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PLANNING IS CRITICAL FOR CITRUS GROWERS TODAY

he nursery in- Here at Phillip Rucks Citrus Nursery in Frost- like we could in bygone days.
them from Asian psyllids, nearly half of the
dustry sure has proof, we’re already taking orders for 2015. state’s 70+ nurseries closed their doors. hey
We know greening has increased your cost of just couldn’t aford the increased cost of doing
changed. Since Growers need to be planning ahead, anticipat- doing business. It’s raised our costs as well.
I opened Phil- ing their needs well ahead of planting time.
You raise the fruit and we raise the trees. business. Today, the number of nurseries has
by PHILLIP RUCKS
lip Rucks Citrus I encourage you to attend Dr. Jude Grosser’s We’re all spending more on caretaking. We increased to around 48 as we strive to meet
Nursery 17 years
can’t speculate on what you’re going to want your needs. But it is a diferent world.
St. Helena Field Day in the fall. Dr. Grosser is ago, citrus canker and greening disease have
a horticulture professor at University of Flori- to buy. We can’t stock inventory we may not he trees we were counting on for seed are dy- taken a tremendous toll on nursery businesses.
da’s Citrus Research and Education Center in be able to sell.
ing. he new varieties don’t have any seeds.
Lake Alfred. You can learn what rootstocks When the hurricanes plowed through Florida So we’re transitioning to growing from cut- Growers can no longer stroll into a nursery
and budwoods are performing the best as the tings. We need nearly a year at best, and pos- and buy citrus trees of the shelf like they were
in 2004, they spread canker. he bare-root
citrus industry wrestles with greening and the nurseries lost about 65 percent of tree inven- sibly up to 18 months, to produce your cus- in Walmart. Today’s nurseries are diferent:
Asian psyllid that spreads it. We can no longer tory. hen in 2007-2008, when regulators tomized trees.
Trees are custom ordered, usually a year or
say you will receive X number of boxes of fruit
made nurseries enclose citrus trees to protect
more in advance.

PEACHES
PONGAMIA
CITRUS
EUCALYPTUS WINDBREAKS

• Licensed grower of low chill • Hardy versatile tree that can • Produce oilseed bearing nuts • New greening- tolerant root

peaches on Flordaguard and grow nearly 40 ft in three years
used for bioenergy and animal stocks now available
MP-29 rootstocks
•Provides crop protection from feed
•Largest screened commercial
• Low chill varieties ideal for wind and disease
• Drought resistant and saline citrus nursery in US

central and south Florida climates
• Reduces soil loss, nutrition loss, tolerant “drop- in” crop
• DNA tested true- to- type citrus
• Licensed for new released agriculture chemical drift and
• No known major production varieties and rootstocks

varieties
irrigation loss
related diseases or pests
available.
• Now contracting for 2014- 2015
• Now contracting for 2014- 2015
• Grows on under productive land
• Now contracting for 2015

PHILLIP RUCKS CITRUS NURSERY, INC. 863-635-1948 • rucksnursery@aol.com

Phillip Rucks, Owner
P.O. Box 1318 Frostproof, FL 33843 • www.ruckscitrusnursery.com

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