Texas citrus growers appear to be back on track after Winter Storm Uri caused significant setbacks to many growers two seasons ago. Before Winter Storm Uri delivered week-long ice and sub-freezing temperatures to much of the state in February 2021, Texas citrus growers had around 27,000 acres of grapefruit and orange trees in production.
Despite citrus production losses to the storm, Juan Anciso, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension horticulturist, Weslaco, said he was pleasantly surprised that the industry was faring much better than he expected. Anciso estimates Winter Storm Uri killed or damaged around 10% of the trees, with some 24,000 acres remaining in production.
Anciso said there are still signs of limb damage and trees that have struggled to recover, but fruit sets have gotten progressively better from those trees. He was surprised some trees fruited in fall 2021, and that 2022 was even better.
“Have they totally recovered? No,” he said. “But we are getting surprisingly good production from survivors, and fruit growth in some areas seems to be back on track with pre-storm production.”
Source: agrilifetoday.tamu.edu