The Tropical Fruit Forum

Hi Everyone,

As part of my project to introduce new citrus varieties, I had the chance to taste the citrondarin, a very unusual citrus variety that came from the Soviet Union. It was suggested to be introduced by Juli Mallett, a reader of this forum, and I thank Juli for the suggestion. I visited a citrondarin tree at the University of California Givaudan Citrus Variety Collection, picked some fruit, and tasted it with a couple of volunteers and made a video about it.

With the video I am hoping to raise awareness for my project to introduce new citrus varieties (see my prior post). In the future I will publish more videos of the other citrus varieties that we tasted that day. If you have any varieties that you would like to see introduced, please let me know via the following survey, which should take just a few minutes:
Citrus Variety Introduction Survey


Here is the video:

http://youtu.be/VoBsEPL1jug

Please feel free to share the survey and the video elsewhere.

By the way, it had been thought that the citrondarin is a graft chimera but it is not clear that this is really the case. It may be a hybrid fruit rather than a chimera.

Thank you,
Dan

Hi Everyone,

I just published a new video answering questions that people have asked via email and via YouTube comments:
https://youtu.be/gqyQZSKHyBQ

 I hope that you will enjoy the video. I did my best to make it interesting. I shot the video at the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Lab in Sacramento where they are working to contain the spread of HLB in California. The video gives a bit of a tour of the lab including the 2-million-specimen CDFA insect collection.

Based upon a recent post here, a bit of background may help. When the Asian citrus psyllid was discovered in Florida, the inadequate response led to the rapid spread of HLB all over the state of Florida. Because the Asian citrus psyllid had existed for many years in South America as a minor nuisance because the insect was introduced without the disease, the authorities in Florida made the mistaken assumption that the insect would not be a problem in Florida. Unfortunately, some Floridians has smuggled budwood into the state from Asia where HLB is widespread. HLB infected trees were propagated from this imported budwood. When the insects hit those infected trees, the disease spread rapidly. Furthermore, citrus nurseries in Miami had no protection from the insect and shipped disease infected and insect infested trees all over the state of Florida, devastating citrus farms and making it very difficult for hobbyist homeowners to grow citrus because the trees die so fast.

Florida farmers responded with insecticides and were slow to remove infected trees.

California has learned from the disaster in Florida and is doing its best to stop the disease. There has been quite a bit of bad information coming out of Florida that has the potential to harm California citrus. One of the questions concerns is about a YouTube video from someone who calls himself "Uncle Matt". "Uncle Matt" is a farmer who shows the spraying of compost tea on citrus trees as a supposed remedy. The strategy has not worked out so well for "Uncle Matt" who now imports most of his juice from outside Florida. A recent article has pointed out that his acreage has been reduced from 485 hectares to 60 hectares.

Here is a recent article about a California farmer's approach to the problem of HLB, a decision that was helped by the disaster in Florida:
http://www.agalert.com/story/?id=13272

Best regards,
Dan

Hi Everyone,

I published a couple of new articles and videos on citrus propagation that I think you will enjoy.

The first is on Z-grafting of citrus. I tried the technique and found it useful for the case when my scion is bigger in diameter than the rootstock or target branch to which I would like to graft.

Step by Step article: Z grafting citrus
YouTube video: Z grafting citrus

The second is on growing citrus from budwood ordered from CCPP. It was the most challenging plant propagation I have ever attempted, but I finally got it to work with a good success rate. The step-by-step article includes the full details for those who may want to try it.

Step by Step article: Growing Citrus from Cuttings
YouTube video: Growing Citrus from Cuttings

I hope that you enjoy these!

Best regards,
Dan Willey

Hi Everyone,

In addition to the new video on patch budding, I also created a new video on ant control. This video will be especially helpful for Californians as it shows steps that citrus growers can take to fight back against HLB disease. California has imported parasitic wasps that are very effective at killing Asian citrus psyllids, the insects that spread HLB disease. The problem is that we also have a supercolony of Argentine ants that protect citrus psyllids from the parasitic wasps. The parasitic wasps do not work very well when ants are present on a citrus tree. So a concrete action that we can take to slow the spread of HLB and save our citrus trees is to control the ants on our citrus trees.

The ant control video can be found here:

Ant Control for Citrus Trees

Please let me know if you have any questions about the video. I plan to eventually split it into three other videos and I can address any common questions that I may have missed at that time. I had originally intended to make the ant video after I finished my series on citrus grafting, but thought it would be a very good thing to share now. I have been to some industry meetings that discussed the spread of HLB and the psyllid population in southern California. They are finding more and more trees infected with HLB and ant control is something that can be done now that will make a difference against the disease.

Best regards,
Dan Willey

Hi Everyone,

I have published a new step-by-step guide and also a YouTube video on cleft grafting citrus trees. I hope that you will enjoy them.

Grafting Citrus Trees - Cleft Grafting step-by-step

Grafting Citrus Trees - Cleft Grafting video

I am doing a series of these, so there will be more to come.

Best regards,
Dan Willey