Lowest Florida Orange Crop In 30 Years

[Millet]

This years orange crop in Florida is predicted to be the lowest harvest in the last 30 years, due to the fatal Citrus Greening disease  (HLB).  The harvest dropped 28 percent from laast year's crop.. - Millet

[sugar land dave]

Sad to hear.  What will this do to the price of orange juice during a period when consumption is down?  I think we know the answer there, but the real question is will a solution to HLB be discovered and marketed in time?

[karpes]

Do other countries have HLB  as bad as we do? Is this a new disease or just new to the USA? You would think that if it is this devastating to citrus that it would have wiped out the citrus everywhere.

[jcaldeira]

Do other countries have HLB  as bad as we do? Is this a new disease or just new to the USA? You would think that if it is this devastating to citrus that it would have wiped out the citrus everywhere.

"Distribution of citrus greening disease is primarily in tropical and subtropical Asia. It has been reported in all citrus-growing regions in Asia except Japan. The disease has affected crops in China, Taiwan, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Pakistan, Thailand, the Ryukyu Islands, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan. Areas outside Asia have also reported the disease: Réunion, Mauritius, Brazil, and Florida in the U.S. since 1998, and in several municipalities in Mexico since 2009.  On March 30, 2012, citrus greening disease was confirmed in a single citrus tree in Hacienda Heights, Los Angeles County, California."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citrus_greening_disease (original sources are referenced in the article)

[Radoslav]

The title reminds me the great film from 1983 "Trading Places" with Eddie Murphy. 

[fruitlovers]

Do other countries have HLB  as bad as we do? Is this a new disease or just new to the USA? You would think that if it is this devastating to citrus that it would have wiped out the citrus everywhere.

Yes other countries have the same disease and they got it a long time before the USA. For example, Brazil, the world's largest citrus grower has had the disease for many years. And Brazil is still the world's largest citrus grower. So obviously this disease is not the end for citrus growers...that is just a myth. There are ways to deal with this disease that we're not being told about in the press.

[fruitmentor]

I have written an article on the techniques used in Brazil used to grow citrus in the midst of citrus greening; please see below for a link to the article.

Unfortunately there is no cure for citrus greening.  Citrus greening kills residential trees and small groves very quickly. It is much better to prevent its spread than to live with it.

In Brazil they have developed new techniques using pesticides and very large groves to grow citrus.  This lets them get enough fruit before the trees die so that citrus is still a viable crop.  The Brazilian techniques are of no help to small citrus growers.

http://fruitmentor.com/GroveDesign

Best regards,
Dan Willey

[Tropheus76]

Wow. Ill keep spraying my 17 trees until I can afford an orchard that size..... Ha who am I kidding, I am going olive if I ever get around to it, the lazy man's tree. I think the best advise for home growers is stick to the resistant varieties of citrus and leave the bulk stuff to the big boys. Continue to spray your foliar sprays and keep them as healthy as possible which unlike normal giant groves is much more doable and cheaper than it is on a big scale. Or just go with non citrus fruit trees, for many of us, this is Florida after all.

[phantomcrab]

HLB is bad here in FL.
10 years ago residential citrus trees were all over St. Petersburg and the whole city smelled great when they bloomed in February. Now there are so few healthy trees left that one almost has to hunt for them.
Many of the commercial groves remain but that's due to constant removal of diseased trees and replanting.

[Millet]

I was in Miami attending a convention.  While there my son and I drove around Miami just  looking at the city.  I never did see an orange tree. - Millet

[fruitmentor]

Hi Phantomcrab,

Thank you for sharing your story. I actually used it in a youtube video. I hope that it will help stop the further spread of citrus greening. If you would like to watch, you can find it at the bottom of the post here:

http://www.fruitmentor.com/how-you-can-stop-citrus-greening

There is also a video on grafting citrus that may be helpful to new people.

Best regards,
Dan Willey