Richard

Inspectors were tracking a source of Asian Citrus Psyllids in the area and traced them to a mature Pomelo tree at a home. Both the tree and the psyllids are infected. As of this morning CDFA was trying to contact the home owner.

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harveyc

I have lots of citrus in bloom right now. I need to make a list of the varieties I've got. Most are separate trees but a few are grafted onto other trees. Many are still in pots (I grafted/budded them myself after obtaining certified budwood from CCPP) but will go in the ground soon. I'm going to start a list now and will add to it as I go out and check around and find things I'm sure to miss....

Two navel oranges dating from the 1970s which are of two unknown varieties. I picked about 800 pounds of citrus from them this year, like most years. I still have about 20 pounds 40 pounds of very ripe fruit on the tree which I'm eating daily. The trees are in full bloom with a great scent reaching 100 feet away or more.
An unknown variety of lemon of about the same age. I pick maybe 200-300 pounds of lemons a year. Most of the crop is still on it.
An Oroblanco - I don't eat it due to effects on statin (cholesterol medication) I take I picked about 200 pounds for sale to the fruit stand (which buys most of the above fruit)
These are younger and just coming into production:
Valencia
Gold Nugget
Tango
Kishu
Tahoe Gold
Miyagawa Satsuma
In Pots:
Centennial kumquat
Nordman Seedless kumquat
Page (mandarin/tangelo or whatever)
Clementine de Nules
Fremont mandarin
SRA 92 clementine mandarin
Xie Shan satsuma
88-2 mandarin
Caffin clementine (perhaps the prettiest of all citrus when full grown, IMO)
USDA 15-150 mandarin

Wow, the other day I told somebody that maybe I had 15 citrus. I just counted 10 varieties in ground, 10 more varieties in pots (14 plants with some duplicates)...

Grafts onto some of the first three:
Smith Red Valencia
Midknight Valencia
Palestine sweet lime
Buddha's Hand citron

I still hope to get Dekopon some day, but might be about done otherwise.

For what it's worth, I've not found a pigmented citrus that I really like enough to justify planting. I've tasted the same fruits that others have raved over (i.e., at Lindcove tasting) and I just don't get it. Bland.

I usually don't fertilize my citrus as they are productive enough without it. I have been pruning my large navels to make it easier to access them with picking ladders. And I prune my lemon tree as it gets too tall and was planted by prior occupant too close to the house.

Oh yeah, one more that I might get some time is Ortanique tangor. I tried grafting it once with wood from CCPP but that wood was too immature, IMO. Toots Bier had highly recommended it for juicing over any Valencia (for California conditions, at least)

blah blah blah

One more thing....Mitchel, you said you had a "Paige". If you mean Page, I think you'll need a pollinator if you don't already have one or you can spray with giberrillic acid (GA3), especially if you don't want seedy fruit.

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harveyc

I would have posted this earlier if I knew this was being discussed here:
California braces for a deadly stalker of citrus - latimes.com

BTW, I received a letter from CDFA about a week ago informing me of revised regulations regarding propagation of nursery stock even though citrus isn't a species my inspectors have asked about in the past as I've told them all of my trees are for my own use. The letter indicated they understood me a nursery propagating citrus. Tony and Richard: did you get the same letter?

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sunfish

I didn't get squat,to small an operation for them to mess with

Richard

The 2012 list of host plants for ACP is breathtaking. It goes way beyond Citrus, although most of the plants are neo-tropical. I have a hard-copy here, perhaps you can locate it online.

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harveyc

Maybe I got the CDFA letter because CCPP told them I had ordered budwood from them even though it wasn't for my nursery operations.

Richard, I have seen a host list CDFA's site but am not sure it's the same as what you have. I'm curious to know if Casimoroa is on your list. It isn't on the list I found on CDFA's site but I and some others found that it is affected by HLB (not surprising) but also found that Asian Citrus Psyllid avoids the tree. If we get the African Citrus Psyllid here then they will be subject to infection.

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Richard

Here it is online, scroll down a page or two: 3435 Asian Citrus Psyllid -- State Interior Quarantine

The studies on White Sapote in Florida in the last decade were negative. I would like to have a reference to a study with the opposite result.

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harveyc

Not much to go on here, but I found citrus psyllid (African) (Trioza erytreae) which specifically mentions Casimiroa edulis as being a host for the African Citrus Psyllid and within that page makes mention that the significance is that it's a vector for HLB.

A couple of studies which indicate Casimiroa is not a host for Asian Citrus Psyllid are http://www.senasica.gob.mx/includes/...80&idurl=27167 and a spread sheet with various HLB related studies, "Liberibacter publication list (2000-2011) (Excel)"
http://citrusgreening.org/Liberibact...ion%20list.xls

I don't know of any studies where they have attempted to infect Casimiroa manually so it's probably safe from infection here in the US unless the Asian Citrus Psyllid is introduced as well.

