Essay On Citrus Canker

Citrus Terror: The Truth About Florida Citrus

Over the last decade it has become more visible that the Florida citrus industry has taken a fall. A lack of fruit productions or the suddenly disappearing orange trees, the question arises “what is the cause of the downfall in the citrus industry?” From the time that citrus canker has showed up in Florida in 2005, it has done nothing but damage and hurt all citrus growers as well as the industry as a whole. Though citrus canker is a large topic only the cause and effects of canker in Florida as well as cure and preventatives will be discussed.

Leading sentence. Citrus canker is a bacterial infection caused by Xanrhomonas campestris pathovars citri. (Mlot). This pathogenic variant is one of about

a 100 that infects fruits and vegetables such as peaches, beans, cabbages and other plants. However, Xanrhomonas campestris pathovars citri attacks fruits consisting of but not limited to oranges, lemons, and grapefruit trees, as it forms lesions, otherwise known as cankers, on the leaves, fruits, and twigs (Mlot).
Canker can be spread through orange crates but mainly spread through wind-driven raindrops or wind itself. ADD THE EXAVT WIND SPEED HERE. The bacteria infects the leaves via pores and through other opens found. It then multiplies and is nurtured by the warm wet weather (Mlot). This time of weather can be found in Florida during the months of June to August. When the fruit is infected, the lesions stay on the surface of the fruit however the fruit is still edible. Due to the openings that the lesions leave, it can destroy the pulp.
Leading Sentence. Eradication costs are at about $44 million a year, and if the disease were not to be rooted up for good the cost would go up to $250 million a year (Jackson). Ron Muraro, an eprofessor with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences states that the bacterial tree disease “will become widely established in Florida, with serious long-term consequences for the $9.1 billion citrus industry.” The two-year UF study program says that though the state and federal government have spent nearly $477 million since the eradication campaign began in 1995, as the total cost of failure to eradicate would cost in the billions of dollars if the industry were ever to decide to try and live with the disease (Jackson). Because of lower fruit yields as well as the loss of marketability of the fruit scarred by canker the cost would increase to another $85 million a year. Canker has turned the citrus industry upside down, as the discovery of canker has led to the eradication of nearly 3 million seedlings which makes up about 21 percent of the total nursery stock in Florida (Sun).
Leading Sentence.

Due to the rapid growth of canker, disease control on leaves is impossible. Researchers have spent long hours and much time trying to find a cure but have come up short. The only “cure” to citrus canker would be to burn the infected trees. However there are different kinds of treatment to help manage such as copper sprays. Most infections occur between April and July on orange with three to four applications of copper-containing materials at 3-week intervals would be sufficient to obtain relatively clean fruit (“Homeowners”). Copper sprays should begin when the fruit is only ¾ inch diameter and applied at a three week interval until the fruit is fully grown. However copper does not move from wherever it is applied, meaning that as the fruit grows all of the new tissue it not protected by the copper.

Though there are preventatives for canker as well as ways to manage, there are also ways to keep from spreading the disease. Researchers state that washing ones hands with soap and water for 20 seconds or more as well as using hand sanitizers that are alcohol-based help to eliminate the bacteria and keep from being spread via human contact. Pruning tools and/or other tools that come in contact with citrus need to disinfected by a fresh solution of one ounce of household bleach to one gallon of water

(“Citrus”).