A new citrus orchard was planted at the Vidalia Onion Research Center that will allow local research to be conducted in Southeast Georgia. Aubrey Shirely, Tattnall County ANR Agent, is the lead agent of this program, and received a grant from the state to put in the irrigation and to purchase the trees. The orchard is small right now, but there are plans to expand the orchard in future years. The orchard consists of 3 varieties of citrus trees right now a Cara Cara Navel Orange, Sweet Kishu Mandarin, and Owari Frost Satsumas. Most of the citrus research done by UGA Extension takes place down near the Georgia-Florida line in Lowndes County where a large amount of Georgia citrus is grown. The goal of this project is provide local citrus information for Southeast Georgia and determine if there are different management strategies in this area compared to the Georgia-Florida line. It will probably be 2023 before these trees start taking off in production.
There is a good bit of interest in planting citrus in our area right now. A grower can plant a lot of trees in a small area which is a good thing for a grower that doesn’t have lots of land to spare. Trees need to have the fruit removed the first three years in order to grow a good root system and tree size. In year four they can start producing and the yield will continue to increase until they are fully matured around year nine. University of Florida states, “The estimated yield per tree for 9-yearold to-30-year-old trees (365 pounds per year) is based on year 9 and year 10 yields obtained from Brown Select and Owari satsumas on P. trifoliate ‘Rubidoux’ rootstock at the UF/IFAS North Florida Research and Education Center (Andersen and Brodbeck 2015). Annual yield per acre is estimated at 46,631 pounds for a mature, nine-year-old grove.”
Check it this publication from University of Florida for Budget and Profitability Analysis for Satsuma Mandarins https://svaec.ifas.ufl.edu/media/svaecifasufledu/docs/pdf/agribusiness/SatsumaBudget_2017EDIS.pdf
If anyone has any questions about this project or growing citrus in Georgia please contact Ross Greene at the Evans County or Candler County Extension Office.
Evans Office 912-739-1292
Candler County 912-685-2408
