With the recent cold snap, growers in known cold zones should be mindful when selecting fruit to supply their packhouse for export.
Most packhouses have their own procedures to assess frost damage on citrus but this new system from California could also aid to help decide which blocks have been more susceptible to damage.
- Select fruit from susceptible tree’s, fruit that has less foliage or are exposed outside the canopy.
- Cut the stem and navel end from the orange
- Cut the orange through the skin into the centre of the segments
- Open the orange like a fan
If the orange opens up and all the segment walls are intact and opens up cleanly then you have no noticeable damage.
normal citrus
If the orange opens and segment walls are stuck together and/or you see white crystals formed within the segments then you quite possibly have suffered from damage.
Citrus that could be affected by frost damage
The flavour will also be different, you will notice a flavour that could be metallic or bitter than the usual non-damaged fruit.
Please pass on any information you find to your packer who can use this information to best sell your product. Fruit that is damaged that ends up in export will not only hurt your returns but also damage Australia’s growing reputation on being the world producer of great tasting Citrus.
For our previous article on frost identification please visit here.