I'm Dan. I'm a Computer Engineer, an Inventor, and a lover of delicious fruit. I have started fruitmentor™ to be of service to others who enjoy eating and growing delicious fruit. On this website, readers can expect to find articles that will help them grow the most delicious fruit. This will include articles on fruit varieties and articles on grafting. Although I love so many types of fruit, my initial focus is citrus.
Florida citrus has been in the headlines lately. A citrus disease called Huanglongbing (HLB) or citrus greening has devastated Florida's citrus industry. The headline is that orange juice prices are soaring, but the impact of the disease has been much more than high orange juice prices. Thousands of people have lost their jobs, farmers are going out of business, and most of the citrus trees in Florida are dying of the disease. The economic damage in Florida measures in the billions of dollars. In recent years an insect called the Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP) has been spreading throughout California. The ACP is the insect that spread citrus greening throughout Florida. California and many other parts of the world now face the same threat from this insect. I believe that education is the key to preserving citrus and my hope is that the content of this website can help to protect citrus trees in California and throughout the world from HLB disease.
I have a fond childhood memory of climbing the orange tree at my grandparents' house in Florida and eating oranges fresh from the tree. Undoubtedly that tree is gone since most residential citrus in Florida has been wiped out. In California we still have orange trees older than 100 years old, but in areas of the world affected by HLB, citrus trees die at a very young age. I am hopeful that the spread of citrus greening in California can be stopped so that my grandchildren could someday appreciate 100 year old citrus trees.