Author Topic: Some Say Citrus Greening Cure Found, But Withheld From Growers - See Video  (Read 3842 times)


Acocyetly

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 13
    • Tampa-ish FL
    • View Profile
I saw this locally. There are lots of groves in the area that have died or are dying now (probably greening) however I've had tons of new citrus plants sprout up out of nowhere for quite some time (various sizes and ages from seedling to 12'). Our grove never used ferts or insecticides and we were wiped out during the, freeze of 85/86 and the hurricanes in 04-05. Our last citrus tree was a blood orange which stopped producing in 2012 then died. (probably a 40-50 year old tree)
So I don't know.What I do know is development is claiming healthy groves at an alarming rate, while untended and dying groves often sit vacant.

Here are some photos I collected for a project I did for school I called "The Post Citrus Landscape"



Citrus Tower Clermont, FL

Today

Today
« Last Edit: October 18, 2015, 05:20:03 PM by Acocyetly »

countryboy1981

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 230
    • 8B Alabama
    • View Profile
I am not a scientist, but if it is a bacterial disease that begins in the roots, why don't they start treating the soil/roots with sprays designed to kill bacteria?  What about a copper stay in the soil that is taken up by the roots into the tree.  I would think it would be easier to kill bacteria in a tree than it would be in a human, but yet again, I am not a scientist.

sugar land dave

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 79
    • sugar land, tx Zone 9a
    • View Profile
I have had what appears to be a cure for a couple of years now.  The trees can reinfect after a couple of years if you do not preventatively treat the trees annually thereafter, but you can re-cure the tree if it gets sick again. You can give it to healthy trees and they seem to resist sickness and leaf miners.  It is a root adjuvant drench with non-toxic agents which lets the plant take up nutrients more easily while helping it kill off the bacteria. I won't be more definitive because it works in my Texas soil, but I cannot say what would happen in other soils besides my heavy clay.

The adjuvant solution has cured fire blight in a couple of fruit trees and I suspect it would also work against the bacterial olive blight affecting Europe.  My next planned test however is fig mosaic virus.  The adjuvant has never been tested against an incurable virus, so I am quite curious.  I now have two infected fig trees to work with, one a mission fig, and the other a Celeste. If I'm still kicking, I will test once Spring comes around.

I have something that is relatively cheap and easy to make, but politicians are giving tens of millions of dollars to a select few universities to do research on genetic splicing, root grafting, and predatory wasps as possible solutions.  Sounds like an expensive solution just to let people not lose a portion of their food supply.

Frankly I am pretty disgusted at the agriculture industry right now.  It all is about big business and making big money, but while politicians and researchers fiddle, the trees die and burn.

fyliu

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3216
    • Burbank/Covina, CA 10a
    • View Profile
I've heard of growers using sprays to get the nutrients into trees so they produce normally. But that's not really a cure. It extends the life of the tree. Do the trees die some years later? That's what I heard.

Again, if there's a cure using conventional methods, I would think they would have found out about it sometime during the last century of HLB presence there
. They're probably doing the same thing we do here to delay the symptoms and extend the life of the tree.

On the other hand, plants are not that defenseless. They produce chemicals against invaders. Bitterness, toxic substances, etc. Symbiotic fungi also help out in nutrient uptake and defense. Maybe a very healthy tree can ward off a small scale HLB infection.

sugar land dave

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 79
    • sugar land, tx Zone 9a
    • View Profile
I've heard of growers using sprays to get the nutrients into trees so they produce normally. But that's not really a cure. It extends the life of the tree. Do the trees die some years later? That's what I heard.

Again, if there's a cure using conventional methods, I would think they would have found out about it sometime during the last century of HLB presence there
. They're probably doing the same thing we do here to delay the symptoms and extend the life of the tree.

