By Frank Giles
Florida citrus growers faced another challenging season in 2022. Continuing impacts from HLB and inflated input prices forced some growers to scale back their production programs.
According to Kendra McCorkle, an agronomic service representative for Syngenta, some growers had to make hard economic decisions. “This past season with spikes (in expenses) across everything, especially fertilizer and fuel, we saw some growers having to cut back even more,” she said.
Those cutbacks, along with the ravages of HLB, were reflected in final production numbers that tumbled to historic lows. McCorkle added a problem with HLB is it exacerbates other stresses that hit citrus trees. Among those are phytophthora root rot. Syngenta has been providing a soil and root sampling service for Florida citrus growers for more than 30 years.
“We go out and pull samples for growers to help them justify making applications or not for phytophthora,” she said. “It is basically a scouting service below the ground. With the samples, we can determine what the disease load is and the impact it is having based off thresholds we developed with the University of Florida when the scouting program started.”
So far this season, about 1,500 samples haves been pulled compared to about a total of 4,000 during the previous season. McCorkle encouraged growers to take advantage of the scouting program, because in some cases, it can save growers money by avoiding unneeded applications or alert them to address a problem that can lower production.
“Root health has been top-of-mind for growers, and I think it is critical right now with the rising costs of inputs to be very strategic where they need to put their money,” McCorkle said. “I will give you an example. The 1,500 samples we’ve pulled thus far, 22% of those are above the treatment threshold where we say an application should be put out. That is extremely valuable information.”
When thresholds are met, Syngenta has a recommended treatment program built around their fungicide portfolio including Ridomil Gold and Orondis. McCorkle said growers need to be mindful of a good rotation to manage against resistance.