Novice citrus grower here. I planted a Honeybell last year and then read it would need help with pollination. I bought some GA3 on Ebay but am curious when to spray. When the blossoms appear?

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated. BTW, the nursery told me GA3 would be unnecessary, but all the forums I've perused say differently.

Last year, something ate all the tiny buds so no mature fruit. What insect is responsible and any way to prevent this year?

Thanks!

Cathi in Tampa

Surely there must be citrus trees in the neighborhood in Tampa! I wouldn't bother with GA3 myself. Is this your only citrus tree?

I'd say citrus psyllids got your new growth. Nasty buggers those. See any squiggly white things on them? Spraying every 10-14 days would help.

GA3 is sprayed directly on citrus flowers at full bloom. What type of GA3 did you purchase? Was it a liquid, or the powder concentrate? Further what is the strength of the GA you purchased? There are two reason to spray GA3. The first, is to "pollinate" citrus blooms, and the second, is to produce seedless fruit. I have long used GA3 on Clementines, and other citrus varieties that are not self fruitful. I always purchase the dilute 4-percent liquid GA3 solution, which is dilute in water at the rate of 1-gram per gallon of water. You can see, the problem you will have if you purchased the concentrated GA3. You will have an almost impossible task of cutting it down to a correct strength. When sprayed at the proper dilution GA3 works extremely well. In fact GA3 normally sets such a large crop of fruit, one needs to thin the crop down a little, so that the remaining fruit will grow to full size. - Millet (382 ABO-)

I don't have other citrus in my yard. Neither do the neighbors next to me/behind/across.

I bought 2 grams of 90% GA3.

A 4 percent GA3 solution only requires 1 gram in a gallon of water. Your 90% GA3 is 22 times stronger. The dilution of a 99% powder would be 0.045 gram (45mg) per gallon. To measure this amount would take a high quality gram scale. Otherwise you will need to start out by dissolving a very small amount in a gallon of water, and then calculating the proper amount to apply. Millet (382 ABO-)

I would highly recommend AGAINST the use of GA on your 'Minneola' (a.k.a. "Honeybell" tree. While we do use it on 'Sunburst', 'Orlando', and other hybrids in Florida, when it is used on 'Minneola' here, what you get is big, green, lumpy, hideous fruit. It's edible, but no one would ever think of buying or selling it. And even for a back yard, why bother? As has been said above, in the Tampa area, there is almost certainly free citrus pollen moving around with the bees in the neighborhood. Even if not from the houses next door, surely somewhere within bee flying distance. Even if not, I'd not ever use GA on a 'Minneola' in Florida.

I have a Minneola tree, but I have never sprayed GA3 on a it, as I have 50+ other citrus trees to cross pollinate it. After reading Dr. Manners post It thought that it might be a neat experience to spray the tree, and see what happens. I have sprayed various trees over the years and have never seen much of anything out of the normal. Dr. Manners post seems quite fascinating. I think it might be best just to spray one half of the Minneola tree, and not spray the other side, leaving it as the control so people can see the difference. It should be both an interesting and fun experiment. - Millet (831 ABO-).

If you sre spraying to reduce seed count, I'm guessing that once you spray the flower becomes non receptive is that correct?

I ask since I may encounter seediness in some of mine due to the various plantings that I have in my yard and neighborhood. The ability to use the GA3 to help with that problem would be nice.

As the car manufacturers say, "Your results may vary." In California, they do use GA for fruit set of Minneolas, without the deleterious effect on fruit quality, but since Cathy is in Florida, I thought it important for her to hear our experience.

I've never heard that GA reduces seed number in fruits; rather, it causes totally seedless fruit set in flowers that otherwise would have abscissed. So your total fruit number increases, and with that, a higher percentage of totally seedless fruit.

One other factor I wonder about with Minneola, is that it is almost unique among citrus varieties, in that its fruit size is directly related to seed number (more seeds = bigger fruit) and I like really big Minneolas. I notice in the market that California (or South African) Minneolas tend to be quite small, and I'm thinking that may be due to the use of GA on them -- lots more fruit and seedlessness, but small. There could be two factors going on there -- as with any fruit, if you dramatically increase the fruit set, average fruit size will decrease, just because the tree can't carry the load. But in addition, with Minneola specifically, the effect of seed number on size may also be involved.

Malcolm

Thanks Dr. Manners for the clarification on GA3.

Now Dr. Manners latest post has me a little disappointed, when he says that spraying GA3 on Minneolas outside of the state of Florida does not result in misshaped fruit. My guess now is that spraying my Minneola tree in Colorado will only result in smaller normal shaped fruit---hummm. What is the reason that a GA3 spray on a Minneola tree in Florida causes misshape fruit, and it does not cause the same problems in other sections of the country? Lastly, for hobby citrus growing members of this forum, you would be much better off purchasing the liquid dilute solution of GA3, rather then the 90% GA3 powder, because of the extremely dilute spray concentration that is used on citrus trees. Example: a 4 percent GA3 solution is only 1 gram per gallon of water. - Millet (380 ABO-)

I presume differences are similar to the natural differences between California and Florida fruit -- theirs tend to be smaller, with a thicker, more brightly colored peel, with a lower juice content; ours tend to be big (often excessively so), very juicy, with a thin, often greenish and blemished peel. Perhaps the GA is enhancing that tendency of ours for less-than-perfect peel, in our humid, summer-rainy, warm nights climate.

I see, looking at the IFAS-EDIS site, that UF does state that Florida Minneola growers can use GA on 'Minneola'. I find that interesting, in that Larry Jackson is one of the authors of that document, and it was Larry who taught me, in my first citrus course at UF, that it ought not to be done for the previously stated reasons. And certainly, everyone I know who grows 'Minneola' commercially, does so with the use of pollenizer varieties, whereas the same growers gibb their solid blocks of 'Orlando'.

Talking about the differences in the peel on citrus fruits, I have a question. I have a Cara Cara Navel tree growing in the greenhouse, that is about 11 feet tall and almost the same wide. It produces a lot of fruit. The problem is that the peel on the fruit from this tree is very difficult to remove. It is thin and tight to the pulp. When trying to peel it off, often it will take some of the pulp with it. Cara Cara that I can purchase from the supermarket, that I presume comes from California, is rather easy to peel. What causes this. - Millet (379 ABO-)

If ya'll can overlook my ignorance I seem to still have the same question.

After you spray with GA3 is that flower finished and non-receptive to pollen?

If it has not prior to being sprayed been pollenized will the application of GA3 prevent that fruit from being seedy?