Treatment of Frosted Groves 
Mr. Skinner: I know there are a good 
many people here who seem to be too 
timid to speak, who came here with the 
distinct purpose of learning how to take 
care of their frosted groves. I am not 
particularly interested, personally. 
(Laughter.) 
I think it would be very interesting to 
discuss this matter, and I would like to 
have those who have had some experience 
with it, discuss it. Suppose we start out 
by asking the president to tell us some¬ 
thing of what to do. 
Mr. Hume: My advice in a case of 
this kind is summed up by saying, “do 
nothing.” I have seen more time and 
energy wasted over too early efforts, 
those efforts counting for little or nothing. 
As I look at it, the main thing to be done 
is to wait—now I am talking about when 
you are really frosted—is to wait until 
you know the extent of the damage. Many 
of the growers, particularly among those 
who have had their first experience, want 
to go in their groves the morning after the 
freeze and do something. At that time 
you don’t know what to do, so at that 
stage there is nothing to do but wait until 
growth begins and shoots starts out so 
that you know just where you are. Then 
you are ready to begin to clean out the 
dead wood. 
But there is something you can do with 
the handling of a grove as a whole, and 
that is, if you are sure there is something 
left in the grove is to begin cultivation 
and fertilization that will start the growth. 
That is along the right line. Get the new 
growth started, then clean up your trees 
and get them in shape to make up what 
may have been lost by the freeze. 
Mr. Skinner: How much fertilizer, 
and what kind would be safe to use? 
Mr. Hume: I would advise a fertili¬ 
zer pretty moderately rich in ammonia. 
In many cases it is wise to reduce the 
amount of ammonia, but the ammonia is 
what the tree calls for first in making 
its new growth. 
As to the amount, I would say off-hand, 
that it should be one-third to one-half of 
what the trees had originally been receiv¬ 
ing. I think there is more at that stage 
in the cultivation, in the loosening up and 
opening up the soil and allowing it to 
warm up, than there is in the fertilizer 
to be applied. If water is available, put it 
on. That has been one of the serious 
things in many sections of the state, and 
that is the lack of moisture at the time 
of year when the frosts occur. But culti¬ 
vation will help a long way to counteract 
this disadvantage. 
Now I am going to call on Mr. Hart, 
because he has had more experience than 
I have had. 
Mr. Hart: I have been through the 
two freezes of ’94-95. All the orange 
growers of the state, pretty nearly, suffer¬ 
ed at that time. A year or two after then, 
24 
