halt the spread of the greening disease carried by the Asian citrus psyllid.  As federal researchers enter the second half of a two-year experiment, they plan to expand the releases to 16 more locations in Arizona that are infested with the Asian citrus psyllid. “We have every intention to make sure that citrus greening disease doesn’t take hold in this state, so that we can have viable commercial and residential citrus production in this state for many years to come,” said John Caravetta, associate director for the Arizona Department of Agriculture. It is too early to tell if the wasps will take hold in Arizona, but successful wasp colonies could be crucial in helping slow the spread of the insects, said one U.S. Department of Agriculture official who is helping coordinate the research. The wasps lay an egg inside the young Asian citrus psyllid nymph. The egg will hatch, and the young wasp larva will feed on the Asian citrus psyllid nymph eventually killing it.  Out of the dead Asian citrus psyllid a new adult wasp will emerge. The use of wasps could become especially important in residential areas where backyard citrus growers don’t actively try and eradicate the Asian citrus psyllid pest.
Millet

This video was made by Dan from Fruit Mentor.  You might remember Fruit Mentor as the organization that provided full boxes of many different types of citrus for a fruit tasting research project .  In this video you will first hear Dan talking but the picture remains the same for 15 - 20  seconds before it get going.  Just be a little patient. You will learn how to order budwood from the University of California's Citrus Clonal Protection Program (CCPP).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE34G80tcOM

Millet

http://www.wfla.com/story/28397146/citrus-greening-damages-florida-2015-crops

Millet

http://www.growingproduce.com/citrus/insect-disease-update/is-a-gmo-citrus-tree-the-silver-bullet-for-hlb/

Millrt

According to the latest Salary Survey report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), agriculture is not such a bad career choice for those looking to make a decent living. The survey, which reports starting salaries for new college graduates, projects the average starting salary for agriculture and natural resources graduates at $51,220. This figure places agriculture above the healthcare category and just below business. - Millet
 
 

The Florida Citrus Hall of Fame welcomed three industry pioneers to its distinguished 181-member roster Friday, including the late Nicholas “Nick” Faryna, of Umatilla. Born in Warsaw, New York, Faryna moved to Umatilla in the early 1950s. He started in the industry operating a sprayer for Golden Gem Growers during the summer while in high school and eventually opened his own grove care business in 1973, which is still in operation today. Faryna pioneered many new techniques, according to a Citrus Hall statement. His signature achievement was developing the modern practice for freeze protection, which employs micro-sprinkler irrigation nozzles placed under the tree. Running the sprinklers during a freeze creates ice at the bottom of the trunk, which releases enough heat to keep the tree alive.

Millet

 The history of citrus cultivars is really the history of close observation. Someone would observe fruits on a particular branch that had a particular characteristic, and they would use buds from that branch to start a new crop. An example of this are the popular grapefruits of today. Grapefruit (C. paradisii) was obtained in the West Indies around 1700, apparently derived from the pumelo  X orange cross and brought to Tampa, Florida in 1823. In Lakeland, Florida, home of the Miss USA Pageant, a seedless fruit was observed by William Hancock (1862) and bud grafted by a nurseryman named Marsh, which became cv. Marsh seedless grapefruit ( even today thought by many  to still be the best tasting grapefruit). In 1913 a spontaneous pink fruit arose from Marsh to become the pink grapefruit. And in Texas in 1929, a new "bud sport" (mutation) for pink and seedless was saved as the cultivar Ruby. All this occurred because someone noticed each change and begin propagating at each step. - Millet

Florida scientist scoured Central Florida's half-million acres of emerald groves and sent search parties around the world to find a naturally immune citrus tree to the greening disease (HLB) that could serve as a new progenitor for a crop that has thrived in the state since its arrival, it is said, with Ponce de León. But such a tree did not exist. "In all of cultivated citrus, there is no evidence of immunity," the plant pathologist heading a National Research Council task force on the disease said.

Millet

http://www.krgv.com/news/local-news/Family-Farm-Must-Shutdown-Citrus-Operation-Due-to-Fruit-Fly/31597140

Millet

In a post last December or perhaps early January, I posted that the Dekopons from my tree did not have much of a taste.  Ryan L. a member of this board wrote that the fruit had to remain on the tree until late in February.  I waited until yesterday March 1, to begin  picking some more Dekopon and they were very deliciously sweet.  What a difference the extra 60 daystime made. - Millet

WHOLE FOODS VERSUS SINGLE NUTRIENTS

Scurvy, a serious deficiency of vitamin C that has caused tremendous human suffering throughout history, was first described by ancient Egyptians, and then by the Greeks and Romans (Carpenter, 1986). For hundreds of years, scurvy was a scourge of long-distance sailors, soldiers, explorers and the poor in many countries where there was a lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables. However, it was not recognized that scurvy could be prevented and cured by consuming citrus fruit until the eighteenth century. And it would be another 200 years before vitamin C was isolated and its deficiency identified as the cause of the disease.

The lesson from this is still important today; people do not need to understand everything about individual nutrients in order to consume nutritionally adequate and well-balanced diets. Even though the current understanding of nutrition, health and disease has advanced well beyond nutrient deficiencies, there is still much that is not known, and probably never will be known, about the relationships between diet and health. Fortunately, however, with a bit of common sense, people can still be well nourished even though the understanding of nutritional science may be incomplete.

For example, research efforts exploring the possible protective effects of phytochemicals against various forms of chronic diseases have often shown an association with the consumption of various foods rich in these compounds, but not with specific phytochemicals themselves. There are several possible explanations for this, including: the specific phytochemicals being investigated may not be the ones that have an effect; the effects of individual phytochemicals may be additive; and it may be the interaction of two or more phytochemicals and nutrients that produces an effect. Since the understanding of nutrition science and the complex functions and interactions of the many vitamins, minerals, macronutrients and phytochemicals contained in food is still so incomplete, it is important that a rational and time-tested approach be taken to the promotion of good nutrition. It is also important to continue emphasizing the benefits of nutrient-dense foods, such as citrus fruits, and to recognize that the consumption of whole foods and natural juices is preferred over the consumption of individual nutrients that have been isolated from food and then consumed as dietary supplements. Focusing on single nutrients, instead of foods and the total diet, does not constitute a healthful approach to good nutrition.

Millet

____AS EPA APPROVES EMERGENCY USE OF BEE-KILLING PESTICIDE FOR FLORIDA CITRUS, BEYOND PESTICIDES URGES HEIGHTENED EFFORTS TO STOP TOXIC PESTICIDE DEPENDENCY____
 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted Florida citrus growers an emergency exemption to use the bee-killing pesticide clothianidin to control Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP), a pest that causes "citrus greening," a devastating citrus plant disease. Clothianidin, which is not currently registered for use on citrus, is part of a class of neurotoxic, systemic insecticides called neonicotinoids, which have been implicated in global honey bee declines and suspended in the European Union. "EPA needs to assist in stopping the deadly use of pesticides that harm bees, butterflies, and birds with sustainable practices, rather than imperil pollinators with its decisions," said Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides, a health and environmental advocacy group. He continued, "We understand the immediate chemical needs of chemical-intensive agriculture for increasingly toxic and persistent chemicals, but urge EPA to help stop the treadmill, lest it allow irreversible harm to the environment, biodiversity, and human health." Beyond Pesticides is urging EPA to require that growers adopt a management plan in order to apply clothianidin. "Ultimately, EPA should be requiring growers to adopt integrated organic systems to manage pests, as a part of an emergency permit," said Mr. Feldman.

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/28178975/can-spinach-save-floridas-citrus

Millet