On the other hand, plants are not that defenseless. They produce chemicals against invaders. Bitterness, toxic substances, etc. Symbiotic fungi also help out in nutrient uptake and defense. Maybe a very healthy tree can ward off a small scale HLB infection.
In my tests spraying the leaves does little good to the plant.  You have to get the nutrients flowing easily from the roots up again and help the plant kill the bacteria while this is happening.  My solution is a root zone drench.  While it it is easily made, it requires a precise mixture during manufacture and when mixing the concentrate with water.  Too strong a solution will quickly kill the tree.  The ratios of each manufacturing ingredient and the order mixed do make a difference, so even though some have tried to get a general idea of the things I use, without the procedure they can try all day and have a very slim chance of actually getting it right.  I will say that the process I use to make the ajuvant drench is easily scalable so ramping up to quantites needed to help the world would be limited by funding availabilty, component availability, and distribution.  I am not going to do this myself.  I am tired and retired.  I tested proof of concept and workability.  It is easy.  It is surprisingly cheap to make.  It is potent in small doses.  It is not glamorous like genetic splicing, root grafting, or other involved fare, but is that really the solution people want?  Some scientist a couple of years ago said we could splice pig DNA to help.  Really?  Look it up on Google. I'm out for now!

sugar land dave

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 79
    • sugar land, tx Zone 9a
    • View Profile
For a parting note: here is a link to a short video and article to show how some let greed and politics stop the solution.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local-news/i-team-investigates/scientists-claim-tests-unnecessarily-delayed-in-quest-for-citrus-greening-disease-cure

Millet

  • Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4798
    • Colorado
    • View Profile
Sugar Land Dave, your video is the same video as shown above. If indeed you have a cure for citrus greening, which would certainly be a life saver for the citrus industry, and the many thousands of people throughout the world that work in it, then you should publicly demonstrate its efficacy, especially in connection with a respected institution such as the University of Florida, - Millet

sugar land dave

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 79
    • sugar land, tx Zone 9a
    • View Profile
Yes, my wife interrupted me as I was trying to grab the link, then I grabbed the wrong one in a rush to take her to her appointment. 

As for your suggestion, I wish it were that easy, and in an idyllic world it would be that easy.  Greed, corporate  and government politics, and research grant money have poisoned the well.  Why make a product when you can receive free money for years to research something.  The more trees die the more research money will be given.  You and I may not like to think about that, but remember, we are not living in a fair world. By the way, I have found no grant money for private citizens and institutions have shown no desire to test anything not from their normal sources. Cui bono?

I will give you something since some seem to believe in science over belief in God-given individual gifts.  I take a certain surfactant, buffer it with an organic mixture which magnifies desirable aspects of the surfactant while allowing me to lower the ratio below the point that would kill the plant.  The mixture enables the plant to start flowing nutrients again while the bacteria is weakened.  Nowhere do I introduce a standard antibiotic or anything that would produce poison fruit.  Ignotum per ignotius.

Excuse the latin phrases, but why should I do all the work?  Let's all research it some more! Ex nihilo nihil fit.

Waiting

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 141
    • Northern San Joaquin Valley, California
    • View Profile
Re: Some Say Citrus Greening Cure Found, But Withheld From Growers - See Video
« Reply #9 on: November 01, 2015, 01:33:45 AM »
Actually, if you have a solution and no expectation to make money off of it why not make the information freely available?

sugar land dave

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 79
    • sugar land, tx Zone 9a
    • View Profile
Re: Some Say Citrus Greening Cure Found, But Withheld From Growers - See Video
« Reply #10 on: November 01, 2015, 06:52:19 PM »
Actually, if you have a solution and no expectation to make money off of it why not make the information freely available?
The third sentece in my post above is the best answer.  Back in the eighties the federal government put three men in federal prison for technology transfers to Asia.  Clinton and Bush can transfer military technology to China and India, but a regular citizen like me they can imprison for an unauthorized agricultural technology transfer even if I am the one who discovered it.  Again, in a perfect world......

I have PM'ed my private contact information to a nearby respected member of the forum and am waiting to hear from him.  I will show and tell and even let him personally make a small batch for his own testing.