Topics in Subtropics

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Topics in Subtropics Blog
You can subscribe to this  blog with multiple entries per week reflecting what's happening with subtropical crops and upcoming educational events.  Just click on the "Subscribe" button just to the right of this paragraph.  There's also our seasonal quarterly Topics in Subtropics newsletter found at our Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Riverside, San Diego, Tulare and Kern Counties Cooperative Extension websites.
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lemon sheepnose

Lemon Sheepnose

January 13, 2023
By Ben A Faber
If the citrus fruit has a swollen stem end, it's called "sheepnose" and it's a swollen nipple or blossom end, it's also called "sheepnose". A swollen nipple is much more common. The fruit also tends to be coarse and the skin thick.
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snail feeding 1

Odd Tracks

January 11, 2023
By Ben A Faber
This odd pattern that has shown up on polyethylene irrigation tubing was sent in by an observant Santa Paula grower. The fruit trees were covered with aphids and there was sooty mold growing on the honey dew dripping onto the tubing.
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iron chlorosis avocado

Acidifying Soil

January 9, 2023
By Ben A Faber
Salts and Soil pH are two of the great management problems we have with subtropical crops like avocado, citrus, passionfruit, coffee and even evergreen blueberries when grown in California. In the western Cascades there are also soils dominated by carbonates and waters by bicarbonates.
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cherimoya mealy bug

The End of ACP and Argentine Ant?

January 6, 2023
By Ben A Faber
Argentine Ant is the great protector of many pests found on plants. Without the Argentine, many pests would not be so much of a problem. In many crops, like cherimoya and passionfruit, mealy bug can become so severe that fruit will stop growing and fall off the tree.
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