Author Topic: Citrus Greening (Read 7786 times)

BENDERSGROVE · « **on:** February 04, 2012, 08:50:32 AM »

Just curious how big a threat folks on this forum believe citrus greening to be in south Florida, from a little of what I have obsereved it seems to be pretty prevelant throughtout Dade and broward county, I keep having customers ask for citrus trees and I have been cautious to carry any just because I think with this Greening it is unwise to invest the money in either trees for a yard or inventory for my nursery. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated, Thanks Mike

bsbullie · « **Reply #1 on:** February 04, 2012, 09:30:19 AM »

Quote from: BENDERSGROVE on February 04, 2012, 08:50:32 AM

Just curious how big a threat folks on this forum believe citrus greening to be in south Florida, from a little of what I have obsereved it seems to be pretty prevelant throughtout Dade and broward county, I keep having customers ask for citrus trees and I have been cautious to carry any just because I think with this Greening it is unwise to invest the money in either trees for a yard or inventory for my nursery. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated, Thanks Mike

Again, thank you China.

While all citrus us susceptible, I believe it is the orange/tangerines that are most susceptible. Lemons, limes, grapefruit and most likely the sour kumquats (Centennial and Nagami) are considered less or moderately susceptible. I believe it is also true that the variegated citrus is considered to have very little pest issues, so the Centennial and variegated Lemon might be the safest of all. You might want to try with the "sour" citrus, which ironically will produce the best (as compared to oranges/tangerines and their relatives) in Central Broward through Miami-Dade Counties and see how it goes.

Squam256 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 04, 2012, 09:59:18 AM »

Have ONE citrus tree so far....a Calamondin I just purchased to make pies with.

I've avoided growing it. I don't really feel right selling it either (just on a personal level). Greening just happens to be the most serious of several other issues citrus has. Kind of sad because I grew up eating citrus and still love it.

BENDERSGROVE · « **Reply #3 on:** February 04, 2012, 10:15:33 AM »

We have been wary of carrying any citrus just for the fact of the horror stories some nurseries have gone through,also I don't want to sell customers overpriced trees that have no shot of survival.

ofdsurfer · « **Reply #4 on:** February 04, 2012, 01:29:35 PM »

My Uncle works with some large groves in the Sebring area. He has told me that when a tree gets greening it can be kept productive and healthy by foliar feedings. The greening infection keeps the plant from getting nutrition from its roots and the plants slowly die, if they are foliar feed they will keep growing and producing. They have been doing this for several years at there location and although the trees are infected they are still growing. and producing normal fruit.

FlyingFoxFruits · « **Reply #5 on:** February 04, 2012, 01:35:14 PM »

Quote from: BENDERSGROVE on February 04, 2012, 08:50:32 AM

Just curious how big a threat folks on this forum believe citrus greening to be in south Florida, from a little of what I have obsereved it seems to be pretty prevelant throughtout Dade and broward county, I keep having customers ask for citrus trees and I have been cautious to carry any just because I think with this Greening it is unwise to invest the money in either trees for a yard or inventory for my nursery. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated, Thanks Mike

Azomite is supposed to be a cure/treatment for greening, making the trees perfectly productive, and healthy in appearance.

This has been word around the campfire...You may want to investigate if my claims hold any validity.

Good luck!
Plant more Myrtaceae/Garcinia/Annona is my best advice....

I hear there is a guava species that's supposed to help with greening somehow?

Has any one else heard of this guava species?

HMHausman · « **Reply #6 on:** February 04, 2012, 01:57:15 PM »

Not sure how serious the citrus greening scare is or really should be. I am not sure if anyone else really knows either. I do know that this is just the latest in the panoply of threats and disasters that have been plaguing the citrus world. Previously, the experts tried to convince us that the proverbial sky was falling because of tristeza virus, canker, med fly, and probably some I can’t remember. My thoughts are that if I were in the nursery business, I would avoid citrus like the plague here in Florida as the state government could shut you completely down at the drop of a hat or a fly if the wrong creature or pathogen happens to show up anywhere in the neighborhood of your property. I think that citrus will eventually cease to be a viable crop here in Florida one day…..because of all this. Just a question of when. But, the industry will be propped up for the foreseeable future, so this might be an issue for my kids or grandkids much more than for me.

