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  • Arbor Day: Celebrate with Fruit Trees

    UGA CAESNewswire photo/Apple trees can add a nice backdrop and bounty to your garden. Although the northern half of the state is best suited for the more “conventional” apple varieties, you can have success in the southern half of Georgia with adapted varieties.

    By Becky Griffin for CAES News

    Americans recognize Arbor Day in April. However, Georgia celebrates Arbor Day on the third Friday of February each year because this is a better time to plant trees, giving roots time to grow before the heat and drought of our summer months.

    Georgia’s Arbor Day falls on Feb. 19 this year and University of Georgia Cooperative Extension has many resources available to help you select, plant and maintain trees in your landscape.

    Fruit trees in particular can add a nice backdrop to your garden, provide a bit of shade during the very hot summer days and, of course, produce delicious and nutritious fruit.

    Be warned, however, that fruit trees can be a lot of work. There are a few points to think about before you decide to plant fruit trees in your home or community garden.

    Find the Right Location

    When planning fruit trees in limited space, location is the key. Fruit trees require at least six hours of sunlight to be healthy and to produce fruit. Eight to 10 hours of sun is optimal.

    Also, although the shade a fruit tree provides during August may be welcome, you do not want to create unwanted shade on vegetable plots. Dwarf trees may be the best answer here. They are also easier to care for than full-sized trees. Remember that what you plant will get bigger and taller.

    Maintenance Matters

    Realize that fruit trees involve more care than vegetables. They may need to be properly pruned, thinned and fertilized regularly. Apples, peaches and plums will get diseases and insects in Georgia, and this must be addressed with the use of pesticides, fungicides and traps.

    If you are avoiding using pesticides, growing traditional fruit trees such as apples, pears and peaches may not be for you. Instead, you may want to try other fruit crops such as blueberries and figs. UGA Extension Circular 1027-10, “Growing Fruits,” by UGArden Director David Berle and consumer horticulturist Robert Westerfield, is a great resource on these issues.

    You May Need More Than One

    Many trees need cross-pollination to produce fruit. You will need at least two different apple trees and, depending on the variety, you might need two different pear or plum trees.

    Most peach trees self-pollinate, so one will still produce fruit.

    Other Considerations

    Many fruit trees are purchased as bare-root trees that have no soil or planting medium around the roots. For information on planting these, see UGA Extension Circular 1061, “Planting Your Bare-Root Fruit Tree.”

    If these points haven’t scared you off, check out other Extension publications, including Circular 742, “Home Garden Pears,” and Circular 740, “Home Garden Apples.”

    Another way to think about trees is their value to pollinators. There are many “trees for bees” and other pollinators that do well in our Georgia ecosystems. Did you know that several native trees are larval host plants for butterflies? Extension Bulletin 1483, “Selecting Trees and Shrubs as Resources for Pollinators,” is a wonderful resource for Georgia gardeners.

    Contact your UGA Extension agent for more information on planting trees by calling 1-800-ASK-UGA1 or visiting extension.uga.edu/publications.

    Story taken from UGA CAES Newswire.

  • Competitive Disadvantage: Why are Mexican Imports Increasing?

    Statistics show that fruit and vegetable imports have increased dramatically from Mexico in recent years. But why? University of Florida Associate Professor Zhengfei Guan explains why imports have gone up significantly over the last decade.

    Guan

    Mexico and Florida are in the same market window. They are direct competitors for such commodities as tomatoes, peppers, berries, cucumbers and squash.

    Reasons Why Imports are Surging

    It is due mainly to three main reasons: the depreciation of the peso, gaps in labor costs and Mexican subsidies.

    “When NAFTA took effect in 1994, one peso was 30 cents in U.S. dollars. But now in 2021, it’s less than five cents. Just look at the last 10 years, since 2011, the peso has lost 40% of its value. That makes Mexican products cheaper and more competitive,” Guan said.

    It is also well documented of the large gaps in labor costs between Mexico and the U.S.

    “Mexican minimum wage is less than one dollar per hour. But Florida minimum wage was over $8 per hour. Now, it’s getting to $15 per hour because of the new mandate,” he added.

