Helping those who grow and eat the most delicious fruit.
This article demonstrates how to keep ants off fruit trees using a liquid ant bait. The correct liquid ant bait can be an effective ant killer, even for the tough Argentine ant. Killing ants with liquid ant bait is one of the best ways to avoid ants on fruit trees. In the case of ants on citrus trees, keeping ants off the trees can help to reduce the spread of Huanglongbing, a deadly citrus disease.
In this article on growing citrus from cuttings, I show how to root citrus rootstocks in stonewool. These rootstocks can then be used to graft citrus trees of many different varieties. For example, to propagate a lemon tree, rather than rooting lemon cuttings, citrus rootstock cuttings are rooted. A lemon cutting is then grafted to the rootstock. Grafting to a rootstock will produce a superior tree. Benefits include disease resistance and improved fruit flavor and texture.
This article shows a highly efficient bud grafting technique used for grafting citrus trees in citrus nurseries.
I saw chip budding of citrus performed at TreeSource Citrus Nursery in California’s central valley. Chip budding is a bud grafting technique used for grafting orange trees, grafting lemon trees, and for grafting citrus trees of all varieties. Chip budding to young citrus rootstocks makes it possible to propagate a large number of citrus trees in a small space.Continue Reading
California scientists use various techniques, including grafting citrus trees under a microscope, to avoid all graft-transmissible diseases when introducing a citrus variety to the state. Because citrus trees are vulnerable to many graft-transmissible diseases, all citrus varieties to be introduced in California must by law go through the Citrus Clonal Protection Program or CCPP at the University of California Riverside. Using a grafting technique called shoot tip grafting, the CCPP will remove any disease-causing organisms and certify that a variety is healthy for release in California.
