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The All In For Citrus PodcastAuthor: AllInForCitrus
The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and Southeast AgNet are partnering to provide the latest news on citrus-related research in a monthly podcast. The podcast, All in for Citrus, will feature short interviews with scientists working to find solutions to citrus greening and other devastating citrus diseases. Language: en Genres: Life Sciences, News, Science Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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All In For Citrus, Episode 86 October 2025
Episode 84
Wednesday, 22 October, 2025
The October All In For Citrus podcast features citrus under protective screen (CUPS). Over the past decade, the practice has grown in popularity due to its ability to exclude the Asian citrus psyllid and huanglongbing (HLB) disease. Roughly 1,500 acres of citrus are grown under screen in Florida with more acreage under development. Lauren Diepenbrock, associate professor of entomology at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Citrus Research and Education Center (CREC), addresses pest management in CUPS. While CUPS successfully keeps out the psyllid, other pests are small enough to breach the mesh netting. Those pests include chilli thrips, lebbeck mealybug and mites. Diepenbrock discusses her research on how these pests enter, survive and multiply in CUPS and the latest knowledge on managing the pests. She also provides information on strategies like introducing beneficial insects in the structures to manage the pests. Megan Dewdney, UF/IFAS associate professor of plant pathology at the CREC, joins the discussion to talk about disease management in CUPS. She says greasy spot and citrus canker have been the most problematic diseases in the system. Jerry Mixon, a CUPS grower in Central Florida, shares why he tried the CUPS approach and what his experience has been like so far. Mixon says he was impressed with the yields and very high-quality fruit CUPS can produce. He also had experience building similar structures (to exclude birds) when he and his family grew blueberries. Mixon mostly grows grapefruit in his CUPS but is evaluating other varieties in collaboration with UF/IFAS. He has also worked with Diepenbrock and Dewdney on pest and disease trials in his structures.