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Richard

When the ACP program started, I inquired with my inspector and then the local program director if the Casimiroa should be on the list. They checked and reported the negative result in the Florida program. The 2012 list from CA represents updated studies done by the Citrus research program. I'll check with them to see if Casimiroa was tested again.

Some readers might be unaware: Casimiroa (White Sapote) is a western Hemisphere member of the Rutaceae (Citrus) family in the Linnean taxonomy system. However, in genetic classification they are placed in different subfamilies (Toddalioideae vs. Aurantioideae).

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harveyc

I don't have any reason to believe Casimiroa is a host for the Asian Citrus Psyllid but it looks like it might be for HLB. From what I can tell, the testing done in the U.S. is with Asian Citrus Psyllid without directly inoculating plants with HLB.

One concern I have is that if Casimiroa was infected somewhere in SoCal that seeds of fruits produced from those trees might make their way up into NorCal and get planted since several of us up here have done this in the past. Still, it's such a rare species up here my level of concern is quite low. It's just something I'm keeping in the back of my head (figuratively).

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harveyc

I'm going to try this method of posting photos for a while. Taken with my phone and uploaded to Google+. Not a great shot but a lot faster than me processing large files from my DSLR and processing them in Lightroom, etc. and then uploading those to my own host.

I began harvesting my navel oranges maybe a couple of months ago, maybe two and a half months ago, and they are about gone. I picked about 800 pounds between this tree and a smaller one, not counting another 200 pounds or so that dropped to the ground. They are very tasty but breaking down quickly now. The tree is in full bloom as can be seen in this photo. This tree has an old volunteer (?) avocado growing up through it to which I've grafted an unnamed seedling selection picked up for me by Tony.

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Nicolas Naranja

From what I have read and heard the Psyllids don't like Casimiroa, if you give them no choice they will use it as food, but they don't reproduce on it. If they don't feed on it they can't transmit it. I haven't seen any reports of White Sapote having HLB.

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harveyc

The Asian Citrus Psyllids don't like it but the African Citrus Psyllids do, from what I posted above. Fortunately, we don't have the African ones in the U.S., as far as I know.

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Richard

So far, my understanding is that:

• HLB (the Citrus Greening Disease virus) affects certain members of the Rutaceae family, especially those in subfamily Aurantioideae.
• Being a member of the Rutaceae family is not a precondition for HLB susceptibility.
• There are only a few known vectors (carriers) of HLB.
• There are many host plants for the vectors. Most recently edible figs have been added (see 3435 Asian Citrus Psyllid -- State Interior Quarantine).
• Being a host plant is not a precondition of HLB susceptibility.
• There is no report from a plant pathologist of a Casimoroa being infected with HLB.

Corrections are welcome!

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RandyGHO

Just to throw my hat into this thread. I have three in-ground citrus trees here in South Ga. A Meyer's lemon which I got nearly 300 lemons last year, a Brown select Satsuma in its third year and a newly planted Red Navel.

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harveyc

Thanks for putting that clearly; that is my understanding as well. I believe Casimiroa might be susceptible to HLB from the link I provided, but I don't believe it's been tested (only evaluated as a host for Asian Citrus Psyllid). Is that your understanding re: Casimiroa testing as well?

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Richard

The link you provided is to an information page provided by CABI. Regardless of their proclaimation that they are "an international development-led organization", they are in fact a publishing company that supplies grants to university professors throughout the world in exchange for information. The content on their site has been produced by their marketing and web team. If you go to the Meet Our People page and select the "Pests & Diseases" keyword search, then follow-up on those people at their institutions it all becomes clear. So the best I can say about their web sites is that the content appears incomplete.

Yes. Early on in my participation in the ACP program I pressed hard to find out if Casimiroa was at risk -- not only because I sell them but especially since I have a prize tree in my front yard. I am still interested in the topic because there are massive testing programs for HLB hosts and carriers (plant and animal) in progress and new information is coming out monthly.

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alias

Poncirus

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cincinnana

I recently received this Reeds Dwarf Orange Citrus Tree from an 84 year old neighbor.
The tree is at least 15 years old and it has never bloomed .
The reason its never bloomed is my friend just wheeled it in his shed in the fall to overwinter never giving it a chance to bloom naturally....... go figure it is still alive. I know you folks who grow citrus like to see a flower ,however I cannot provide you one for a good id.
The tree was purchased at an exit near Tampa,Florida U.S.A.
I have the original orange and green box instructions .
My question is what variety of orange might this be????
Also how can I force this to bloom for my friend.
The tree is in great health

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Abnshrek

That tree may need a cross pollinator. I know I've fed my grapefruit and oranges fish 5-1-1 and it gets them to bloom, my nectarine (has blooms on it now) and a friends keifer pear is full of blooms again after they already have gotten fruit off it this year. :^)

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I'm a Nannerhead :^)