Topics in Subtropics

And even more information:https://ucanr.edu/county/cooperative-extension-ventura-county/fire-information 

This month, the California Department of Public Health reported that Valley fever cases are on track to surpass last year’s record number of over 12,500 cases.The infection, caused when people inhale spores of the naturally occurring Coccidioides fungus, made up fewer than 1,000 cases back in 2000 in…

Emitter clogging – either microsprinkler or drip, they both emit – is fairly easily dealt with through proper filtration for particulates like sand and gunk; with chemigation for clearing out bacterial and algal slimes and chemical precipitates; and just regular flushing to deal with stuff that builds up…

Recently we were called out to inspect trees that had unusual cankers.  Unusual, because it was a cluster of about 20 trees and the cankers had insect larvae in the liquid sap that had accumulated in the cankers.When I see an avocado tree like this with discrete white cankers going up and down a branch…

Reducing Tillage On-Farm and Cover Cropping in the US and California and Some LimitationsA recent paper by Jeff Mitchell and others has highlighted the work done on reducing soil tillage which accelerates soil organic matter decline, resulting in a variety of ills from ground water contamination, poor soil…