    Government Subsidies

    The Mexican government also subsidizes its fruit and vegetable industry. From 2006 to 2016, the average annual budget for subsidies was 59.2 billion pesos or $4.5 billion dollars. Protected agriculture is one of the subsidy programs. The government subsidizes 50% of the costs of protected structures like macro-tunnels, shade houses, anti-hail mesh and greenhouses. In 2019, growers could get 4 million pesos or $200,000 per project.

    “With generous support from the government, protected agriculture has been the fastest growing sector in Mexican agriculture and now has about 130,000 acres,” he added.

    Approximately 95% of the protected acreage is for fruits and vegetables, with tomato being the largest crop in protected agriculture. It encompasses almost 40,000 acres in protected acres, compared to Florida’s total tomato production area of nearly 30,000 (almost all open fields).

    Protected agriculture allows Mexican farmers to produce crops with higher yields, better quality, improved market access, higher prices, better pest control and reduced risk.

    For example, Mexican-protected tomatoes yield about 130,000 pounds per acre, compared to Florida’s 30,000 pounds in an open field setting.

    Not many remedies exist for producers who hope to compete long term. One potential fix is with mechanization and automation.

    “The long-term solution for the industry is mechanization or automation. I would like to see a farm bill special funded program for mechanization or labor-saving technology. That is the future of the specialty crop industry,” Guan added.

  • Liking Lakota: Pecan Variety Generates Interest in UGA Trial

    One pecan variety could be a valuable option for producers seeking a low-cost input variety to plant.

    Photo by Lenny Wells/UGA: Shows Lakota pecans.

    Lakota is a low-input variety where producers don’t have to spray much to manage it throughout the season. It has thrived in research trials on the University of Georgia (UGA) Tifton campus, according to UGA Cooperative Extension pecan specialist Lenny Wells.

    “The yields on Lakota have been very impressive. You can see this year, we’re looking at about 4,300 pounds per acre. I think 159 pounds per tree was the average. Yields have been phenomenal. The count has been good; 63 nuts per pound. It’s a smaller nut than what you see with Desirable and Pawnee, but it’s in the range that shellers would like,” Wells said.

    UGA Tifton Research

    In 2020 low-input test trials at UGA Tifton, Lakota yielded 4,296 pounds per acre at just $1,124.08 per acre. Selling at $1.35 per pound, the gross total was $5,799.60 with a net income of $4,675.52. By comparison, Desirable yielded 1,434 pounds at $1,448.90 per acre and generated just $2,249.10 gross income and $800.20 net income.

    “Our gross income off Lakota was $5,800 roughly per acre. The net was around $4,700 per acre. I don’t know of many crops you can grow, much less pecan varieties, that are going to generate that kind of income,” Wells said.

    Potential Problems

    Wells cautions pecan producers about a few issues that pertain to growing the Lakota variety. Overbearing is an issue so fruit thinning is required for consistent yields. Also, the kernel’s color is darker, especially when compared to a comparable variety like Excel.

    “It seems like every variety has some problems. One thing that is an issue is the color. The kernel color of Lakota is much darker than it is for Excel. That is a red flag to me,” Wells said. “I have run this by a few shellers. Two of them have told me it’s not a problem. One had a concern with it. I’ve seen nuts come out of Mexico and some out of the western U.S. that had this same kernel color; Wichita, Western Schley; shellers buy like crazy and are not too concerned with. Maybe it’s not as big of an issue as I feel like, but I still wonder how much of this the market can take.”

  • Long Wait: Solution for Citrus Greening Will Take Years

    It may not be the news Florida citrus growers want to hear but it’s the reality of citrus greening. It is likely to be several years before a remedy is found and put in place to combat this destructive disease.

    Fred Gmitter

    Fred Gmitter, a University of Florida Professor in Horticultural Sciences, shared his assessment during a recent American Seed Trade Association webinar.

    “We learn a lot more every day that goes by. There are labs all around the world looking at different kinds of solutions for citrus greening,” Gmitter said. “Very recently there’s been talk about a peptide that’s produced by a kind of citrus called Microcitrus that seems to be able to kill the bacteria. It’s being tested right now and if it turns out to be reality, we may have a solution within the next two years.”

    Work with Peptides

    He warns, though, that researchers have worked with peptides over the last 15 years. Some that looked good in the beginning eventually failed. Gmitter doesn’t know if that will be the case with this latest potential solution, however.

