Topics in Subtropics

With drought and forecast for more of the same, it's time to think of alternative crops for our area. Pithecellobium dulce (translation: sweet monkey ear) may be a choice. Guamuchil is just one of the many names for this tree crop, including: monkeypod tree, camachile, and Madras thorn.

Problem: There was a Valencia farmer in Ojai, farming on a rocky loam. More rocky than loam, on a 10 % slope, where he had been spraying the weeds down, the soil had gradually washed away and all he had left was scattered cobbles.

The gold-winning video "Diagnosing Herbicide Injury" includes several interactive features to make it more engaging and entertaining, and to help viewers remember the information.

Confirmation of New Citrus Virus in California The U.S.

We recently had a grower meeting covering the release of five new grape varieties that are resistant to Pierce's Disease https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=53564 PD is a very debilitating disease of European wine grapes, like "dead vines" debilitating. https://ucanr.