- 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...
- Author: Lynn M. Sosnoskie
UC Cooperative Extension in Merced County and Bowles Farming are hosting the 2nd Annual Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), “Drone”, Field Day on Tuesday, June 26, 2018.
The event will run from 8:30-11:30 am and will be held at Bowles Farming headquarters in Los Banos (11069 Hereford Road). This meeting is free to attend.
Join us at the 2nd annual UAV field day at Bowles Farming near Los Banos, CA
There will be displays and demonstrations of autonomous flight by teams from the UC Merced and...