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'Natal' Christmas Trees. 'Natal' is a very common sweet orange variety in Brazil and its name means 'Christmas'. So Natal trees means Christmas trees. Of course we also have Valencia, Hamlin, Navel or any other citrus-type Christmas trees. The fact is that the mini-citrus-trees produced by CITROLIMA have been used in the end-of-the year decorations as tropical Christmas trees. They are grafted on Flying Dragon rootstock, a trifoliate-type citrus originated from China, and cultivated into 4 gallon (15 l) pots using composted Pine bark as growing medium. The mini-trees bear fruit regularly. They are kept under full sun but tolerate extremely well up to 30 days indoors, which makes them well suited for the new Holiday decoration. General care is very simple. The potted plants are light and can be easily moved around, giving a tropical touch to the celebrations, which occur in the summer in the Southern hemisphere. The fruit are under full development in December, have a dark green color and a little over an inch (3 cm) in diameter.
Budwood Thermotherapy. The first plants produced with citrus budwood hot treated against the bacteria of Citrus Variegated Chlorosis (CVC) in 1994 have reached bearing age. The results are better than expected since tree vigor and productivity seem to be also above normal. This indicates the process may have additional benefits other than simply freeing the stock of bacteria. The treatment herein developed is similar to the hot bath used for rootstock seeds and consists in submitting budwood to temperatures above   125 degrees F (52 degrees C) for at least 10 minutes.  Treatment parameters vary with budwood variety, physiological stage, and mass. Borbulhas99.jpg (51009 bytes)

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Budwood Storage. New methods for cold storage of citrus budwood are maintaining the quality of the propagation material for up to 6 months. Mature budwood is cut, treated with benomyl fungicide, superficially dried and stored in cotton-cloth bags inside plastic bags. The material is inspected fortnightly, abscised petioles removed and the budsticks superficially dried again. Fungicidal treatment is repeated every 2 months. Temperature oscillates between 4 and 8 degrees centigrade ( 39 and 46 degrees Fahrenheit). Budwood may thus be kept for up to 2 years or more with the objective of preserving genetic material only, since bud take is commercially inadequate after the sixth month.
New Layout for Citrus Greenhouses.  Citrolima trials have shown significant advantages for transversal bench-arrangement in citrus greenhouses when compared with the traditional longitudinal layout: better air circulation, lower temperature, easier tree handling, easier worker circulation, and smaller, more manageable number of trees per bench. The main effect is the reduction in ambient temperature as a result of increased air circulation through the lateral screen walls, which have the entire height free at each bench interval. The resulting reduction in the number of plant containers that can be accommodated in the greenhouse is largely compensated by the derived benefits.

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antecamara.jpg (6183 bytes) Dark Antechambers. Tests carried out in our nurseries indicate that dark antechambers utilized in the citrus screen houses are advantageous. Dark chambers are built with black screens instead of clear or white ones. The screen at the door to the greenhouse should also be dark, whereas the antechamber door should be clear. The purpose is to avoid attracting insets into the chambers. Should any insects penetrate the chamber, on the other hand, they are attracted to the clear exit door, thus facilitating their elimination.

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