    According to the UF/IFAS, citrus greening, or Huanglongbing (HLB) is a disease affecting citrus production throughout the world. The Asian citrus psyllid, which is found throughout Florida, transmits the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus. It causes HLB.

    Gene Editing

    Gene editing could also lead to a remedy.

    “It’s very likely that we’re going to find a gene editing solution within the next two to three years. That sounds like a long time. But citrus trees are difficult to work with. It’s a long process,” Gmitter said. “The bottlenecks are, once we find something and we test it in the lab and we test it in the greenhouse, again we have to go to the field and do some long-term field testing to confirm that it’s going to be durable; to confirm that we haven’t created any other changes in the performance of the plant that might be deleterious.

    “Assuming all of that goes as quickly as possible, we then need to look at ramping up the supply of plant material because we’re not collecting citrus seeds and planting them in the field and seeing a tree six weeks later like we would with a vegetable crop.”

    Between finding a solution in the lab, testing in groves, producing it in nurseries and getting the finished product to producers, a remedy for producers won’t be coming anytime soon.

    “Citrus trees unlike watermelon and pepper are in the ground for decades and not for a couple of weeks. We really need something that’s robust and long term,” Gmitter said. “This is a long, long haul for us in the world of citrus.”

  • Additional Despair: USITC Blueberry Verdict a Sign for Vegetable Producers?

    The U.S. International Trade Commission’s (USITC) decision regarding blueberry imports dealt a disheartening and devastating blow to Southeast producers claiming serious injury to the domestic industry.

    But does the verdict foreshadow additional despair for vegetable farmers who are also claiming imports have hurt their respective commodities; namely, squash, peppers and cucumbers?

    File photo shows a squash plant.

    “There is concern. Each case is kind of held on its own. As I understand it, they look at the evidence presented and judgements are made at that point,” said Charles Hall, executive director of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association.

    “We felt like blueberries did have a very strong case and very strong data. We’re trying to evaluate how the others will be handled. It’s concerning but not discouraging.”

    Last Week’s Verdict

    The USITC voted unanimously last Thursday that imports of fresh, chilled or frozen blueberries are not a serious injury to the domestic industry. The decision was made despite staggering statistical evidence of how the rise of imports in previous years has driven down prices for such growers in Florida and Georgia.

    Additional Investigations

    The USITC is currently seeking input for two additional investigations regarding the impact of imported cucumbers and squashes on the U.S. seasonal markets. The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) requested the investigations in a letter. The USITC will hold a public virtual hearing regarding the investigations on April 8 at 9:30 a.m.

    The USITC has also agreed to monitor the imports of fresh or chilled strawberries and bell peppers. The USTR requested those investigations in a letter.

    While the commodities are not the same, the premise behind the investigations are similar: Imports are devastating the futures of Southeastern farmers. For cucumber, squash and bell pepper farmers, the main culprit is Mexico.

    “When you start looking at the nature of the imports, where blueberries had heavy imports from multiple countries like Canada, Mexico, Chile, Peru; our (vegetable) imports are primarily from Mexico. The ITC will have to look at all the various imports,” Hall added. “I’m assuming if you look at the percent of imports in peppers and squash and cucumbers, Mexico is going to be your largest importer whereas they were not as large of an importer with blueberries as some of the other countries.”

  • Short Supply: Lack of Captan Concerning for Fruit Farmers

    A shortage of a major fungicide could have a significant impact on fruit producers in the Southeast. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Fruit Disease Specialist Phil Brannen confirmed that Captan is in short supply right now.

    Spraying being done in a peach orchard.

    This is a major development for growers of strawberries, peaches, apples and grapes.

    It is one of the products that strawberry producers use for Anthracnose and Botrytis. Peach producers use it to protect against Brown Rot during cover sprays in mid-season.

    More pressing though, is its importance for grape and apple farmers. Brannen said it is the backbone of the spray programs for both of those commodities.

    “I’m hopeful that in those commodities we’ll get some Captan in eventually. If we don’t, in those commodities, I really don’t know what to do,” said Brannen. “We’ll just spray a lot of other stuff. It will really pressure us to get resistance development because we spray so often and so long on apples and grapes.”

    When Will Supplies Pick Up?

    Brannen is hearing that Captan supplies will pick back up in either April or May. Apples will start blooming in late March to early April.

