- 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...
- Author: Lynn M. Sosnoskie
Whether you need continuing education credits or are interested in keeping abreast of the latest weed science-related research occurring in California (or both), you should be aware that there are three excellet extension events coming up in July of 2018.
Diagnosing Herbicide Symptoms Short Course
When: July 10, 2018 - July 11, 2018
Where: UC Davis Bowley Plant Science Teaching Center, Extension Center Dr. Davis, CA 95616
What: The Diagnosing Herbicide Symptoms 2018 course is an intensive 1.5-day course focusing on how an herbicide injury situation can arise, what types of information can help diagnose herbicide problems...
- Author: Lynn M. Sosnoskie
It's getting hot and dry in the Central Valley and the movement of equipment in and out of fields/orchards/vineyards has the potential to stir up a significant amount of dust. Among its other impacts to agriculture (soil erosion, tissue damage, reduced photosynthesis, etc...), wind blown dust can reduce the efficacy of glyphosate, which is an important tool for the management of weeds in trees and vines, along rights-of-ways, and in glyphosate-tolerant agronomic crops (e.g. corn, cotton, alfalfa) in CA.
The adoption of glyphosate has been facilitated, at least in part, by it's relative lack of soil activity (Miller et al. 2013; Zhou et al. 2006). Glyphosate can become tightly adsorbed to soil...