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Citrus Florida Gardening Garden Clinic

Ailing Honey Murcott Tree: SOS!!!

last year

Hello!!

I am the (still) happy tree-mom of a Murcott, or Honey Tangerine, tree that grew from a seed I put in the ground back in 2010 or so. 13 years later, I have a tall tree that has fruited nicely over all this time--until last summer when it suddenly got very ill.

It started losing leaves and not growing them back this past July, and I was startled to see that it was bleeding sap from a few parts of the trunk, which I scratched away and applied fungicide to. Bark was peeling off other parts of the trunk, so I scratched that away, too, to reveal healthy greenness, and applied copper fungicide to those too. (This is the bright blue you can see on the trunks/branches in the photos I've provided.)

A month ago, there was one more sap bleed, which I treated accordingly. The tree has fruit on one side, most of which have been harvested or have fallen from the tree on their own (I assume due to the torrential rains this past summer).

I have also included photos of my nearby Lee Tangerine tree (not seed-grown, purchased) that I noticed bark damage on this past summer, too, so I also treated it with copper fungicide. (It also suffered similar defoliation as Honey did. But I see new sprouts on it, so whew, maybe it didn't get sick too!)

I am not sure if it's Phytophthora root rot (worst fear) or what, but I am giving my tree til March to see if it puts out any new growth. If it doesn't... :( It's gonna hurt to lose it as it's a very special tree.

Please, if anyone has any experience in this or can offer some help, I would MAJORLY appreciate it! I need to save my tree, if I can!!

<3

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Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last year
contact your local COUNTY extension office.. and see what advice they may provide.. report back ...

im not sure that a topical application of a fungicide will help what is probably a systemic problem .. but i know nothing about citrus.. and why i recommend the local peeps...

frankly.. your tree is very far gone.. and you will probably be better off removing it.. and starting over .. yes.. i understand the history .. and that you really dont want to to do that .. but the alternative is to spend the next few years.. watching it die.. and that can be harder than making the call ...

its all up to you.. ken

ps: i never heard of exposing the cambium layer of the tree and slathering product on it ... it just seems so wrong... to clog up the vascular system of the tree .. perhaps that is why the branches above have died???
Miss Hibiss thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
tom1328732
last year
Since the tree isn't grafted, presents gummosis, and has portions of dead bark, there's a good chance the underlying pathogen is phytophthora. It's probably late now, but if you're dead-set on saving the tree, try inarching. It saved the parent Washington navel orange in the ~1940s. Use trifoliate rootstocks.

Though since you live in Florida, I'm not sure it's worth the effort due to rampant HLB.
Miss Hibiss thanked tom1328732
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poncirusguy6b452xx
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I had a Meiwa kumquat on Kuharske citrange fro harris citrus tha I aproache grafted to Flying dragon because Meiwa is incompatible to Kuharske
Miss Hibiss
Original Author
last year
@ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5, thank you so much for your comment and especially for suggesting that I get in touch with my local county extension! I did just that and heard back from a Master Gardener in my county. He was extremely informative and confirmed that my tree is, in fact, pretty much dead from citrus greening, AKA HLB (which is a terminal disease). I was relieved to finally have confirmation as to whether I should keep my tree or remove it before it infects my other healthy citrus plants, but am of course sad that it has to go. You were right, too, that the tree IS too far gone.

@tom1328732, this is good info even if you do say it might not work against HLB, which my tree is in fact suffering from (or...was, as it seems quite dead now). Thank you!

So it seems that there is absolutely no saving my tree. I'm planning on cutting it down and removing it this week.

Yes, it hurts, because it's been there for forever, it feels like--but I guess I should have known that Murcott tangerine grown from seed can be trouble, and this is why they sell grafted trees--less disease susceptibility!

Of course, if anyone else has any comments or ideas, I still welcome them! For example--can I plant a new citrus tree in the same spot this one is? Will it get sick, too? And how can I prevent my other citrus babies from getting HLB? ;_;
tom1328732
last year
last modified: last year
Australian finger limes are tolerant to HLB, so if you want to still grow citrus, give that a shot. I'm not sure how grafting plays into that susceptibility though. They are thorny little monsters, however!

FYI, they were able to isolate a peptide from it that seems to control HLB:

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2019628118

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