    According to the UGA Extension Strawberry News blog, Brannen said that Thiram products can be used for disease control in strawberries. Other products are available, but Captan and Thiram mainly control Botrytis and Anthracnose.

    The concern of an extended short supply of Captan cannot be understated, however.

    “It’s an old fungicide. It’s been around a long time. It’s broad spectrum, so it works on a lot of different diseases. It does not develop resistance. That’s its main thing. It’s good against multiple diseases and it does not develop resistance, whereas most of the things that are really active, we try to target those when we need them and spray them as little as we can because they do develop resistance,” Brannen said. “It’s a backbone of the spray program. It’s part of what we would call our backbone for strawberries, for sure, and in large part for peach in the cover sprays it is. Then when you go to apples and grapes, it certainly is.

    “If we don’t have Captan, for whatever reason … we just don’t have really good options for resistance.”

  • Essential Workers: Response Requested for Survey

    The Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA) is actively working to be the voice of Georgia’s produce industry.

    Agricultural workers are essential. The Georgia Department of Public Health is working to create a plan to get your agricultural workers vaccinated.

    The GFVGA wants COVID-19 vaccines available to them at the earliest possible date and needs your help.

    Most of the decisions about how the vaccinations will be distributed will be made at the local level by the Georgia health department staff and district director as well as local hospitals, pharmacies, etc. The information that the GFVGA hopes to gather via a survey will be used to help inform local Georgia health districts about the overall essential Ag worker presence they will have in their district during the Spring 2021 season. This should include family and full-time employees, as well as seasonal employees made up of domestic, migrant and H-2A employees.

    When the plan is enacted in your community, the GFVGA wants to ensure that local officials have the information needed to prioritize vaccinations for Ag workers. Your participation in this brief survey will help GFVGA achieve this critical goal. If you have any questions about how GFVGA has been working for you or how this information will be used, please contact the GFVGA office at (706) 845-8200.

  • Point Made: Financial Impact of Imports of Fruits and Vegetables

    Southeast fruit and vegetable farmers have had a point all along. Imports of fruits and vegetables, which have long been the source of producers’ ire in recent years, have significantly impacted the domestic industry.

    Produce coming in from countries like Mexico, Chile and Peru have driven down prices and put producers’ futures at risk.

    Blueberries were the source of a recent Section 201 investigation by the International Trade Commission.

    It was the source of the recent Section 201 investigation by the U.S. International Trade Commission into blueberries where producers claimed serious injury to the domestic industry.

    Statistically Speaking

    According to the USDA Economic Research Service, recent statistics show how much imports have increased over the past several years, especially in 2020.

    Imports of fresh or frozen fruits totaled $15.2 million, up from $15.06 million in 2019. Imports of prepared or preserved fruits totaled $3.28 million, up from $3.07 million in 2019.

    Mexico was the top exporter of fresh or frozen fruits, followed by Chile and Peru.

    The financial impact is significant considering that in 2015, the imports of fresh or frozen fruits totaled $11.3 million.

    Imports of fresh or frozen vegetables totaled $12.72 million, up from $11.38 million in 2019. Imports of prepared or preserved vegetables totaled $3.8 million, up from $3.46 million in 2019.

    Mexico was the top exporter of fresh or frozen vegetables, followed by Canada and the UK.

    Again, when compared to 2015, the financial impact of imports has been staggering. Imports of fresh or frozen vegetables totaled $8.81 million in 2015.

  • Choosing Cover Crops for Nematode Management

    Sunflower in the foreground and sunn hemp in the background

    By Johan Desaeger

    Cover crops are one of the more practical options for nematode management as their use is already common practice for many growers. The subtropical climate in Florida and the southeastern United States allows growers to plant crops year-round, and cover crops have been an important component of Florida’s agro-ecosystems since its early days of agriculture.

    Until the 1930s, velvetbean was a popular summer cover crop in Florida due to its nitrogen contribution. However, around the 1950s when chemical fertilizers and pesticides became widely available, cover crops became less common. Currently, the most planted summer cover crops in Florida are sorghum-sudangrass hybrids, sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). 

