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Dr. Mani
In 1988 Dr. Mani Skaria moved to South Texas as a research scientist for the Texas A&M Citrus Center. He had previously developed a citrus program for the Kingdom of Jordan with USAID and then was a professor at Washington State University working with the apple industry.
In 2019 for his contributions to the Texas citrus industry, Dr. Skaria is made Professor Emeritus at Texas A&M - Kingsville and is recognized with the prestigious Pott's Award.
Agricultural Contributions
After becoming the lead citrus pathologist in Texas, Dr. Skaria implemented the clean citrus program. This is the process is the cornerstone protection against disease for the Texas citrus industry.
In 1997, Dr. Skaria invented the micro-budding grafting technique. This all-natural process allows for drastically reduced land and resource use with quicker fruit production. Upon this backbone, he founds and leads US Citrus & US Citrus Nursery in 2012.
Under Dr. Skaria's leadership, US Citrus has established lemon, orange, mandarin, grapefruit, and lime groves, creating the basis of the Craft Citrus Club citrus subscription box. His mission and passion is to get high-quality, special citrus fruits to the American consumer, all straight from our groves!
Best Practices
Dr. Mani worked alongside Dr. Don Huber, professor emeritus at Purdue Univesity. Because of this he has always avoided glyphosate, and instead the grove and nursery use a combination of weed fabric and steam for weed control.
The core of our pest & fungal control we use for our grove and nursery is Dr. Mani's Magic Pest Protect Pro, a solubilized form of organic diatomaceous earth and sulfur.
Of course, microbial populations are vital to our own plant growth. Our microbial mix, from organic green compost, is used on every tree in our nursery and grove.
Our Operations
Since 2006, US Citrus has been grafting citrus trees in certified facilities. We are located in Hargill, population 646, a tiny town in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
The community has rewarded us with bountiful inspiration, strengthening our citrus culture.