Nursery tracks citrus trends; responds to needs

In the Central Valley, Monrovia Growers is probably one of the largest, oldest and most well-known nurseries in the region. On a recent tour, the nursery provided visitors from all over the world a view of the company's inner workings.

The company has branches in Visalia; Cairo, Ga.; and Dayton, Ore. The Visalia nursery is particularly important because it grows the majority of citrus for local nurseries in the area. In total, the Visalia nursery has about 50,000 starter citrus trees growing.

Because Visalia is in the heart of the state's citrus-growing region, citrus is a top seller for the nursery and comprises 5 percent to 10 percent of all the nursery's sales. Varieties such as Bearss Seedless Lime, the Improved Meyer Lemon and Nagami Kumquats are especially big sellers.

The Improved Meyer Lemon is probably the company's most popular citrus variety since it blooms all year long, said Orlando Bejar, Monrovia assistant propagation manager in Visalia.

"It always has blooms, ripe fruit, baby fruit and green fruit. It's the only citrus that does that," Behar said. "Most other citrus only blooms twice a year."

The Improved Meyer Lemon's other main attributes are that it's sweeter than a lemon and can be used in both sweet and savory dishes, Bejar said.

The company's second most popular variety would probably be the Bearss Seedless Lime, Bejar said.

"The Bearss Seedless Lime is a lemon, but it's also a lime. It has fewer seeds than most lemons or limes, and it produces a lot of juice," he said.

Most of the company's trees can either be used to grow into large trees or as patio trees. The Nagami Kumquat, which has a sweet rind and sour-tasting fruit, is especially good for a patio tree and is popular with consumers, Bejar said.

Citrus, in general, is a very important part of the nursery's program because it's considered a "sales leader."

"Citrus is an important crop for us here because it is an order starter," Bejar said. "Customers ask for citrus, but then we say, 'Yes, we have citrus, but you can also grab these other things,' and they often want to know what else we have. And that's how we're able to place more orders."

With the recent advent of the Asian citrus psyllid, there might not be as much citrus at Monrovia in the coming years, though.

"The citrus is doing OK now, except we might not grow as much citrus anymore because of all the regulations going into it," Bejar said. "We have to keep the plants covered, treat them, and when we ship them, we have to have them all sealed. It just takes a lot of time, labor and money. There are just so many hoops for us to jump through."

No definite decisions have been made yet, Bejar said. But this has been one of Monrovia's best years for citrus so far in terms of sales and producing healthy plants, he said.

One of the secrets to the company's success with citrus this year, Bejar said, is that the nursery produces all of its own soil.

"We're known for our soils. We create all of our own blends and don't buy any of them," Bejar said.

Monrovia has, in fact, over 40 recipes for its various plants. The Visalia facility, itself, has about 17 different blends.

Instead of using peat moss for some recipes, Monrovia has begun using coconut coir.

"Peat moss dries up and it won't take the water back in. Coconut coir will hydrate much more easily. It will wet and then re-wet a lot better," Bejar said.

Monrovia also uses other key ingredients, such as pine bark, redwood bark and perlite in its soil mixture blends. Turkey and chicken manure also seem to work better than cow manure, Bejar said.

"These ingredients are easier to blend together. We also use Osmocote because it's a slow-release fertilizer. We mix this all up and add sand," Bejar said.

The company has its own laboratory to come up with specific recipes for different plants, and constantly runs trials on the best soil and fertilizers for each of its 2,000 varieties of plants.

Citrus, Bejar said, is one of the most difficult plants to cultivate in order to appeal to consumers.

"In the past, we've had difficulty growing citrus because our customers want lush, green, perfect-looking plants," Bejar said.

Even though the citrus trees do well in the winter and remain perfectly healthy, sometimes their leaves curl and turn yellow, making them less appealing to consumers.

"Customers want fresh looking plants. People buy plants with their eyes, just the way they buy fruit with their eyes in the grocery store. If something looks a little damaged on the inside, even though it's still a good plant or piece of fruit, they won't buy it because they think it might be a little bit sick," Bejar said.

Commercial growers, unlike nursery growers, don't have the same concerns about yellowish leaves, since leaf coloration doesn't generally affect the quality of the citrus.

This year, the citrus plants have been doing especially well, Bejar said, since Monrovia has tried using a different, lighter soil mixture to get them to produce lusher, greener-looking leaves in the spring.

In addition to the lighter soil, Monrovia has also used a top dressing fertilizer, which seems to have made it one of Monrovia's best citrus seasons in years, he said.

"Usually we just mix the fertilizer into the soil, but this year we added the top dressing, too, which really seemed to make a difference," Bejar said.

Now that the company has gotten a good recipe for citrus, Bejar said he hopes citrus will remain an important part of the Visalia program. Regardless, though, it seems clear that consumers, most likely because of the economy, are showing more interest in "edibles."

Just two years ago, the company introduced the Angel Red Pomegranate, which ripens two weeks earlier than other pomegranate varieties.

"They have bright, red seeds that are sweeter than other varieties," Bejar said. "The seed is also sweeter and softer and you can eat the whole thing without having to spit it out. That's what makes it special."

In addition to the new pomegranates, the company is also doing a lot more with fruit trees and blueberries.

"We're growing peaches, plums, nectarines, apples, cherries and pears," Bejar said. "People basically want functional gardens with fruiting trees that also look beautiful and are ornate."

(Lisa Lieberman is a reporter in Three Rivers. She may be contacted at lisal@thegrid.net.)