Harry

BENDERSGROVE · « **Reply #7 on:** February 04, 2012, 02:05:04 PM »

I agree, that is why i have not carried any citrus product,I remeber quite a few nurseries having to dispose of their entire inventory of citrus with the canker fiasco,I hate to lose biz,but I would rather lose biz than customers or have to sell a tree that has no shot at surviveability. i guess I will stick with what we have been doing and focus on that. Thanks for all the imput

zands · « **Reply #8 on:** March 01, 2012, 05:17:55 PM »

Quote from: ofdsurfer on February 04, 2012, 01:29:35 PM

My Uncle works with some large groves in the Sebring area. He has told me that when a tree gets greening it can be kept productive and healthy by foliar feedings. The greening infection keeps the plant from getting nutrition from its roots and the plants slowly die, if they are foliar feed they will keep growing and producing. They have been doing this for several years at there location and although the trees are infected they are still growing. and producing normal fruit.

Thanks for all that and azomite ideas too from Anikulapo. I planted a new tangerine tree so I'm betting this will turn out OK. Citrus needs the trace minerals azomite and foliars can provide

j-grow · « **Reply #9 on:** March 01, 2012, 06:51:11 PM »

dont give up on planting them! i have been drinking fresh squeezed valencias for a couple of weeks now from my trees. hamlin all january and page in december. fun stuff i will ride it out til somethin bad happens

phantomcrab · « **Reply #10 on:** April 26, 2012, 05:03:45 PM »

There is an article in the April 20 issue of Science Magazine (AAAS) on citrus greening and what is being done to combat the disease. The URL is below but you need a password or $$ to access the article. I would copy and paste it but it's copyrighted. Read it at your local library.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6079/283.full

ggpalms · « **Reply #11 on:** April 27, 2012, 12:09:05 AM »

Citrus greening is serious! The disease is spread by the Asian Citrus Psylid. In Asia they inter plant Guava trees with citrus and they seem to have great results. I sell Citrus trees and always ask my customers are you sure you want to grow a citrus tree?

They look at me Like... "What you want to talk yourself out of a sale?" Yes I do if that person has no clue of the amount of time and care that must go into keeping a citus tree healthy.

Besides the Greening one other less serious but often contributing factor to the trees decline is the Citrus Leaf miner. The leaf miner attacks the new growth flushes and keeps a tree from growing. This is a typical problem on young trees. The leaf miner also makes the tree more susceptible to canker due to the tunnels it creates in the leaves.

Anyway you can learn more by visiting my site. http://www.pepesplants.com/solutions-for-citrus-tree-problems.html

Hope this little bit of info helps. I grow plenty of citrus and the trees look great. I work hard at scouting and IPM etc.

You can do almost anything if you understand the challenge and use the tools!

ggpalms · « **Reply #12 on:** April 27, 2012, 12:21:33 AM »

One more thing. Our friends in California are in for quite a whirlwind of activity aimed at Citrus Greening. In the last few weeks some trees in Cali were found infected with HLB Citrus Greening Disease. They are freaking out and preparing to spray the entire State to eradicate the Psylid. Maybe some of our friends from California can give us the latest reports on what is going on.

As for the future of Citrus I believe a pheromone based solution is on the horizon. One method of control is to attract a predator that locates the semiochemical (odor signal) that a Psylid emits.

Now that's cool! No chemicals to spray!!! We shall hope and pray that day comes quickly.

