Mani Skaria, a retired pathologies who spent 25 years at Texas A&M University is urging citrus growers to switch to planting micro-budded, high-density trees to produce fruit more quickly than from traditionally propagated trees and as a means of combatting the tree-killing citrus greening disease, or huanglongbing, that has been ravaging the Florida citrus industry. The process developed by Mr. Skaria begins with sour orange rootstock grown in tubular containers. When it is still small it is micro-budded. Within 2-3 weeks the buds begin to push and the tree is ready to be transplanted. For reasons still unknown, micro-budded trees produce more fruit quicker than traditionally propagated trees which take 12-18 months before being transplanted. Normally trees take five years before harvesting can begin, but with micro-budded trees a grower could being harvesting after two years. Mr. Skaria also states that the micro-budded trees can be planted at a density of 500 per acre as compared to the traditional 121-130 per acre. Mr. Skaria has gone on to create MicroTek LLC which is building a propagating facility that will have the capacity to produce 5,000 micro-budded trees per week.
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