Growers in Miami-Dade County are beginning to show some optimism concerning the outbreak of Oriental fruit fly. That’s because the quarantine is within weeks of being lifted. The Oriental fruit fly is one of the most aggressive fruit flies known worldwide. It has been responsible for considerable damage to citrus in Japan and to mangos…
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A month ago in this space, we reported our expectation that plants being grown in southern Florida would be prone to disease problems if the unusual pattern of significant winter rainfall were to continue. Well, the pattern has continued, and local plants are definitely showing the strain. What can homeowners do to prevent the outbreak…
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The UF-IFAS/Miami-Dade County Extension Office – IFAS for short – publishes a very interesting and informative quarterly newsletter, Miami Green Bytes. Among subjects addressed in the Winter 2015 issue is the influence of El Niño, which so far is more than living up to its advance billing as a major weather-maker. Generally speaking, most of…
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“It’s essentially in free fall.” That’s what Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam had to say about the state’s citrus industry this week when the USDA reported it had adjusted the orange-harvest forecast for Florida downward for the second straight month. The newest prediction by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is that 69 million 90-lb.…
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Richard Lyons’ Nursery has tried to keep readers abreast of developments with respect to the health of citrus in Florida. We’re sorry to report that the latest information from the state’s Department of Agriculture, as well as industry sources, is not encouraging. On November 12, the Florida Senate Agriculture Committee met in Sebring to discuss…
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