09/14/1993

Research Bringing Satsumas Back to Alabama's Gulf Coast

FAIRHOPE, Ala. - Seventy years ago citrus growers in Mobile and Baldwin counties shipped 700 train car loads of satsuma oranges to markets as far away as Chicago, New York and Boston. At today's prices, those satsumas would be among the state's top five cash crops.

Most people outside Baldwin and Mobile counties have never heard of, much less tasted, the sweet satsuma. It looks more like a tangerine than an orange, has few seeds, and taste like the sweetest orange you have ever eaten.

So what happened to Alabama's citrus industry? Cold weather, disease, hurricanes, the Great Depression, and a lack of production knowledge took satsumas away. Now, modern science, new varieties, and growing market demand are making progress in bringing them back.

In 1990, researchers from the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station planted 140 Owari satsuma trees. A far cry from the 22-acre research orchard established at the Station in 1931, but a good start. In addition to satsumas, researchers planted Hamlin oranges, Meyer lemons, and grapefruit.

In 1992, the citrus planting produced a bumper crop of satsumas...and lemons, and oranges, and grapefruit. Mother Nature was kind to the fruit, producing no plant killing freezes or fruit-killing frosts. The bad news was that researchers learned little in terms of how well their cold-fighting techniques would work to protect the trees.

In 1992, the Station's satsuma trees averaged 37 pounds of fruit per tree, compared to 40 pounds for the Hamlin Oranges, 39 pounds for grapefruit and 30 pounds for the lemons. "We knew we had planted during the right weather cycle, and we knew eventually we would have cold weather," noted Ronnie McDaniel, associate superintendent of the Gulf Coast Substation.

On March 13, 1993 when much of Alabama was blanketed by record snow fall, temperatures at the Substation fell to 27 degrees. Finally, Mother Nature had taken a swipe at AU's satsuma planting. Had the cold weather come when the trees were winter hardened, 27 degrees would not have been a threat, but the trees were not dormant, and the fruit was in great peril from the cold.

Some of the trees in the planting were protected by the old method of banking dirt up around the trunk of the trees and others were outfitted with a microjet irrigation system designed to apply 10.7 gallons, or .54-inch per hour of water two to three feet up into the trees. Some trees in the mist treatment also were covered with Reese trunk wraps.

Even a cursory look by an untrained eye will tell you that the experiment was a success in 1993. The satsuma trees are loaded with fruit, and for the most part, even the Hamlin oranges, lemons and grapefruit survived the frosty weather.

"Using trunk wraps and irrigation misting, we can reduce frost damage, and hopefully prevent the entire tree from being killed by cold weather. We cannot protect the crop every year, and we know that, but by protecting the tree, growers can rebound from 10-15 degree cold and be back in limited production in a year and full production in two years, according Bill Dozier, a professor of horticulture at Auburn and lead scientist on the citrus test.

McDaniel pointed out that satsumas are different from many fruit crops in that they maintain leaves year around. While some fruit crops can be covered completely with ice for insulation, the leafy limbs of the satsuma would be shattered by the extra weight. So, the next best option is to protect the interior of the tree killing cold and provide some frost protection for the fruit.

At today's prices, both McDaniel and Dozier agree that partial production one year out of four and full production two years out of four can be economically successful. "There are a few commercial plantings in Baldwin County, and some use cold protection, but these fruit primarily go to local roadside stands.

Whether Alabama citrus growers can ever produce several thousand tons of satsumas, as they did in the 1920s is uncertain. Developing markets may prove a bigger obstacle than production, and the cost of getting into production, especially utilizing modern technology, is expensive.

Despite their success, Auburn researchers Dozier and McDaniel are cautiously optimistic at best. "We have a few answers on cold protection, but we haven't seen the kind of cold temperatures that wrecked satsuma production in the 1920s. "And, we don't know what kind of production problems would develop with widespread plantings of satsumas," Dozier added.

Still one taste of the sweet satsuma, and you have to believe people will want it. One look at the research orchard at the Gulf Coast Substation and you have to believe farmers can grow it.

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News from:

Office of Ag Communications & Marketing

Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)

Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu
by Roy Roberson

September 14, 1993