Florida citrus growers are experiencing their smallest harvest in more than a century, mainly due to citrus greening disease. And this season, the weakened trees had to endure Hurricane Milton, which dropped fruit and toppled trees.
But one grower says the damage from Milton could have been worse.
Morgan McKenna Porter, 32, manages her family's business, McKenna Brothers in Lake Wales. Their groves were under the eye of the storm. She tells WUSF's Jessica Meszaros about a drug, which is injected directly into a tree's vascular system, that she says helped the groves survive Milton.
Can you talk about how Hurricane Milton impacted your groves?
Citrus greening really affects the root system of trees. Phloem, which is the tree's vascular system, essentially gets clogged up, and it's hard to move nutrients up and down, including water. And so those weakened root systems for previous storms like Hurricane Irma and Ian, those trees just couldn't withstand that repetitive, circular wind motion.
RELATED: Genetically modified trees offer hope for the future of Florida's embattled citrus industry
They weren't snapped by big gusts. They would just truly topple over because their root systems couldn't hold them down. And it wasn't just the morning after. It was the three and four weeks after — and depending on how bad, even months after — we all joked, you're funny if you think you didn't need to keep a chainsaw on your truck because at some point you would think a row is clear and get halfway down and then, "Oop, there's a tree."
So, you're either backing out or chainsawing out. And absolutely, we lost trees during Hurricane Milton, but not to the severity that we did with Hurricane Ian and Irma.
And you credit that to a therapy that you all have been implementing?
Battling greening is a very comprehensive program, and no one variable right now will get you through, but there is a key one, and it is the direct systemic applications of antimicrobials. We're really excited to have that tool … it's directly into the trees vascular system, phloem. So, you're trying to make it as easy as possible for the tree to take it up and spread it to where it needs to go.
Your family's been in this for a really long time. Were hurricanes always a problem in the citrus industry?
In 2004 when Charley, Frances and Jeanne came over, my dad and uncle in their professional citrus career had never had to deal with a hurricane. And so, in my lifetime, I've basically seen every hurricane that they've ever had to combat.
The 2004 hurricanes were absolutely devastating to the crop that was on the tree. However, greening was just beginning to become a word that any of us knew, and it really wasn't even detected in commercial groves yet, and so the trees fell, just like anybody might lose trees. But it wasn't that weakened root system where they're just toppling over slowly. Irma and Ian, that was a very different story. And while after Milton was not to the severity of Irma and Ian, it wasn't as "good," if you will, in Charley, Frances and Jeanne, but it was a definite improvement.
So even though you know storms are you know getting stronger and you know you're battling greening more intensely, there is hope because of what you've seen after Milton?
Sure, and I think, if nothing else, it was a reminder that you've got to keep exploring. New science is always coming and figuring out what of those practices fit into your operation and help you remain economically viable.
