Don't weep: Not too late for a reshape

Miner management

Q: We have a 2-year-old orange tree that hasn't grown much. When it does grow, the leaves turn yellow, develop brown spots and shrivel. What can I do?

Citrus Will Get $4 Mil. for Research

Florida citrus growers received almost all of their $5 million request for research funds to combat citrus canker and greening. But $13 million to the Florida Department of Citrus for advertising was denied. The final 2007-08 state budget the Legislature worked up late Monday night includes $4 million for canker and greening research, the industry's top legislative priority this year, said Mike Sparks, the chief executive of Lakeland-based Florida Citrus Mutual, the state's largest growers' representative.

Polk Is Still on Top In Citrus Production

LAKELAND | Polk County continued for another season as the state's top citrus-producing county with almost 22.4 million boxes of oranges, grapefruit, tangerines and specialty citrus fruit, according to the preliminary 2006-07 Citrus Summary released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Oranges And Education

Florida State University finally got around to giving a well-deserved honor to a former faculty member who taught at the college for nearly 40 years - but almost ended her college carrier before it started because her family back in Winter Haven couldn't afford the $200 for her room and board.

Growers, packers learn how to spot citrus diseases

FORT PIERCE — Groover Smith held a grapefruit in one hand and peered at an ugly canker lesion through a magnifying glass held in the other.

"We don't see it at the packinghouse," said Smith, a quality manager at the Oslo Citrus Growers Association in Vero Beach.

A STATE OF BEE-ING

"The murmuring of innumerable bees," Alfred Lord Tennyson called it - the music of farmer love.

You're more reliant on the dwindling population of pesky buzzers for your food than you know

Orange juice labels: pulp fiction?

At first glance, the label reads: "Made With Not From Concentrate Juice."

But read a little further, and the label on the Homemaker Premium carton also notes it is "Blended with Valencia Orange Juice. From Concentrate."

Confused?

Orange Forecast Looking Healthier

LAKELAND | The Florida orange crop will rebound closer to 200 million boxes in the 2007-08 season, according to two widely watched early crop projections released this week.

That recovery will be temporary, however, as the state's citrus industry will continue struggling during the next decade to return to pre-hurricane production levels, said Tom Spreen, a University of Florida agricultural economist.

Planting citrus is still risky business

The bloom may be over.

When the state ended its war on citrus canker in March 2006, homeowners whose trees had been chopped down rushed to replace their oranges, lemons and grapefruits. The demand was so strong it caused a temporary shortage.

Leaf miners advance on young citrus

Question: I have orange trees that I started from seed with leaves that are growing gnarly and twisted. What's wrong, and what should I do?

Goodbye to Oranges?

The orange has become one of the world's favorite fruits: In 2005, Americans ate nine million metric tons of them, and Brazilians consumed another five million. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the top producers of oranges worldwide in 2005 were Brazil with 17.8 million metric tons, and the United States with 8.4 million. However, we may be about to kiss goodbye to orange juice, marmalade, and duck á l'orange. Oranges worldwide are under attack from a whole spectrum of diseases, and in one serious case, growers are to blame.

Study Points to Virus in Collapse of Honeybee Colonies

Scientists yesterday identified a virus as one of the likely causes of the recent wave of honeybee colony collapses across the country.