Cosponsored by  UCCE-Monterey County, UCANR, RCDMC

Why: Apply for CDFA funding- State Water efficiency and Enhancement Program (SWEEP). Receive up to  $100,000 in grant funding to improve your on-farm water and energy efficiency through the SWEEP grant funding program. During the workshop irrigation specialists will:

• Provide a comprehensive review of SWEEP and summary of other CDFA Climate Smart Grant programs
• Guide you through the required water savings and greenhouse gas reduction calculations
• Show you how to assemble a strong grant proposal

When: Wednesday, February 13, 2019, 1:00 PM- 3:00 PM 

Where: Monterey County Agriculture Center, 1432 Abbott St. Salinas CA 93901

 Presenters:   

Michael Cahn, Irrigation and Water Resources Advisor, UCCE Monterey

Laura Murphy, Soil Scientist, Resource Conservation District of Monterey County

Khaled Bali, Irrigation Specialist, UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center

Daniele Zaccaria, Agricultural Water Management Specialist, UC Davis

Registration:   

To register send name, telephone and email address to Lennis Arriaga (larriaga@ucanr.edu)

Questions:     

Contact   Lennis Arriaga @ 831-759-7353, email: larriaga@ucanr.edu 

Michael Cahn @ 831-759-7377, email: mdcahn@ucanr.edu

Grant info.:   Applications are due March 8, 2019 online at https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/sweep/

The SWEEP provides financial assistance in the form of grants to implement irrigation systems that reduce greenhouse gases and save water on California agricultural operations. Eligible system components include (among others) soil moisture monitoring, drip systems, switching to low pressure irrigation systems, pump retrofits, variable frequency drives and installation of renewable energy to reduce on-farm water use and energy.

Please feel free to contact us if you need special accommodations.

Diamondback moth (DBM) is a persistent pest in the Salinas-Castroville area. We were able to find late instar caterpillars in several spots along Blackie road on Tuesday January 22^nd. Basically, these caterpillars were feeding on brassica weeds, located along the side of the road (Fig. 1). This is an example of how insects exploit weeds as alternative hosts when there is a lack of a preferred and abundant host plant in the landscape. DBM will continue feeding on these weeds, while increasing their numbers. These DBM adults, originated from weeds, have the potential to infest any commercial cole crop during the upcoming weeks and months. Based on our observations, most of these caterpillars were close to pupate. Within the next two weeks, we might see an influx of DBM adults flying around fields and weed patches. A new generation of caterpillars may be present around mid-February in our system, depending on temperature fluctuations.

Fig. 1. Diamondback caterpillar spotted on a secondary branch of a brassica weed by the side of Blackie Road, Castroville, CA. Photo by E. Garcia.

It seems like not all of these caterpillars will become adults. Approximately, 10% of the caterpillars collected from Blackie road were parasitized by Diadegma wasp. We took these caterpillars to the UCCE Entomology lab to refresh and re-introduce DBM into our colony; and we were able to spot the parasitic wasp pupae inside our rearing containers (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Brown barrel-like Diadegma pupa (top) and light green diamondback caterpillar (bottom) on a cauliflower leaf inside a rearing container at the UCCE Entomology lab.

Ideally, controlling weeds outside our fields and along the roads could be part of our strategies to manage resident pest populations. Control of these weeds will allow to reduce population of these pests cycling through the winter here in the Salinas-Castroville area. Managing these weeds could be challenging too, due to accessibility and other issues. Please, keep in mind that cole crop fields surrounded by weedy patches will have a higher chance to be infested with DBM. You could prioritize the scouting of those fields to timely detect any economically damaging DBM population in your crop.

If you would like to learn more about DBM and the research conducted by the UCCE Entomology team, please contact Alejandro Del-Pozo at adelpozo@ucanr.edu or 831-759-7359.

The UC Cooperative Extension is holding a Vineyard IPM Conference on Thursday, Feb. 21 in San Luis Obispo.

DPR CE and Certified Crop Adviser CEUs have been requested.

Date: Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019
Location: San Luis Obispo Veteran's Hall, 801 Grand Avenue
Cost: $100, includes morning coffee and lunch
Advanced registration is required, please register at this website: http://ucanr.edu/seminar

Agenda:

8:00 - Check in and refreshments

8:30 - CaCO3 foliar spray affecting sunburn and fruit chemistry
          George Zhuang , UCCE Fresno County

9:00 - Nematode resistant rootstocks
          Karl Lund, UCCE Madera/Merced/Mariposa Counties 

9:30 - Pierce's Disease Update
          Rhonda Smith, UCCE Sonoma County

10:00 - Maximizing effectiveness of spraying
            Lynn Wunderlich, UCCE Sierra Foothills

10:30 - Planting for root health
            Larry Bettiga, UCCE Monterey County

11:00 - Controlling ice-nucleating bacteria with copper sprays
            Glenn McGourty, UCCE Mendocino & Lake Counties

11:30 - Avoiding winter freeze damage
            Mark Battany, UCCE San Luis Obispo & Santa Barbara

12:00 - Lunch 

1:00 - Management of Vine Mealybug
          David Haviland, UCCE Kern County

1:30 - Epidemiology of Leafroll
          Kari Arnold, UCCE Stanislaus County

2:00 - Effects of GRBV on grapevine physiology
          Johann Martinez, UC Davis Viticulture & Enology

2:30 - Grapevine virus and vector management
          Kent Daane, UC Berkeley

3:00 - Adjourn

Monterey County Agricultural Center

1432 Abbott Street, Salinas, CA

Tuesday, February 26

7:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

7:45         Registration (free)

8:00          Production of organic baby spinach using buried drip irrigation

Ali Montazar, Irrigation Advisor UCCE, Imperial and Riverside Counties

8:30          Mitigating pesticides and sediments in tail water using polyacrylamide (PAM): a new approach

Michael Cahn, Irrigation and Water Resources Advisor, Monterey County

9:00         Full season nitrogen management of vegetables

Richard Smith, Vegetable Crops and Weed Science Adivsor, Monterey County

9:30         Optimizing water management in celery using ET weather-based scheduling

Michael Cahn, Irrigation and Water Resources Advisor, Monterey County

10:00       Break

10:30        Region 5 water quality coalitions – demonstrating achievements in water quality

Parry Klassen, Executive Director, Coalition for Urban Rural Environmental Stewardship (CURES)

11:00        Evaluation of salinity effects on strawberry production

Andre Biscaro, Irrigation Water Resources Advisor, Ventura County

11:30        Water and nitrogen management of Asian vegetables/SWEEP and Healthy soils programs

Aparna Gazula, Small Farms Advisor, Santa Clara County

12:00       Grower Panel: Nitrogen Management in Practice

                Saul Lopez, D'Arrigo Brothers; Mark Mason, Huntington Farms; and Sal Montes, Christiansen Giannini

12:30       Pizza Lunch

CCA & DPR continuing education credits have been requested