Florida citrus growers can expect trunk injections for citrus to be available by the end of December of this year.
Trunk injections for citrus have long been touted as a possible treatment for combating citrus greening, with research into the viability of the treatment ongoing. Florida citrus growers will soon have to wait no longer, as the manufacturer of the trunk injections, TJ BioTech, announced at a Dec. 7 luncheon at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center hosted by the Gulf Citrus Growers Association (GCGA) that the treatment should be available for purchase by the end of the year. Explore the details from a Florida Grower article below.
Details on Trunk Injections for Citrus
Tom Johnson, the chief executive officer of TJ Biotech, shared the news of arriving trunk injections for citrus at the luncheon, sharing on both ReMedium TI, the treatment’s oxytetracycline hydrochloride (OTC-HCI) formulation, and the FlexInject device that will deliver the treatment through a citrus tree’s trunk.
“The vast majority of the parts and pieces of this trunk-injection device is being manufactured in Lake Wales, so this is something that is contributing to the local economy. We have about 35 people today assembling these devices. We are hoping to get 100,000 turned out before the first of January. As soon as we get 100,000 done, we have the materials in place to get the parts and the assembly process begins again.” Johnson shared.
The OTC-HCI formulation received a special local needs registration from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumers Services (FDACS) for application to citrus in Florida, allowing growers to start applications post-harvest this season. Growers can treat citrus trees once per season after harvest and up to 180 days before the start of harvest.
Johnson added, “We will have enough product in the initial manufacturing run to treat 15% of the industry. It will be significant, and by the time we get through that 15%, we will have another batch ready to go.”
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