- Author: Therese Kapaun
A block of promising mandarin varieties of commercial importance were planted at Lindcove this week, with Dr. Tracy Kahn and Dr. Mikeal Roose (UC Riverside) in attendance. Additional plantings of the same variety and rootstock combinations will be made elsewhere in the coming weeks, to create multi-location replicated trials that cover the major citrus growing regions of California. This will allow for performance of the varieties to be evaluated and compared, and new imported varieties will be added to the blocks each year as they become available. Lindcove staff perform all of the propagations for these trials in the LREC greenhouses.
- Author: Therese Kapaun
Lindcove personnel are planting more than a thousand trees this summer in the research blocks. Most of these are for replicated trials for Mikeal Roose and Tracy Kahn (UC Riverside) that involve new varieties and rootstock evaluations, and the rest are mandarin irradiations for the breeding program. In this photo Principal Agricultural Technician Donald Cleek is busy drilling holes.
- Author: Elizabeth E Grafton-Cardwell
Lisa Fischer was recently hired as the Associate Director of the Research and Extension Centers. This week she is touring several of the Centers with the goal of getting to know the people, facilities and programs. On Wednesday, she visited Lindcove where she was given a tour of the orchards, CCPP screenhouse/greenhouse area, fruit quality laboratory and packline and discussed the research and extension programs with the staff. We look forward to her assistance in helping us to achieve our vision of research and extension excellence at the Centers!
- Author: Therese Kapaun
Sara Scott and Jennifer Ruvalcaba mix up a tank of an experimental insecticide they are testing for citricola scale control on a block of navel oranges at Lindcove REC. For more than 20 years, Dr. Beth Grafton-Cardwell has led a research team that screens new insecticides for effectiveness against citrus pests as well as impact on natural enemies. Successful products become incorporated into the citrus IPM program.
- Author: Elizabeth E Grafton-Cardwell
Rock Christiano was raised on a small orange orchard farm and his passion for horticulture has inspired his education. He received an Agronomy B.S degree in 2001, a Plant Pathology M.S. degree in 2004, and a Plant Pathology Ph.D degree in 2006, all from major universities in Brazil. He has studied epidemiology of citrus canker on different species and varieties of citrus and he has collaborated with many citrus research centers, such as FUNDECITRUS, a major citrus research station in the Sao Paulo State, Brazil. In the Department of Plant Pathology, University of Georgia, USA, Christiano has worked for 6 years with peach and blueberry diseases. On August 13th, Christiano will join the staff at the Lindcove Research and Extension Center as a Staff Research Associate. He will be managing the research and budwood foundation activities for the Citrus Clonal Protection Program at LREC. He is eager to begin and to return to his work with citriculture.