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Highlands County Extension Service
4509 George Boulevard, Sebring, Florida 33875
March 25, 2015 Volume I Issue VI
Growers & Friends:
Hello Spring (well with temps in the 80’s I guess I should say hello
pre-summer. I hope that this issue of the newsletter brings you plenty of information
you can use. I am sure that you have heard by now, Les Baucum, our county extension
director CED), resigned effective February 27th and I have been asked to fill in as interim
CED. I am enjoying my new role and want to assure you that we have a phenomenal
faculty and staff here and we are working hard to bring you educational opportunities
and information in a timely manner. If you have suggestions, compliments or comments
for growth, I would love to hear from you.
I hope you enjoy this edition of “Under the Citrus Tree”
and as we move into the spring, please enjoy the beautiful
weather, your families and this amazing country we call
home.
Regards,
Laurie
Laurie Hurner
Citrus Extension Agent/Interim CED
Highlands County
Office: 863.402.6540
Email: lhurner@ufl.edu
http://highlands.ifas.ufl.edu
What’s inside …?
CHMA Regional Spray Scheduled
FL Citrus Institute
Grower Tour Postponed
2015 Youth Citrus Project
International HLB News
2015 Citrus Achievement Award
Dr. Rouse Retiring
USDA FSA Bulletin
Ag Literacy Day
Certified Crop Advisor
2014-2015 Program Sponsors
The Foundation for the Gator Nation an Equal Opportunity Institution
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Under the Citrus Tree March 2015
What’s going on?
Citrus Health Management Area (CHMA) Regional Spray
Application
The following text is from Mr. Steve Farr (chairman of the Memorial Drive area
CHMA):
Discussions are underway for the Memorial Drive CHMA to make a regional application
with Danitol as soon as the bees and bloom are gone. It is looking like Monday March
30th might be the start up time.
Below are reasonable pricing for a helicopter application, if enough growers in this area
might be interested. Aerial application by plane for this area has too many obstacles,
(roads, houses, lakes, schools, major power lines, etc.) But the chopper could get the job
done. Again, if enough participation.
Contact Steve Farr at sfarr@bhgriffin.com to be included in this spray.
I have placed a copy of this CHMA area on the UF/IFAS Highlands County Extension
Citrus Website. Check it out by clicking here.
Email verbiage from the helicopter provider: Please let us know if you need our
Helicopters to help you with your Spraying program, especially where you consider
sensitive areas where the helicopters could be more efficient.
As we mentioned to you, we have been spraying insecticides, nutrients and a mix of the
two with their proper PH balancers provided by the growers at a rate of:
5.00 Gallons per Acre @ $7.50 per Acre
10.00 Gallons per Acre @ $9.80 per Acre
15.00 Gallons per Acre @ $12.80 per Acre
20.00 Gallons per Acre @ $17.00 per Acre
Herman Mejia, Rotor Group LLC, Helicopter Services, (754) 366-0795
The Foundation for the Gator Nation an Equal Opportunity Institution
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Under the Citrus Tree March 2015
Florida Citrus Growers’ Institute around the Corner
Mark your calendars! The Institute is fast approaching and we are excited to bring
another outstanding program your way. The UF/IFAS Citrus Extension agents from
across the state come together to provide this excellent program in an all-day format.
The program will be held April 7, 2015 at the South Florida State College Theatre for
Performing Arts (600 W. College Drive, Avon Park, Florida). For more information & a
registration form, please click here.
Thank you in advance to our sponsors: Bayer Crop Science, Syngenta Crop Science,
Valent, Dow Agrosciences, DuPont Crop Protection, FMC Corporation, Gowan, Farm
Credit, Triangle Chemical and of course Florida Citrus Mutual for always providing the
orange juice.
April 2nd Grower Tour of SWFREC Postponed
The April 2nd Highlands County Grower Tour of SWFREC has been postponed. Due to a
conflict in the county we will be moving this tour to September. Mark your calendar for
September 24, 2015. I will be sending out information and sign-up instructions out in
August. I know that seems like a long way off, however, at the rate we are going it is
right around the corner.
2015 Highlands Youth Citrus Project Comes to a Close
The 2015 HYCP has come to a close. We had a fantastic year and I hope that
you were able to see our trees and display boards at the Highlands County
Fair. 75 youth between the ages of 8 and 18 competed in three areas: citrus tree growing,
citrus record books and citrus display boards. The HYCP committee would like to
congratulate Kitty Lackey for winning the Overall Grand Champion contest and Joshua
Brown for following up closely behind at Reserve Overall Grand Champion.
If you have a child or know of a child who would be interested in the 2016 contest,
registration is now open. Please click here for registration information.
The committee would like to also thank our major sponsors: Bayer, Monsanto, Triangle
Chemical and Syngenta. These companies have been continued supporters of this
The Foundation for the Gator Nation an Equal Opportunity Institution
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Under the Citrus Tree March 2015
program and so many others. If you or your company is interested in sponsoring the
2016 Highlands Youth Citrus Project, please contact Laurie Hurner at lhurner@ufl.edu .
News from the International Research Conference on
Huanglongbing
In February of this year, researchers, extension personnel, growers and others gathered
in Orlando for the 2015 International Research Conference on Huanglongbing. I spent
part of the week at the conference and there was certainly a lot of good information on
the agenda.
