Texas A&M Finds Citrus Cure Using Spinach After 15 Years

Citrus growers battling a tree disease that destroys their fruit finally have a weapon that works, thanks to researchers who discovered an unlikely hero: spinach.

Texas A&M AgriLife scientists in Weslaco just earned EPA approval for a new treatment that helps citrus trees fight citrus greening, a bacterial disease that has devastated groves across the country. The breakthrough came after 15 years of research searching for ways to stop the infection.

The disease spreads through an insect and causes leaves to discolor and fruit to fail. For Jose Silva, who has grown grapefruit on his 20-acre grove in Donna for 18 years, it's been an expensive battle with no guaranteed wins.

"If the tree is infected with greening disease, that fruit doesn't size up. It's a loss because it's not marketable," Silva said. He spends $2,000 to $3,000 per acre each year on disease control, fertilizers, and irrigation, yet the disease still spreads.

Dr. Kranthi Mandadi, director at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, led the team that developed the solution. They tested many approaches before discovering that spinach has powerful antimicrobial properties similar to antibiotics.

The treatment works through a grafting process. A small piece from a specially developed citrus tree is attached to another citrus tree, transferring spinach's natural defenses without changing the tree's DNA. This helps the tree fight the bacteria causing citrus greening.

"We need to control the disease, right? It's important to prevent the yield loss associated with it," Mandadi said. "Infected trees, the fruits don't remain on the trees. They fall on the ground, and that's a loss for the growers."

The Ripple Effect

The EPA approval means the treatment can now be sold and used commercially. Florida growers will get access first later this year, with other regions following. For an industry that's watched helpless as trees fail and fruits drop, this represents the first real solution to a problem that threatened entire livelihoods.

The treatment doesn't just save individual trees. It protects the economic future of citrus farming communities and ensures consumers continue getting fresh citrus year after year. Every acre saved from citrus greening means thousands of dollars back in growers' pockets and food security for the nation.

Silva is ready for the technology to reach Texas. "The sooner that technology is available to us growers, the better for us right now," he said.

Fifteen years of patient research just gave an entire industry hope for survival.