UC Dry Bean Blog

A field in Sutter County was confirmed to have charcoal rot, also known as dry root rot or ashy stem blight, which is caused by the fungus Macrophomina phaseolina.

Several garbanzo fields in the Sacramento Valley were infected with alfalfa mosaic virus, a disease that's vectored by aphids. Plant symptoms of viral infections include yellowing wilting, stunting, and dieback.

This spring, we found a garbanzo bean field in the Sacramento Valley with fusarium root rot, identified by our new UCCE Plant Pathologist, Cassandra Swett at UC Davis. Fusarium root rot, caused by the fungus, Fusarium solani f. sp. ciceris, attacks the underground stems and roots of plants.

The Diseases and Abiotic Disorders section of the UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines for Dry Beans have been recently revised and updated and are now available online at UC IPM Dry Beans Pest Management Guidelines.

The UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Agricultural Issues Center (UC ANR) has released two new studies on the costs and returns of producing garbanzo beans (chickpeas), in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys.