Topics in Subtropics

This note from Cressida Silvers, either go to Temecula or maybe do a more local version of the training: Good afternoon, The upcoming CAPCA meeting (see below for details) in Temecula is a 2-day event (12 CEUs), including a workshop and field visit focused on detecting live ACP in citrus trees, and...

Like most of us, trees don't want to be eaten alive. To prevent this gruesome fate, they developed extremely tough cell walls around 400 million years ago. For millions of years, nothing could break down lignin, the strongest substance in those cell walls.

Occasionally plants show up in our office for identification and no one in the office knows what it is. So it's sent off to to others who might know. This was the case of a perennial amaranth, also called goosefoot for some reason. The is Chenopodium californicum, also know as Blitum californicum.

For centuries, the prevailing science has indicated that all of the nitrogen on Earth available to plants comes from the atmosphere. But a study from the University of California, Davis, indicates that more than a quarter comes from Earth's bedrock.

Several Florida blueberry growers have recently reported flower bud damage and corresponding fruit loss, in some cases up to 50% on certain affected cultivars.