Photo by Chris Oswalt, UF/IFAS
Florida citrus growers eager to expedite the recovery process for trees impacted by last weekend’s frigid temperatures need to wait. That is the message that Flavia Zambon, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) assistant professor at the Indian River Research and Education Center, emphasized to the state’s citrus growers.
Zambon was part of a virtual question-and-answer session that the UF/IFAS Statewide Citrus Team hosted for growers last Thursday ahead of the winter storm. She stressed that growers should not rush helping the trees recover, especially with much of the winter season still remaining.
“The first thing you need to do is wait, because if you try to recover trees right after a freeze, you’re going to put more stress on them. And since it is mid-winter, we don’t know if we’re going to have another freeze. Hopefully, we don’t have another one. But if you start watering and fertilizing trees right now, you’re just going to push new flush.”
That new flush would be very vulnerable if another freeze occurs.
Zambon advised growers not to water trees immediately after a freeze as irrigation could cause further tree stress. She said to wait until there is a little bit of warm weather and then resume regular irrigation.
“After that, if you see that you’re losing canopy, you might need to also reduce fertilization,” she instructed.
She added that producers should also wait until there is sustained weather conditions to begin fertilizing their trees again. Looking ahead, she said that time frame is expected to be late February or early March.
“I would not do anything before then because we don’t know what’s going to happen,” Zambon concluded.
Learn more on postfreeze tree recovery here.
By Clint Thompson