- Author: Lynn M. Sosnoskie
The United States Geological Survey (https://www.usgs.gov/) defines drought as a 'period of drier than normal conditions that results in water-related problems.' Short-term effects of drought include: declines in surface water flows, which can impact water supplies for agricultural, urban, and environmental uses. Long term effects of drought can include aquifer overdrafts and land subsidence. California has experienced drought events in the past (most recently: 1976-1977, 1986-1992, 2007-2009, and 2011-2017) and is expected to experience many more in the future. While a changing climate and variable weather patterns are contributing to the California's water issues, a lack of new water projects, a...
- Author: Lynn M. Sosnoskie
There are several meetings featuring the research of UC ANR Staff coming up this month (August 2018). Directions to sites can be obtained through the UCCE Merced Agronomy and Weed Science Upcoming Events web page: http://ucanr.edu/sites/agronomyweedscience/Upcoming_Events/
1. West Side Pest Management Update
This meeting will cover a variety of topics including vegetable insect and disease management, the biology and ecology of field bindweed, and the management of field bindweed in agronomic and specialty...
- Author: Lynn M. Sosnoskie
Cotton lint stickiness is a significant problem, worldwide. It is also an issue here in California, and a major focus of attention for cotton growers and ginners in the state. Sticky cotton loads can physically slow down the processing speeds of gins, even to the point of shut down. Stickiness may necessitate the special handling of contaminated bales, which can result in increased costs. The milling process can also be affected by stickiness, as work stoppages may be required to clean combs and rollers. Millers may choose to blend sticky fibers with clean ones as a way to mitigate the situation or they may elect to engage with different cotton merchants altogether in order to avoid persistent problems.
While free plant sugars...
- Author: Lynn M. Sosnoskie
A drive around the San Joaquin Valley has revealed some fields with Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) rising above the crop canopy.
A male Palmer amaranth in a corn field in Merced County
Palmer amaranth is a tall (growing up to 10 feet in height), dioecious (male and female flowers develop on separate plants), summer annual that grows rapidly and produces significant amounts of seed (upwards of 400,000-1,000,000 per female plant). The species is extremely competitive with many crops, including corn and cotton. In the...
- Author: Lynn M. Sosnoskie
According to the CalFlora website (http://www.calflora.org/), 21 species of amaranths occur (to some extent) in California. While many are non-native, a few, including prostrate pigweed (Amaranthus blitoides) and Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri), are indigenous. While it may be convenient to lump all of the genus Amaranthus together when considering weed management options, proper identification is important for understanding the potential for crop yield loss (not all amaranths were created equal with respect to competitiveness) and the possibility of herbicide resistance (populations of Palmer amaranth with resistance to glyphosate have been confirmed in the...
