Citrus Production

  • By Jake Price: Each year, I estimate the number of citrus trees planted in Georgia.  Calculating 2023 numbers has been a little different because of tree losses due to the December 2022 freeze.  Of the 567 new acres of trees planted in 2022, I estimate Georgia lost 230 acres. Approximately 80% of trees planted in…

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  • Jake Price, the Citrus Area Agent for UGA Extension, has recently come out with an extension publication on evaluating fruit quality of citrus. A permanent link has been added to the header of the citrus blog, and this publication can also be found at the following link: Evaluating Fruit Quality of Citrus Varieties in Georgia

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  • December 24-28 was one of those freeze events that we do not often see in Valdosta.  To some extent, every citrus variety has suffered from cold-damage due to this recent 5-night freeze event.  The site of our citrus research plots at J.L. Lomax Elementary School in Valdosta reached a low of 16 degrees. I recorded…

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  • Now is the best time to conduct tissue analysis of your citrus trees.  The UGA lab has grant funds to conduct nutrient analysis surveys from citrus trees in Georgia. This year, to get a higher level of participation, the lab is opening free tissue analysis sampling up to growers throughout Georgia. UGA will cover the…

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  • Below are results from the harvest of the Owari rootstock trial in the fall of 2021.  I added the 2019 & 2020 yields for a comparison. 2021 was the biggest yielding year to date with 20,301 lbs of fruit harvested from 60 trees. Converting our plot size to an acre would have yielded 60,903 lbs…

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  • July and August are the best months to collect leaf samples for tissue analysis while nutrient concentrations are the most stable.  Each sample should not represent more than 20 acres and can be taken from 15-20 trees.  Select only one leaf from each shoot that is between 4-6 months of age and from a non-fruiting…

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  • By: Jake Price (UGA Extension, Lowndes County, GA – jprice@uga.edu) and Dr. Kim Bowman (Rootstock geneticist, Ft. Pierce, FL – Kim.Bowman@usda.gov) Purpose: Identify the best commercially-available rootstocks for ‘Owari’ satsumas, based upon effects on fruit yield, fruit quality, cold-hardiness, tree health, fruit size, and tree size. Background: In 2014, Lowndes Extension began growing ‘Owari’ satsuma trees on…

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  • By: Jake Price (UGA Extension, Lowndes County, GA – jprice@uga.edu) and Dr. Kim Bowman (Rootstock geneticist, Ft. Pierce, FL – Kim.Bowman@usda.gov) Purpose: Identify the best commercially-available rootstocks for ‘Owari’ satsumas, based upon effects on fruit yield, fruit quality, cold-hardiness, tree health, fruit size, and tree size. Background: In 2014, Lowndes Extension began growing ‘Owari’ satsuma…

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