The Tropical Fruit Forum

Today I received two Marsh Seedless Grapefruit trees from Brite Leaf Citrus Nursery in Florida.  Both trees were in excellent condition, except for the root system.  Both trees were grown in the standard commercial 4x4 Citri-Pots, as is common for commercial grove trees. What I dislike about the Citri-Pot is that it forces the root to grow straight down,  and become very tightly, almost welded, into one big mass of roots.  It is very difficult to spread them out, so that the root system can be planted facing in all directions to make  a circle.  I had to take a knife and cut the root "Brick" into four sections and then try my best to unscramble the roots and then use a strong water stream to wash out the potting soil.   I don't fault Brite Leaf Nursery, as most all commercial citrus trees are grown in the Citri-Pot - except  by Four Winds Growers (my favorite supplier of citrus trees. - Millet

I do not know at what temperature you keep the tree's root system during the winter, but if you place the tree in sunny location, AND keep the roots at 70F, throughout the winter months you will not see leaf drop.  Best of luck to you and your trees. - Millet

Some time back I seen a TV documentary on Dr. Moy and his work with citrus. - Millet

Sven,  world wide the most common container medium used by commercial nurseries is 3 parts ground pine bark, one part peat, and one part sand by volume.  This is a good mix for commercial nurseries because all three ingredients are generally inexpensive, easy to blend,  readily available, and can last for one year or more.  - Millet

Mike, the Page "Mandarin" is a product of the USDA.  It was a cross of Minneola tangelo and Clementine mandarin, and therefore it is actually a Tangelo.  In fact Page is 75% mandarin and 25% grapefruit.  Many many people say that Page is the best tasting citrus variety of them all.  I think Xie Shan is better, but I must say Page is a very close second.  It makes an awesome juice.  VERY MUCH  worth having  in ones collection. I have two Page trees. - Millet

Robby, no I have not jumped away from using coconut husk chips (CHC).  CHC is a really excellent medium for growing citrus in containers.  CHC has the optimum pH for citrus growth of 6.5, it is slow to degrade, and holds up to 7 times it weight in water while still providing great root zone aeration. Cedar decorative mulch also  has pretty much the same attributes as CHC, and is WAY cheaper, and it is available most anywhere.  With the cedar mulch I use it much the same way as I do CHC.  Normally I use both at equal parts of the wood chips to peat moss  (or a good potting soil).  As posted, I am experimenting with 100 percent cedar mulch, may be good or may not be the best way to go.  Time will tell. - Millet. 

After a citrus tree has accumulated sufficient resistance to cold weather, it takes only a warm spell of just a few days to once again lose its the cold resistance that it had formally built up. - Millet.

John, I believe your correct that the bad press that orange juice has been under lately, plus the competition from other high anti-oxidant drinks such as pomegranate juice and others are factors in some of the decline of OJ sales. - Millet

Last year, if I remember correctly,  a big time genetic study found that the pummelo, mandarin and the citron were the three primary citrus varieties that were the parents of all citrus varieties.  Now, according to the above article, they state that two wild species living five million years ago are the primary parents of today's  citrus varieties. Was the first genomic study in error? - Millet

You could buy the College Heights label, frame it and hang it on your wall or in your office. - Millet

Orange juice may soon contain pig genes

Title: Orange juice may soon contain pig genes Content: (NaturalHealth365) The future of orange crops are at risk and pig genes may be considered part of the solution. (I’m not kidding) On July 27, the New York Times (NYT) officially staked its flag into Big Ag’s garden and into the soil of the GMO camp with its wildly controversial piece, “A Race to Save the Orange by Altering Its DNA.” The feature highlights the story of a highly influential orange grower and his undying quest to stave off Asian jumping lice and the bacteria that they carry, which has been devastating Florida’s orange crop since 2005. Committed to engineering the world’s first genetically modified orange tree, the article centers on Ricke Kress, the president of Southern Gardens Citrus who is in charge of two and a half million orange trees and a factory that squeezes juice for Tropicana and Florida’s Best. According to NYT, Kress’s GMO savior would fight C. liberibacter and citrus psyllids through whatever means science determines necessary

Millet

America has fallen out of love with orange juice.

Sales dropped almost every year for the last decade. Last year, orange juice sales hit their lowest level in at least 15 years, according to Nielsen. Over the same period, per-capita consumption fell roughly 40%. And this year is looking to be another rough one for big orange. Orange juice’s precipitous decline is a big deal. For nearly five decades, the sweet beverage made its way onto more and more American breakfast tables nearly every year. At its height, almost three-quarters of American households bought and kept orange juice in their refrigerator, according to Alissa Hamilton 2009′s book Squeezed: What You Don’t Know About Orange Juice. But shifting American eating habits—which stigmatize sugar and leave little time for breakfast—and surging juice prices have done significant damage to American demand.

Concentrate, Concentrate

America has lived without orange juice before. Until the late 1940s, orange juice wasn’t even a widely available commercial drink. The little orange juice Americans imbibed was either fresh-squeezed, or boiled and then canned—a process which helped preserve the juice, but also made it taste terrible.  After World War II, a group of scientists changed the American orange juice landscape forever. Determined to find a more palatable intersection between preservation and flavor, these scientists developed a new process roughly based on the one they saw used to dehydrate food during the war effort. Instead of boiling the juice, they heated it lightly until water evaporated. Then, they’d add a touch of fresh orange, which gave the concoction a “fresh” taste. Orange juice “from concentrate” was born. As was the industry’s marketing push.  The product was a hit. Per capita orange juice consumption jumped from under eight pounds per person in 1950, to over 20 pounds per person in 1960. Florida’s production of concentrated juice leapt from 226,000 gallons in 1946 to more than 116 million in 1962, according to a report by agricultural economist Robert A. Morris. By 1970, 90% of Florida’s oranges were being used to make orange juice and the vast majority of that was from concentrate.