- Author: Richard Smith
- Author: Michael D Cahn
- Posted by: Gale Perez
Richard Smith is the Vegetable Crop Production and Weed Science Farm Advisor and Michael Cahn is the Irrigation and Water Resources Farm Advisor. Both are with the University of California Cooperative Extension in Monterey County.
Cultural practices for producing lettuce are changing with the development of new technologies and with the advent of new economic pressures. The shortage of labor has spurred development and adoption of...
- Author: Richard Smith
- Posted by: Gale Perez
Richard Smith is the UC Cooperative Extension Vegetable Crop Production and Weed Science Farm Advisor in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties.
Automated weeders remove weeds inside the three- to five-inch-wide uncultivated band left around the seedline by standard cultivation. Automated weeder technology has improved significantly over the past decade. All automated weeders use 1) cameras to detect plants, 2) a computer to process the image and make decisions about which plants to keep and which to remove and 3) a kill mechanism. Kill mechanism that operates in the seedline used by currently available machines are either a split blade that opens around keeper...
- Author: Elizabeth Mosqueda
- Author: Richard Smith
- Author: Steven Fennimore
- Posted by: Gale Perez
Elizabeth Mosqueda is an Assistant Professor at the California State University, Monterey Bay.
Richard Smith is a Vegetable Crop Production and Weed Science Farm Advisor with UC Cooperative Extension.
Steve Fennimore is a Cooperative Extension Weed...
- Author: Nelly Guerra
- Author: Steven Fennimore
Despite the tremendous need, there are currently no preemergence herbicides that are organic-compliant. Steam injected into the soil such that the soil temperatures reach >140°F for 15-20 minutes will kill weed seed in the soil. The effect of this reduction in the seedbank viability results weed control in the treated area that persists for several weeks or months, similar to the effects of a preemergence herbicide.
Two studies were conducted at the USDA Hartnell Farm at Salinas, CA during July to September 2020. Steam was applied to raised beds using a custom-built steam injector. Prior to seeding lettuce, steam was applied in a 4-inch wide band to a depth of 3 inches deep. The steam was supplied by a SF-20 Sioux steam...
- Author: Richard Smith
- Posted by: Gale Perez
Richard Smith is the Vegetable Crops and Weed Science Farm Advisor in Monterey County, California.
Impatiens Necrotic Spot Virus (INSV) in the Salinas Valley is a tospovirus that is spread primarily by western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis). It has a wide host range of over 600 species of plants, including vegetables such as lettuce, tomatoes and peppers, ornamental such as fuchsias, dahlias and gazanias, and many weeds (see below). In the summer months when INSV is well established, lettuce production fields serve as the primary host of the virus, and thrips fly from infected fields that are being harvested to younger unharvested fields, and in that way, propagate and spread...