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Citrus in Valley is probably OK

MySanAntonio.com – February 7, 2011

The Rio Grande Valley’s bountiful citrus groves should survive last week’s deep freeze without any immediate serious damage although next year’s crop could feel some icy impacts, officials said Monday.

Both Ray Prewett, president of Texas Citrus Mutual, and Julian Sauls, a citrus specialist with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service in Weslaco, said that while grapefruit and oranges in low-lying areas of the Valley likely were damaged by subfreezing temperatures, the impact should be minor. Sauls hopes it to fall short of the losses caused by last year’s freeze.

“We could be surprised, but we’re not expecting any large or major damage,” said Prewett of freeze impacts that still are being assessed.

Vegetable growers in the Valley and farther north in Texas’ Winter Garden area may not be as lucky.

Prewett, who also is vice president of the Texas Vegetable Association, said beet and Swiss chard crops sustained hefty damage and watermelons may be stunted by the icy onslaught. Young cabbage plants, broccoli and onions may be affected in the Winter Garden area.

“It’s definitely an issue — not a minor one,” said J Carnes, president of Winter Garden Produce. “It’s a wait-and-see situation.”

Temperatures in parts of the Valley fell into the mid-20s early Saturday, a degree or two below the 27-degree threshold recognized as the point where citrus can begin to sustain freeze damage.

Whether it stayed that cold long enough to cause ice formation inside the fruit — which dries out parts of the fruit — is what farmers and packing houses will determine.

Prewett said Monday the growers he talked to had not found ice in the citrus yet. Grapefruit and some of the late-blooming oranges have characteristics that cause the freeze damage to lessen as the fruit ripens, Sauls said. So that fruit still could be sold as top-grade fruit.

The Valley’s citrus industry covers about 27,000 acres and generates economic benefits of more than $150 million annually, Prewett said.

Sauls said about 50 percent of the region’s grapefruit crop already was harvested by the time the freeze arose. Closer to 75 percent of its orange crop was off the trees.

What Sauls is keeping an eye on is the potential long-term damage caused by the ice that coated a portion of the citrus trees over the weekend. Winds associated with the front lowered the temperature in the trees as that ice evaporated, and those temperatures may have killed leaves and twigs on the trees.

With leaves and twigs cut back, the tree is likely to produce less fruit next year, Sauls said.

It may be another two weeks before the extent of the tree damage is determined. Sauls said he was “cautiously optimistic” that tree damage will be avoided.

Another freeze is in the forecast this week, so farmers may face additional losses. However, Prewett said forecasts do not anticipate temperatures as cold this week as they got last week.

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