by Becky Wheeler-Dykes, UCCE Glenn Orchard Systems and Weed Ecology Farm Advisor

Recent research has shown many potential benefits of utilizing whole orchard recycling (WOR) when removing an orchard. Instead of burning the wood produced in orchard removal, WOR involves chipping the wood from pulled trees and redistributing it back into the field using a chip or amendment spreader. This management technique has been mostly used in walnut orchards being followed by new walnut orchards. The conservation of the carbon in the wood benefits the soil by increasing nutrients available for the next crop, improving the soil's water holding capacity and and enhancing microbial activity. After a recent evaluation of weed populations in a...

Branched broomrape (Phelipanche ramosa) is of growing concern to California tomato and specialty crop and seed producers. It is an obligate root holoparasite that gains all of its nutrients from the host crop and its unique biology means it spends the majority of its lifecycle below the soil surface, making it inaccessible to conventional weed control strategies like cultivation or foliar herbicides. Its regulatory status as an “A-listed” pest in California requiring crop destruct and a hold order on any infested field creates a huge economic burden for affected growers, even if the weed itself is not yet at levels that cause yield...

Two years ago, I shared my first blog about the Zasso electrical weed control (EWC) unit—a tractor-mounted device powered by the tractor's PTO. (My first blog about the basic of EWC and unit specifications

In spring 2023, we established two organic blocks, one with almonds and one with blueberries, to further evaluate the weed control efficacy and crop safety of the Zasso unit in newly established tree and berry systems. In these trials, we tested different combinations of speed and power to control the total current/energy flowing into the ground. This approach is similar to herbicide trials where we often test at different rates to evaluate crop...

Large scale demonstration of chemigated rimsulfuron treatments for branched broomrape control in California processing tomato

Matthew Fatino, Brad Hanson

Plant Sciences Department, University of California, Davis

Branched broomrape is an obligate holoparasite that can attach to a wide variety of agricultural crop hosts, including tomato. It has been reported in numerous California commercial processing tomato fields in recent years and is of growing concern to the tomato industry in the state. In late 2022, a 24c Special Local Need (SLN) label was approved for broomrape management with chemigated Matrix...