Here is my pictures of the Expo.. I took my digital camera meaning to take shots of just about everything. I got so caught up in the moment that I only got three ! I thought it was a GREAT EXPO and Patty, you missed the best one yet! The citruholics banquet was just the best, The owners of Mi Rancho let us stay and talk and "pick and grin" on the musical instruments for as long as we wanted! Those who participated in the pickin and grinnin were Dr AJ Bullard and his wife ( he on guitar and she on fiddle) Laura Lee Rose and her friend from Beaufort, SC on Guitar and banjo. Yours truly on guitar and then the following day, Dr Mack Tyner and his wife from Gainesville, Fla on bass guitar and acoustic guitar. Patty, we would have let you sing a solo! Anyway, here are my pictures: This one of the judges trying to make their final answer!

THis was the trophy winner for the "best in show" Some sweet oranges grown by Gary Kerr of Beaufort, SC

A picture of my citrus and vegetable booth at the Expo.. Notice the poor Mexican guarding the sweet potatos! LOL...

Wow, amazing that many citrus really fruit there!

Why amazing ? We are in about the same zone as JoeReal but our summers are much more humid & hot. Charleston & south is now considered 9a, inland is 8b to 8a.

I didn't have time to take many either, but here they are:

That sure is pretty fruit-coming from the southeast I would bet that these are the cream of the crop-you just cant have whole trees full of that nice of fruit Fantastic grapefruit-congratulations to some great growers!

Hello Laaz,
I never doubted the ability to grow nice citrus in South Carolina -it is just that in all my years of looking at grapefruit and oranges it is rare for me to encounter Florida fruit as pretty as the "Sunkist" labeled western citrus found in the grocery stores in our commercial groves or at homes.I am impressed at the quality of those in these photos-on my old satsuma with several hundred fruit I might have only a dozen or so that are entirely unblemished,totally clean of sooty mold and colored evenly. Here at home I have a dozen Florida grapefruit and a dozen Florida navel oranges purchased at the grocery store that would certainly never compete in your fruit contests Congrats to Dr.Croxton and others in your area that are growing "pretty"fruit.Perhaps you'all are using plenty of oil spray to keep the whiteflies controlled and don't have to fight with all of our Florida problems

You know I have never had any sooty mold. I rarely see any insects on my trees beside the damn Leafminers... I don't remember seeing any sooty mold on any of Stan or Ned's trees in their nurseries either. The only place I have really seen sooty mold is on indoor trees. I don't think we have quite the amount of citrus pests here that you have in FL. It may be due to the fact that FL has so many more citrus trees per area than we have here in coastal SC. When I lived in Pompano Bch FL we had a huge Ponderosa lemon & grapefruit trees in the back yard & they always had sooty mold & whiteflies.

I do envy the lack of disease and insects the folks in California have. In some areas, they can grow a lot of things we can't. (and there are a few things we grow that they can't) I do get an influx of insects every now and then, but, overall, I don't have any big issues here. On the other hand, some places in CA have issues that I wouldn't want to deal with. I figure it all balances out in the end.

Ned


Here are a few of my trees:

Ambersweet Orange


Satsuma


Calamondin

Show off Now wheres the pics of that big Orlando you have ?

I need to take one, I was waiting for the fruit to color a little more.

Thanks to everyone for posting their photos. Nice to see some faces to go with the names. Also nice to see a pretty big crowd, and didn't expect to see that much fruit in the competition!
Next year for SURE!!
Susan

All I can say is WOW!!!! Thanks for sharing the great pic's