For the first time the planning committee for the conference asked the presenters to
submit a non-technical summary along with their abstracts. This is a great idea and I
encourage the committee to keep asking for these summaries. They lay the research out
into every day English that even I can understand. To review the abstracts and nontechnical summaries click here.
2015 Citrus Achievement Award
You only have a few more days to submit your candidate for the 2015 Citrus
Achievement Award. Candidates must meet the following requirements to be
considered:
Be actively involved with citrus production as a grower, packer/processor,
marketer, supplier or researcher;
Have had a measurable impact on the citrus industry within the last three years;
Be actively involved in one or more citrus industry organization or association;
Have demonstrated commitment to the future of the Florida Citrus Industry,
notwithstanding personal gain, and
Be a leader who is recognized and respected by his/her peers in the industry.
This is a very prestigious award and I can think of several eligible folks, right off the bat.
If you know of someone, follow the link to submit your nomination.
The Foundation for the Gator Nation an Equal Opportunity Institution
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Under the Citrus Tree March 2015
Dr. Bob Rouse to Retire
Dr. Robert E. Rouse is retiring at the end of March. Dr. Rouse has brought tremendous
ideas and research findings to the Florida citrus industry.
A little information about Dr. Rouse from the SWFREC website: Dr. Bob Rouse, Citrus
Horticulturist UF/IFAS Southwest Florida Research & Education Center, Immokalee.
Dr. Rouse received his B.S. (1970) and M.S. (1972) in Fruit Crops and his PhD. (1976) in
Horticulture from the University of Florida. Dr. Rouse remained with the university in a
post-doctoral position in the Fruit Crop Department (1976-1978). He taught
undergraduate and graduate courses in fruit tree physiology and conducted research in
citrus tree cold hardiness. Dr. Rouse then served as project leader for citrus rootstock
and subtropical fruit research at the Texas A&M University Research and Extension
Center at Weslaco (1978-1990). There he was responsible for conducting research with
the commercial Texas Citrus Industry in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. He did research
in citrus nursery practices and developed the prototype nursery for the 1,151-acre Texas
A&M University research farm. In 1990, Dr. Rouse returned to the University of
Florida/IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center in Immokalee, where
he served as the citrus research/extension horticulturist and teaching coordinator, and
currently as the citrus horticulturist.
THANK YOU Dr. Rouse for your years of service and your dedication to the Florida
Citrus Industry!
USDA Farm Service Agency March Bulletin
Are you keeping up with what is happening at the USDA Farm Service Agency? Have
you applied for help and have questions. Monthly the FSA sends out a pretty good
bulletin. It is chock full of information that may be helpful to you. I have placed this
month’s bulletin on my Highlands County Extension Citrus webpage if you want to take
a look. March Features include: Administrative Policy Reminders, Farm Program Policy
Reminders and Farm Loan Policy Reminders. You can check out the bulletin by clicking
here.
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Under the Citrus Tree March 2015
12th Annual Ag Literacy Day
The 12th annual Florida Agriculture Literacy Day is scheduled for
Tuesday April 21, 2015, and a new non-fiction children's book
developed for it will highlight Florida’s livestock and poultry
industries. The book, the title of which is ‘Drive Through Florida:
Livestock and Poultry,’ features an animated red truck named ‘Ole
Red’ that takes students on a tour of Florida’s beef, dairy, poultry, swine, equine, sheep
and goat industries. For more information and how to get involved follow this link:
http://faitc.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2015_Ag_Lit_Day_announcement.pdf .
Certified Crop Advisor Exam Registration to Open Soon
Have you ever thought about becoming a Certified Crop Advisor (CCA)? Maybe you
should.
According to the CCA website: Any adviser/consultant that spends the majority of their
time advising growers or farm managers/operators on agronomic practices and can
meet the standards of the program.
Certification is the standard by which professionals are judged. The purpose of a
certification program is to protect the public and the profession. It is a voluntary
professional enhancement to a person's career credentials. Farmers and employers
prefer to work with Certified Crop Advisers (CCA) because CCAs have demonstrated
they have the commitment, education, expertise, and experience to make a difference in
a client's business.
Being certified adds credibility and shows that you are serious about what you do. When
you become certified, you join more than 13,000 of your peers in the largest, most
recognized agriculturally-oriented certification program in North America. This
program’s professional standards are widely respected by industry, academia, and
government and are referenced in statutes. Once certified you are telling your clients,
employer, and the public that you have gone above and beyond to ensure their success.
To find out how to become a CCA check out the Florida CCA website:
http://floridacca.org/cca-certifications-requirements/ . Registration for the August 7,
2015 exam will be open from May 4 – June 26, 2015.
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Under the Citrus Tree March 2015
Thank you to the
2014 ~ 2015
UF/IFAS Highlands County Citrus Extension
Program Sponsors
We Could Not Do What We Do Without You!!
Maxijet
Kahn Citrus Management, LLC
Brandt
Chemical Containers, Inc.
Triangle, C.C.
Highlands County Citrus Growers Association
Howard Fertilizer & Chemical
Stallings Crop Insurance
Gowan
BASF
Yara
Southeast Ag Management
Florida Citrus Mutual
Florida Grove Hedgers
Rotor Group, LLC
The Foundation for the Gator Nation an Equal Opportunity Institution
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