Ultra Gro Crop Shield and Citrus
In a recent trial conducted by a third party, Ultra Gro Crop Shield was applied to Satsuma Mandarins to evaluate sunburn control and yield response.
The trial concluded that fruit treated with Crop Shield showed:
The Full Results
Ultra Gro Crop Shield was applied at 1 gal/A to satsuma (cv. Mihowase) to evaluate for sunburn control and yield response. For comparison, Surround was applied at 50 lb/a. Four total applications of Crop Shield were made starting just prior to the first heat event, and with subsequent applications occurring every 30 days. Surround was applied twice with 60 days in between. Applications were made with a Stihl mist-blower sprayer and delivered at 100 gpa. Each plot was 4 trees. Each treatment was replicated four times.
100 fruit were evaluated from each plot and the number with sunburn damage was recorded. At 2 DA-D, the untreated trees averaged 40% of fruit damaged, this declined over time to 22% by 70 DA-D. Trees treated with Crop Shield had 27% of fruit with sunburn at 2 DA-D and then finished up at 14% at 70 DA-D. For comparison, Surround started off with 27% fruit damage and ended with 16%.
Just before harvest, 50 fruit were sized from each plot. The untreated trees averaged 23% large (mammoth), 45% medium (jumbo and large) and 31% small (medium and small). Both Crop Shield and Surround treated trees averaged 30 to 32% large fruit, 50 to 51% medium and 18 to 19% small fruit.
At harvest, the untreated had 161 lbs of fruit per plot, while Crop Shield and Surround had 210 and 200 lbs of fruit per plot.
Number of Fruit Sunburned
Sunburn/Size/Yield