    SUMMER COVER CROPS

    Sorghum-sudangrass is a tall annual grass that is quite competitive against weeds. Leaf tissue of sorghum-sudangrass contains dhurrin, a cyanogenic glucoside that releases hydrogen cyanide upon degradation in the soil. While many varieties suppress root-knot nematodes (RKN) — by far the most damaging nematodes in Florida vegetables — sorghum-sudan is a good host to sting and stubby root nematodes. Sting nematodes are a major problem in Florida strawberries.


    Sunn hemp is a tall, rapid-growing legume that is widely grown in tropical regions as a green manure. In Florida, Tropic Sun sunn hemp produces high amounts of biomass. Its ability to fix nitrogen permits vigorous growth, even in sandy soils with low levels of nitrogen. Sunn hemp is well known to be a poor host to RKN and also to sting nematodes. However, it is a good host to lesion nematodes. Sunn hemp also contains alkaloids in its tissue, and both its leaf and root residue have nematicidal activity.


    Cowpea is a good fit as a summer cover crop for Florida growers. Unfortunately, cultivars like Iron Clay, which is the most common in Florida, is a good host to most species of RKN. Cowpea nematode susceptibility is greatly influenced by cultivar and composition of the nematode population. For example, while Iron Clay is a good host to most RKN species, California Blackeye No. 5, Tennessee Brown and Mississippi Silver are poor hosts to RKN. Both Iron Clay and Mississippi Silver can be good hosts for sting nematodes. In addition, cowpea is susceptible to southern blight, to which many Florida vegetables are also susceptible.

    WINTER COVER CROPS

    Common winter cover crop species include winter rye, oat, crimson clover, hairy vetch and several Brassica species such as mustard. These have varying effects on nematodes, but generally, when a susceptible crop is grown after them, nematode numbers quickly rebound.  Brassica plants like mustard and radish are also known to have biofumigant properties. This is due to the glucosinolates (sulfur-containing compounds) that they contain. Upon degradation, glucosinolates hydrolyze into several volatile compounds, including isothiocyanates (the active component of metam-based soil fumigants) and mustard oils.

    MIXING AND USE

    Cover crops can be sown as a monoculture or as a mix of multiple species. Mixing cover crops with opposing nematode host status can have benefits in terms of nematode management. Previous cover crop experiments by the author in Kenya, involving a mixture of good RKN hosts with poor hosts similar to sunn hemp, created a more diverse nematode population, reduced nematode damage and increased yield of an RKN-susceptible crop in rotation.

    The lack of nematode-specific data combined with the multitude of RKN (more than 15) and other nematode species in Florida warrants exploring the host status of cover crops (including cultivars) to each species of root-knot nematode. This is tedious work that takes time. However, such information would help growers to select appropriate cover crops, including mixtures that are tailored according to the resident nematode population of a field. 

    Properly managed, cover crops improve soil quality and health. They may impact soil nematodes in different ways, by limiting nematode reproduction during cover crop growth in the case of poor hosts, and by directly killing them via production of nematicidal compounds following incorporation of the biomass. In addition, by increasing soil organic matter, which is especially important in the poor sandy soils typical of Florida, cover crops can improve soil health by stimulating biological control organisms that are natural enemies of nematodes.

  • Chill Out: New UF/IFAS Study Shows Why Strawberries Must Keep (Their) Cool

    File photo shows strawberries harvested and ready for transport.

    It is strawberry season in Florida. Odds are any strawberries eaten right now taste oh-so-sweet. Those strawberries consumers see at the grocery store should be shipped and stocked at the right temperature, says a University of Florida (UF) scientist; should being the operative word.

    To ensure the fruit is at peak form, you’re not supposed to break what’s referred to as the “cold chain,” says Jeff Brecht, a UF/IFAS horticultural sciences professor and Extension specialist.

    The cold chain refers to the food supply chain — from farms to supermarkets — and applies to products that need to be refrigerated. Trucks transport strawberries around the state and across the country, and ensure the product remain cold, Brecht said.

    “We tell strawberry shippers and handlers not to break the cold chain because if you allow strawberries to warm up, there’s no practical way to cool them back down,” Brecht said.

    When strawberries warm, they lose some of their sugars, vitamins and antioxidants and can bruise and decay more easily, scientists say.

    Some grocery stores prefer to display room-temperature strawberries, but those warmer temperatures will often result in strawberries that don’t last as long in consumers’ homes, Brecht said.

    For more information, see the UF/IFAS website.