http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/eucalyptus,-an-alternative-to-citrus%3F



Eucalyptus, an alternative to citrus?

Updated: Friday, 23 Mar 2012, 7:46 PM EDT
Published : Friday, 23 Mar 2012, 7:46 PM EDT

FROSTPROOF - Tear off a leaf and you would probably smell the distinct fragrance of eucalyptus. But a Frostproof nursery is picking up a hint of something else: money.

Florida Grown Specialties is the first nursery to grow eucalyptus as an alternative crop for the citrus industry. It says growers can raise seedlings, and after five years, harvest and sell them as bio-fuel for power plants.

"In Florida, we are in a sub-tropical climate where they grow almost all year round," Philip Rucks, the owner of Florida Grown Specialties, told FOX 13 on Friday.

Some citrus operations are already looking at peaches and olives as possible alternative crops.

Growers have been bombarded by a number of challenges in recent years, including diseases such as greening.

The nursery will be sending out its first shipment of seedlings to a citrus business on the state's east coast next week.

<p>Eucalyptus, an alternative to citrus?: MyFoxTAMPABAY.com</p>

I'm not sure I'm gonna get up in the morning and drink a tall frosty glass of eucalyptus juice...

And by the buzzword "biofuel" they really mean firewood

Oh Please, not another bio"fuel", that will only run on a government grant. - Millet (299 BO)

Here in SW Louisiana there is a lot of eucalyptus trees planted for the paper mills, they have to have a %of their pulpwood in hardwood like oak,etc. During the winter it gets hard to cut enough because they are usually found in low swampy areas. The eucalyptus are classified as hardwood. They plant 120 acres at a time, and can get 2-3 cuttings from the same stump.