Bureau of Citrus Budwood Registration
3027 Lake Alfred Rd. (US 17)
Winter Haven, FL 33881
863.298.7712
Bureau Chief: Michael Kesinger Michael.Kesinger@freshfromflorida.com
Budwood Home
History
Detailed Bureau History in Adobe PDF format Bureauhistory ~ pdf (5,260 KB)
| The 50's | |
| 1951 | A symposium is held at Camp McQuarrie on certified budwood and registered nursery stock. |
| 1952 | A "Budwood Certification Committee" is formed at the Florida State Horticulture Society business meeting. |
| 1953 | Voluntary citrus budwood program starts in Florida, with Gerald Norman in charge. |
| 1958 | 72% of the parent trees entered into the program are disqualified due to cachexia infection. 40% of the parents are estimated to have exocortis viroid. 5.5% of the trees are tristeza infected and 6.7% infected with psorosis. |
| 1959 | Foundation grove started at US 27 and I-4 , Haines City. |
| 1959 | Over 100 nurseries are participants in the program. |
| The 60's | |
| 1960 | Registered nursery propagations reach one million trees per year. |
| 1960 | Budwood distributions initiated from the Hughes Nucellar Valencia Grove. |
| 1962 | Severe freeze limits industry budwood supply. |
| 1963 | The budwood office moves to the Cowperthwaite building in Winter Haven. |
| 1964 | Don Bridges appointed to head the budwood program. |
| 1964 | Policy change allows tristeza infected trees to remain in the program as long as tolerant rootstocks are used for propagation. |
| 1968 | Attempts to keep tristeza out of the foundation grove, by controlling aphids is given up as futile. |
| 1968 | A foundation block is established at Ona (3/4 mile from other commercial citrus) to attempt to keep tristeza out. |
| The 70's | |
| 1971 | In four years the Ona project fails to keep tristeza out. |
| 1973 | The Haines City Foundation Grove was moved to an 80 acre site near Dundee. |
| 1973 | A screenhouse is constructed at the Dundee Foundation Grove. |
| 1975 | Construction begins on the Florida Citrus Arboretum. |
| 1976 | Bureau begins shoot-tip grafting to eliminate pathogens in citrus budlines. |
| 1978 | Charles Youtsey becomes bureau chief. |
| The 80's | |
| 1980 | Serological ELISA testing begins for tristeza. |
| 1980's | A series of freezes and extensive planting results in an unprecedented increase in the number of citrus nurseries and propagations. |
| 1986 | The budwood office moves to the Alex G. Shaw building. |
| 1989 | The Immokalee Foundation Grove is planted on 20 acres in Southwest Florida. |
| 1989 | Monoclonal antibodies are used to identify infected tristeza trees. |
| The 90's | |
| 1991 | Nursery increase blocks are allowed in the budwood program. |
| 1993 | The Immokalee Foundation Grove is inoculated with mild strains of tristeza virus for cross protection. |
| 1993 | An industry committee of nurserymen is formed to propose a mandatory Quality Tree Program. |
| 1996 | A second larger screenhouse is constructed at the Dundee Foundation Grove. |
| 1996 | The brown citrus aphid is found in the Immokalee Foundation Grove. |
| 1997 | The new Citrus Budwood Protection Program becomes mandatory for all commercial propagation of citrus. |
| 1997 | Commercial tristeza testing laboratories are certified and CTV testing privatized. |
| 1998 | The homeowner or dooryard nurseries are regulated under the Citrus Budwood Protection Program. |
| 1998 | A moratorium is placed on budwood cutting from the Immokalee Foundation Grove because of high tristeza infection rates. |
| 1998 | A screenhouse is constructed at the Immokalee Foundation Grove. |
| 1998 | PCR testing for citrus viroids begins. |
| 1999 | Another section is added to the Immokalee screenhouse, doubling the size. |
| 2000 | Two new greenhouses are contructed at Winter Haven |
| The Twenty-first Century | |
| 2001 | A second screenhouse is constructed at the Immokalee Foundation Grove. |
| 2002 | Citrus leaf blotch virus identified in some Florida budwood sources. |
| 2002 | Bureau uses two greenhouses at the Whitmore Foundation Farm to diversify locations and alleviate overcrowding. |
| 2002 | Stem pitting tristeza identified in Florida commercial citrus by bureau personnel. |
| 2004 | Hurricanes Charlie, Frances and Jeanne damage bureau greenhouses and screenhouses completely destroying two screenhouses. |
