My Due Respect to well seasoned citrus growers. There are promising research about resistance to citrus greening. - Joe


Grower recalls when citrus was king
By JEANNIE CARLSON
Article published on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007


LARGO – Larger than life, Al Repetto, sat in a rocking chair with his granddaughter, Ashley Miller, beside him, wife Janet and the rest of his family close by, recounting tales of being a citrus grower in Pinellas County for the better part of the 20th century.

Even with a microphone and capacity crowd on hand, the event on Nov. 12 had an intimate sense of living history in the old Largo Feed Store.

This was a first for the Largo and Seminole historical societies who, until this event had never before conducted a joint meeting. The opportunity to hear citrus mogul Repetto share memories of his Orange Blossom Groves days brought the two organizations together.

Repetto, 83, was born into the citrus industry in Largo. His father moved from Philadelphia to Pinellas County in 1921 when there was only one road across the entire county. Repetto remembers other growers back in the Prohibition days when “floor boards came up in some barns. I didn’t think much of it then but that’s where they kept the stuff (alcohol).”

The first bad freeze he remembered was in 1932 “followed by a few hurricanes that put off growing fruit.” The citrus industry has been fraught with freezes, hurricanes, canker and insects.

After serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II, Repetto started his fruit stand business with his brother-in-law in 1946. Their Orange Blossom Groves stores on Seminole Boulevard and U.S. 19 North sold ice cream, orange juice, candy and all varieties of citrus fruit. The orange juice was hand squeezed.

“Naval oranges were the best seller and tangelos sold pretty good,” remarked Repetto.

He remembered the ancient orange groves in Seminole, “so tall that 38-foot ladders wouldn’t reach the top of them old trees. It was 12 to 14 feet before the first fruit.”

These were the days when grapefruit was 2-cents per crate. The crates were made of cypress. Field crates were loaded on small trucks that could hold 100 or so crates.

“Sometimes the trucks got held up a day or so. You put it (the citrus) into the crates. You didn’t know if you were going to get paid,” said Repetto.

To this day, Repetto has workers that have been with him 40 to 45 years.

Back in the days he had some colorful characters picking fruit for him. One such character was known as “Gator.” According to Repetto, Gator’s real name was K.C. Williams, although, “He didn’t know what the KC stood for … We cashed his checks for him.”

Gator could neither read nor write and had no idea how old he was.

“His (Gator’s) mother didn’t even know how old he was … She had 16 children,” drawled Repetto.

On one occasion, Gator got into a fight with another picker. “One shot the other and the other stabbed him. The only hospital in the county was so small. They kept both of them in the same (small) room. I went to visit but I didn’t stay long,” said Repetto as the audience rippled with laughter.

At one time, Repetto was the largest owner of citrus groves throughout the state of Florida.

According to a 2002 report, the 38 acres of remaining citrus groves in Pinellas County all belonged to Repetto. In 2005 Repetto closed down his Orange Blossom Groves citrus stores due to the outbreak of citrus canker.

During the real estate boom of the last few years, Repetto said that developers were calling him nearly every day. “Developers have kind of quieted down (now),” said Repetto.

Repetto still has beef cattle in Hillsborough County. “It gives me something to do,” he said.

When asked what he thought of the future of the citrus industry in Florida, Repetto wasn’t very optimistic.

“It doesn’t look really good,” he said. “So many problems.”

Among those problems, he cited canker and greening, an insect disease for which there is no cure.

As for agriculture in Florida, Repetto made his only disparaging remark.

“(Farmers) might as well give your land to the state because they’re going to tax you out of it,” he said.
Article published on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007

Source: http://www.tbnweekly.com/pubs/largo_leader/content_articles/112107_lle-03.txt