Jason "Pepe"

phantomcrab · « **Reply #13 on:** June 05, 2014, 04:29:07 PM »

I heard this about today on NPR. Maybe there is a candle at the end of the tunnel.
http://news.ufl.edu/2014/06/04/citrus-greening-treatment/

Tropheus76 · « **Reply #14 on:** June 06, 2014, 02:08:24 PM »

Wow, talk about threadomancy. Wondering why I didn't recognize any of the names and why Millet hadn't jumped in yet. In small scale greening isn't that great an issue if the owner is willing to spend the time and money keeping his trees healthy. I would hate to see the expense doing it in a large scale orchard. Myself, I only have about 16 citrus out of my 60ish trees and only 6 of those are oranges of various types. Every citrus producing state has greening from what I have read so now we need to figure out how to live with it. I have heard they are making good progress on gene-spliced citrus trees immune to it but on the private individual scale, even if those trees came out this week, we wouldn't see them available to us for years and likely they would only be limited in types available with not many of our rare and exotic specimens being done.

I kinda laughed when the above poster mentioned Cali spraying the state to stop the Psalids. As if the Peoples Republic of Kalifornia would ever do something that environmentally nuts.

Millet · « **Reply #15 on:** June 18, 2014, 08:59:07 PM »

Scientists may have found an answer to help limit Citrus Greening (HLB) in the form of a Pakistani wasp that lives to attack the psyllid. Its scientific name is Tamarixia radiata, says David Morgan with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, who is part of a $1.4 million state project to breed and release the Tamarixia wasps into the wild. "They are ridiculously small," Morgan notes, adding that each insect is about the size of a grain of salt, making them much too tiny to sting a person. They are, however, the perfect size to hunt down the minuscule Asian citrus psyllid. The wasps are experts at finding citrus trees, where the psyllid feeds on leaves. The psyllid is the wasps only food source. Once it finds a psyllid, the wasp will puncture a hole in the pest and suck out its juices, then lays its eggs in the psyllid's body ,"just like a vampire," Morgan notes. The plan is to release many millions of the wasps in citrus producing states. - Millet

TRI433 · « **Reply #16 on:** June 20, 2014, 09:29:54 PM »

Citrus greening symptoms can be eliminated if heat is applied. Build a plastic tent and allow temperature to rise to 108F for hours and not long after the symptoms disappear at least for a year. You must be careful heating citrus though as it is not very heat tolerant and can be seriously injured but it is very effective killing citrus greening. It is not cure however unless the greening bacteria has NOT reached the roots. If you can detect citrus greening early though before it reaches the roots a cure is possible with the heat treatment. Search the internet for proper instructions. I am not sure about the temperature and do not want to mislead anyone! If the temperature is too high, your citrus can be killed or seriously injured so be sure to get proper instruction on this treatment.

Tropheus76 · « **Reply #17 on:** June 23, 2014, 08:17:56 AM »

Millet- that plan cant come soon enough. I heard it was still experimental at this time and they hadn't started releasing them into the wild yet. Hopefully since I have the Mormon ranch a few miles down the road from me, biggest private owners of non-federal land in FL, mostly cattle but they have fairly large orange groves as well, they will make their way in this direction. I had heard they were having an issue with the wasps surviving winter temps

Doglips · « **Reply #18 on:** June 25, 2014, 09:17:09 AM »

I think that the attempt to eliminate the psylid is a pipe dream. They maybe able to control the population but the elimination ain't gonna happen.

I think it is far more likely that disease resistant plants will come first.

Ugly stuff with no light at the end of the tunnel, not yet anyways.

LEOOEL · « **Reply #19 on:** December 24, 2015, 02:53:07 PM »

Just as scientists have used the new CRISPR-CAS9 technology to prevent mosquitoes from spreading the Malaria disease, - and thus saving millions of lives worldwide, - perhaps they can use this technology to do something similar to the psylid and prevent it from spreading the citrus-greening disease.

It's been reported that it could take about 10 years in winning the war against citrus-greening by the method of citrus-genomic-modification (*).

I know of no research into genomic modification of the psylid in order to eradicate citrus-greening, although I wish there were.

(*) http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=18506.0

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Author Topic: Citrus Greening (Read 7786 times)