CLERMONT, Fla.—Uncle Matt’s saved more than 1,000 acres of organic citrus crops during an extended deep freeze in Florida's Citrus Belt. Temperatures were below 20 degrees for six consecutive nights in the first half of January. The Citrus Belt, which encompasses Uncle Matt's Lake and Polk County groves, spans both sides of the state and extends from the Central Florida region around Orlando southward to Fort Myers on west coast and Fort Pierce on the east coast.
Initial reports indicated the freezing temperatures caused widespread damage to the fruit. "We have a little bit of ice in the fruit, but it's not what we call hard ice," said Benny McLean, production manager for Uncle Matt's. "It's more of a slush that really doesn't affect the yield on the juice."
McLean added that what will be lost for fresh fruit this season would be a small inventory of "zipper skin" or thin-skinned fruit like honey tangerines, temple oranges and tangelos, while the condition of remaining Valencias and Hamlins for the 5-pound bags appears better than expected.
To minimize the freeze's damaging effects, Uncle Matt's production team ran micro-irrigation sprinklers all through the night and early morning as well as lit fires and burned old trees to provide air circulation and warmth. They also used the freeze as an opportunity to conduct experiments to measure cold hardiness through organic science.
"In a few small areas of tangerines, we applied some organic nutritional and biological sprays to enhance the cold hardiness of the fruit," reported Ben McLean III, vice president of research and development for Uncle Matt's.
As of right now, the efforts appear to have had a positive effect. "We have a few areas with grapefruit, oranges and tangerines that have not been damaged by the freeze, which can continue to be harvested and sold as fresh fruit for the next 90 days," Ben added. "What you're going to see is a limited supply in fresh fruit, and any fruit ineligible for fresh consumption can be sent to processing plant for juice. The effects of this freeze, because it was not severe, will not affect juice quality in regards to flavor or nutritional content whatsoever."
The production department also reported the trees themselves fared exceptionally well. There are no reports of wood damage and little, if any, leaf damage.
"We are pleased with our nutritional status and cold protection methods which got us through the last 10 days," says Ben. "We believe we will have a much bigger crop next fall because this cold weather will cause the trees to bloom profusely in the upcoming spring."