1
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Growing oranges in FL
« on: April 04, 2024, 08:00:26 PM »I disagree. I have seen groves mixed in alternate rows with pine trees and the trees look far healthier than open sun and open air trees. My own experience so far mirrors this. They are an understory tree in nature and prefer dappled light. Every grove I see on the regular in full sun looks like hell. Could be they all have greening, but doesnt explain why the partially shaded ones look so much better. Partially shaded doesnt mean they arent getting 6-8 hours of sun, it just means they arent getting the sun full blast from 6am-830pm(during the summer)
Another possibility is that the shaded trees are less exposed to being infected by HLB - maybe they don’t have it or have a less severe infection. I once read an article about the behavior of the asp, saying that they fly over trees, scanning for new growth, describing their behavior as “lazy”. Before reading this, I kept my netting tightly closed, as I was afraid the asp would find its way in. Since reading this some years ago, I’ve been more relaxed about keeping the nets sealed, I just make sure I’m covering overhead, and I haven’t had any signs of infection.
I think if citrus did better under shade, they would have been grown that way commercially prior to HLB. IME the trees that get some shade do grow slower than my full-sun citrus; granted, all my tress get a little shade from the screening but the difference is clear.