The August episode of the All In For Citrus podcast features highlights from this year’s Citrus & Specialty Crop Expo. The event included two citrus educational sessions that covered a wide range of topics, including HLB management, other pest management topics and new varieties.

Michael Rogers, director of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Citrus Research and Education Center, said the citrus research team relies on input from growers to develop the seminar program and tries to cover hot-button issues of the moment.

“Obviously, oxytetracycline (OTC) trunk-injection therapies are a real hot topic in the industry, so we had a couple of presentations at the Expo on the topic,” Rogers said. “We also heard about some research from our foundational programs on things like nutrient and irrigation management.”

Rogers added that a few speakers discussed longer-term research to deliver an HLB-resistant citrus tree. Among those speakers was Charlie Messina, who is the director of the UF/IFAS Crop Transformation Center.

Ute Albrecht, UF/IFAS associate professor of plant physiology, joined the podcast to discuss her presentation on research regarding OTC applications. She said growers have learned a lot about trunk injection in the past two seasons and they are applying that knowledge in the grove.

Albrecht discussed how citrus trees benefit from multiple trunk-injection sites to split applications and better distribute OTC benefits throughout a tree. This practice also helps reduce any phytotoxicity responses after applications, which were observed this year.

Manjul Dutt, UF/IFAS assistant professor of horticultural sciences, also joined the podcast to talk about his presentation at the Expo featuring early-season varieties that have shown improved tolerance to HLB. Chief among those varieties is Parson Brown, which is more than 100 years old and has captured grower attention due to its productivity despite HLB infection.

To hear more about these presentations from the Citrus & Specialty Crop Expo, don’t miss the August episode of All In For Citrus. The podcast is a partnership between UF/IFAS and AgNet Media.