Winner's View: Maury Boyd On Removing Trees

Posted by Christina Herrick|August 18, 2011

This Q&A series is the third of six installments featuring Florida Grower’s 2011 Citrus Achievement Award winner Maury Boyd addressing important issues of the day. This month, the president of Winter Garden-based McKinnon Corporation discusses new water regulations and HLB tree removal.

Q: What is your opinion of EPA’s numeric nutrient criteria for Florida?
A: What I see here is how the courts get involved through lawsuits. This is forcing new interpretations of existing laws. The EPA case is an example of where there were already regulations from the state in place intended to protect waterways. The question was, were those regulations being enforced? The lawsuit settlement says no and forced the EPA’s hand in the matter.

Q: Can the use of foliar nutrition help reduce potential nutrient runoff into water bodies?
A: For sure. Years ago, I read an article about a scientist that provided all fertilizer to a Navel orange grove through foliar feeding. The grove did well, so I concluded foliar applied would work as well or nearly as well ground applied. But, we must recognize we are seeing nutrients entering waterways from both agriculture and homeowners. Agriculture is working with the water districts to help manage runoff potential. One huge factor are the many homeowners who fertilize their yards and drain water into retention ponds that are maintained as lakes and canals, which can drain off into waterways.

Q: What are your thoughts about HLB-infected tree removal in conjunction with foliar nutrition programs?
A: I believe there is an argument for tree removal if HLB infection rates are still low. However, it does make me wonder about the effect if you are on a tree removal program and utilizing a foliar nutrition program in HLB-infected groves. Are applications of nutritionals masking HLB trees and their transition from asymptomatic to symptomatic?
Dr. [Tim] Gottwald has shown there may be as many as 20 to 50 asymptomatic trees for every symptomatic one. If intense nutritionals are being applied, could it be giving a false impression of the true percentage of HLB trees present in the grove? If the grower is on a strict tree removal program with the goal of removing innoculum, should they not do a nutritional program in order to stress the trees to bring symptoms more quickly? Then he or she can remove those trees earlier, along with intense psyllid control. To further add to this question, we are seeing new evidence that nutritionals reduce the phloem plugging in infected trees, which could change symptomatic trees back to asymptomatic.