This column by\u00a0HCCGA<\/a>\u00a0President Jim Snively originally appeared in\u00a0Citrus Connection<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n SEBRING, Fla. \u2013 Our 2013\/2014 Crop is in the books. 104.4 million boxes of oranges. It is done, it\u2019s over, so let\u2019s move on and put this one\u00a0behind us! It is time to strip trees, ride out blocks, count trees, and see what we think we may have for the 2014\/2015 Season.\u00a0It just seems to be a revolving door. I just hope that when it stops this year, the Florida Citrus Industry is looking at a much\u00a0better result than what it experienced this past year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Word on the street is that almost everybody that does tree stripping to evaluate the crop size for the upcoming season is going at it.\u00a0As usual those that reveal their results to the industry will do so in mid-August. This will be our first indication as to where the crop will\u00a0be. Let\u2019s just hope that the forecasts that are developed this year from the various sources are closer to the actual crop than what they\u00a0have been over the past two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last two years the early forecasters have estimated a crop that was 20% higher than the actual final crop, and the USDA has\u00a0forecasted crops over the last two years that averaged approximately 15% higher than the actual final crop for those seasons. Crop\u00a0forecasting has become a very difficult task due to disease and late bloom playing into the equation. Both of these factors have certainly\u00a0made it extremely difficult to accurately predict fruit drop throughout the season and fruit size. Hopefully the more consistent bloom of\u00a0this spring will create better accuracy in this year\u2019s crop estimates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The groves around Highlands County are really responding to the rainfall events that have been occurring on a regular basis. This\u00a0phenomenon always makes me realize how critical water quality and distribution is for a citrus tree. We have always realized this\u00a0benefit, but have never really taken steps, until now, to try and mimic this result. It has taken HLB to show us that the slightest stress or\u00a0imbalance to a citrus tree\u2019s ecosystem can actually make a significant difference in its ability to produce either a crop or an\u00a0economically viable crop. There have been many experts out there that have tried to beat it into our heads, but now\u00a0we can truly see the impacts of inadequate programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Morgan and some aggressive growers around the industry are showing some impressive results\u00a0with water quality management as well as irrigation scheduling. I highly recommend that growers\u00a0look into the work that has been done to improve water quality for increasing nutrient uptake and\u00a0root development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recently I have had several conversations with growers around the state concerning the\u00a0\u201cAbandoned Grove\u201d situation that is present throughout the citrus producing counties of our\u00a0state. I even had one grower demand that I do something about it. As we all know this is a\u00a0continuing concern for those of us that are working to maintain as low a Psyllid population as\u00a0we possibly can to try to slow down the spread of HLB in our groves. There have been some\u00a0efforts in some counties, but maybe it is time that this subject is brought back to the forefront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There will have to be some good incentives developed in order to persuade individuals to\u00a0remove trees on these properties as well as good enforcement if those developed requirements\u00a0are not met. This will require a coordinated effort between the local county property appraisers,\u00a0County Commissions, and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. We\u00a0should all do what we can to support this initiative. In closing, keep sprayin, fertilizin, herbicidin,\u00a0waterin, drainin, sproutin, pullin vines, mowin, and plantin!!!!!!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The groves around Highlands County are really responding to the rainfall events that have been occurring on a regular basis. This column by\u00a0HCCGA\u00a0President Jim Snively originally appeared in\u00a0Citrus Connection. SEBRING, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","fdoc_news_item_category":[100,101],"fdoc_citrus_type":[107,109],"fdoc_health_category":[],"class_list":["post-4102","fdoc-news-item","type-fdoc-news-item","status-publish","hentry","fdoc_news_item_category-industry","fdoc_news_item_category-orange-production","fdoc_citrus_type-orange","fdoc_citrus_type-tangerine"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc-news-item\/4102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc-news-item"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/fdoc-news-item"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"fdoc_news_item_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_news_item_category?post=4102"},{"taxonomy":"fdoc_citrus_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_citrus_type?post=4102"},{"taxonomy":"fdoc_health_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.floridacitrus.org\/grower\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fdoc_health_category?post=4102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}