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Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

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Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

 
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Tuesday - September 08, 2009

From: Ocala, FL
Region: Southeast
Topic: Non-Natives
Title: Blossoms blowing off non-native navel orange tree from Ocala FL
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Why do the blossoms blow off navel orange tree?

ANSWER:

Due to the large volume of questions Mr. Smarty Plants has been receiving, we are asking that questions be confined to plants native to North America, which is the focus of the work done by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.The orange tree is a native of Southeast Asia, and has been extensively hybridized, far out of the range of our expertise. We suggest contacting your University of Florida Extension Office for Marion County.

An excellent site on dealing with problems with the navel orange trees is this one from Texas Cooperative Extension site. Then, if you're really dedicated to find a solution, go to this site, "Diagnosing common citrus problems", and see what you can find that fits your situation.

 

 
 

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