The 2021 Field Day for Nematode Management in Walnuts and Almonds will be held Nov 30, 2021 from 12:00pm to 4:00pm.
When: November 30, 2021 from 12:00pm to 4:00pm
Where: Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center
9240 S Riverbend Ave
Parlier, CA 93648
559-646-6555
The field day is for field research representatives, farm advisors, PCAs, growers, consultants, and anyone else interested rootstock development, pre-plant treatments, post-plant treatments ...
Field Day flyer
- Author: Laura J. Van der Staay
Andreas Westphal helped provide back to back meetings that concentrated on sharing research, discoveries, and disease problems, as well as developing and new pest management technologies for soilborne diseases. These diseases include fungus, nematode, bacteria, and virus populations found in the soil. Attendees included personnel from universities, state agencies, and multiple components of the Ag industry. Information was shared in meeting rooms and field sites. Soilborne pests of food crops, ornamental plants and native plants were discussed. The basic agenda is available online.
- Author: Andreas Westphal
- Editor: Laura J. Van der Staay
Andreas Westphal, UC Assistant Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Department of Nematology at UC Riverside and UC ANR Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center started January 15, 2015. Westphal obtained his first two degrees from the University of Göttingen. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside under the supervision of J. Ole Becker. After some postdoctoral experience at UC Davis, and some faculty experience with Texas A&M University and Purdue University, he moved back to Germany. He was recruited by UC after Mike McKenry retired.
Westphal's research program will focus on nematode problems of tree and vine crops. He will explore a multitude of cultural, biological and chemical strategies for managing nematodes in almond, grape, peach, walnut and other crops. Westphal moved here from the Julius Kühn-Institut, Braunschweig, Germany where he researched nematode management on field crops, and was responsible for determining plant resistance to plant-parasitic nematodes in the official cultivar release program.
- Author: Laura J. Van der Staay
Dry beans are an important rotational crop in the Southern San Joaquin Valley. They are not a high value crop, so effective growing and marketing practices are a priority. The dry bean meeting held at Kearney on August 27, 2013 attracted about 30 attendees. It focused on many aspects of new crop management and marketing strategies to improve the return per acre of dry beans.
There were four field presentations. Larry Schwankl, UC Cooperative Extension irrigation specialist at Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, and Carol Frate, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Tulare County, alfalfa, dry beans, corn and plant pathology, discussed a subsurface drip irrigation trial for blackeye production. Carol Frate discussed the evaluation of insecticides for lygus bug management. Phil Roberts, chair and professor in the Department of Nematology at UC Riverside, nematode host-parasite relations, genetics and pest management in field and vegetable crops, discussed screening bean varieties and breeding lines for root knot nematode resistance. Phil Roberts and Bao Lam Huynh discussed developing new varieties of beans for insect and disease resistance.
Indoor sessions included PowerPoint presentations and related discussions. Gary Luckett, manager of the Cal-Bean & Grain Warehouse, provided an update on the blackeye market. Bao Lam Huynh discussed using marker-based techniques for developing new blackeye varieties. Kurt Hembree, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Fresno County, weed management strategies in crop and non-crop settings, discussed past, present and future methods of weed control in dry beans.
The meeting provided:
- PCA hours: 1.5 hours of “other”
- CCA hours: 1.5 hours of IPM; 0.5 hours of crop management
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
In recent weeks, veterinarians at the UC Davis William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital have seen a spike in accidental rodenticide poisonings. In the last two weeks of August alone, they diagnosed and treated six canine cases.
If not treated, a dog can die within a week of ingesting rodenticides.
"This is an all-too-common occurrence," said Karl Jandrey, assistant professor of clinical small animal emergency and intensive care at UC Davis. "People are trying to get rid of unwanted rodents, but are not realizing what these toxins do to the other animals who share that environment."
Keeping pets safe
Using proper pest control techniques can help keep family pets safe, said Roger Baldwin, UC Cooperative Extension advisor with the UC Integrated Pest Management Program. Baldwin, a wildlife pest management expert, is based at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier.
Dogs can be affected by rodenticides two ways: by eating the poisoned bait or by eating an animal that was poisoned. Both can have serious consequences.
Home improvement stores like Lowes and Home Depot, and even grocery stores, carry a variety of products that may be used to control unwanted rats, mice, pocket gophers and ground squirrels. If the unwanted animals are inside the house, Baldwin recommends using traps rather than poison.
"If a poisoned animal dies behind a wall, you can't get it out and you have to live with the smell for weeks or months," Baldwin said.
Also, before baiting outdoor pests, Baldwin suggests making sure they are not also going inside buildings. If they are, find all potential access points and close them up.
If resorting to poison baits, buy a new product at the store and carefully read the label to understand when, where and how it can be used. Because of rapidly changing restrictions in recent years, old products in your garage or shed could be outdated.
Pocket gopher bait must be placed in the gopher's underground burrow. Even there, Baldwin said, certain dogs will dig up dead pocket gophers if they are close enough to the surface. Families with digging dogs will likely want to choose gopher traps. For ground squirrels, baits can be placed in bait stations or scattered very thinly on the ground through broadcast or spot treatments.
"When you use broadcast or spot treatments, there is relatively little danger to dogs or cats," Baldwin said. "But I would opt to use bait stations in my yard if I had pets running around, just to be on the safe side."
Some rodenticides contain ingredients that are anticoagulants, which slow the clotting of the blood. When dogs ingest these poisons, the active ingredients concentrate in the liver where they interfere with vitamin K storage and the production of blood clotting factors.
At UC Davis' veterinary teaching hospital, dealing with accidental poisoning by an anticoagulant rodenticide can require around-the-clock care with treatments in the intensive care unit to replenish blood clotting factors with fresh frozen plasma and replace vitamin K. If administered early enough, this treatment usually leads to a full recovery. Other rodenticides (e.g., bromethalin, cholecalciferol, strychnine and zinc phosphide) do not have antidotes, so treatment is more difficult.
One patient recently treated at UC Davis was Mocha, a one-year-old Belgian Malinois from Winters, Calif. Mocha had gotten into d-CON, a common rodenticide available at hardware stores.
Luckily, Mocha was brought to the veterinary teaching hospital in time. She responded well to treatment and was able to go home in two days.
"We are grateful for the care Mocha received at UC Davis," said Ken Shaw, Mocha's owner. "Like most dogs, Mocha is adventurous and likes to get into things she shouldn't. But after the treatment at UC Davis, she was home within a few days, happy and playful once again."