- Author: Ben Faber
What are the effects of fire and smoke and ash and heat and all the other potential things that might affect plants and animal products that we eat?????? Can you simply wash off contaminants? What impact on the soil, itself? Does anything special need to be done to start producing food again? Come learn more.
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/span>- Author: Ben Faber
In 2018 the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy (OVLC) accepted a grant from the Resources Legacy Fund on behalf of Watershed Coalition of Ventura County (WCVC) for a study of projected climate changes in Ventura County. OVLC contracted with Drs. Nina Oakley and Ben Hatchett, climatologists with the Desert Research Institute (DRI), to evaluate historic climate variability and projected changes in Ventura County. This information is needed to “paint a picture” of future climate in the watersheds of Ventura County (Ventura River, Santa Clara River, and Calleguas Creek) to support and inform climate change-related decision-making. This study provides important information for the amendment to WCVC's Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) Plan
You can find a copy of the report on the DRI website at: https://wrcc.dri.edu/Climate/reports.php.
To view presentations and other information from the two WCVC Climate workshops conducted with Drs. Oakley and Hatchett in October of 2018, and April of this year please visit: http://wcvc.ventura.org/documents/climate_change.htm
Some of those most interesting findings for me, are the historical data. For example, data for the years 1896 – 2018, show a tendency toward increasing maximum temperatures over the period, especially the last 10 years (Fig 1.2). But most interesting, is the increasing minimum temperatures (Fig 1.3) as compared to the maximum temperatures. Winter where is thy sting? The 2018-19 winter was the coldest in my memory, with the heater on full time at night, but there was no general frost damage this year. I can remember 1990 and 2007.
Precipitation in the South Coast region exhibits high interannual variability over the period examined. No notable long-term trends are observed (Fig. 1.4). Since approximately 2000, the 11-year running mean decreases, associated in part with the 2012–2019 drought. It is unclear whether this trend will continue in subsequent years.
There's a lot more information in the report. READ On.
But something to keep in mind, is that we had a terrible heat wave last July, and it could easily happen again. Growers who had their trees well hydrated before the heat arrived, sustain less or no damage to the trees and much less fruit drop. Trees that were irrigated on the day it started to get hot, never had a chance to catch up with the heat. Once the atmosphere starts sucking the tree dry, water movement through the soil, roots and trunk cant keep up with the demand. Weather forecasting is pretty accurate 3 days out, and if heat is forecast, get those trees in shape. You can run water to reduce the temperature and raise the humidity in the orchard to reduce transpirational demand which helps some.
Something we learned last year. What we saw and what to expect:
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=27676
Map of elevational changes in Ventura County and how
- Author: Ben Faber
Sometimes we don't see things that are not uncommon, but suddenly catch our eye. A recent lemon harvest of a trial in the Central Valley turned up lots of fruit with enlarged nipples on the stylar end. These are from a 'Limoneira 8A' rootstock trial. Not all of of the fruit was like this, but all of the rootstocks had these fruit, so it wasn't a rootstock effect.
On asking around it turns out, this happens in other places, for example on Spanish fruit:
And on Australian fruit:
And even in many normal years and orchards there is some of this special fruit
During the 2018 spring bloom there were several heat waves that hit citrus growing areas. Dr. Mary Lu Arpaia, UCR Fruit Specialist, surmises that high temperatures make for elongated fruit and quite likely impact cell division at the stylar end, as well. So the more heat spells during bloom, it's likely that we will see more of this fruit shape. It's still good to eat.
- Author: Jim Downing , UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Lucien Crowder, UC Agriculture and Natural Resou
California avocados often are exposed to high temperatures after harvest, either in the field or during preconditioning (ethylene treatment), especially in summer. It's been known that long periods of high temperatures can delay ripening time and reduce fruit quality, but a new study indicates pronounced effects after only short periods of high temperature following harvest. Authors of the study concluded that it's important to maintain avocados at temperatures below 25°C following harvest and that the ideal temperature to ripen the fruit is 20°C. The authors also found that ripening below 20°C resulted in significantly longer ripening times and resulted in poorer coloration of the ripened fruit.
Mary Lu Arpaia, UC Cooperative Extension specialist, Jim Sievert and Sue Collin, staff research associates (retired) in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences at UC Riverside, working with David Obenland, research physiologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Parlier, studied for two seasons holding avocados from multiple harvest times for the first 24 or 48 hours of the ripening period at high temperatures (20°C to 35°C), with and without ethylene. In the third season, they made a detailed assessment of ripening temperatures (15°C to 25°C) on ripening time and fruit quality.
Results from the first two seasons showed that even a 24-hour exposure to temperatures of 25°C and above inhibits ripening and increases postharvest disorders such as stem end rot and body rot. In season 1, the incidence of stem end rot increased from 9.7% at 20°C to 32.3% at 35°C, and body rot increased from 3.9% to 20.2% for the same treatment comparison. Ethylene applied during the exposure period was ineffective in preventing the disorders.
In the third-season trial, temperature was also shown to be critical. Fruit ripened below 20°C took slightly longer to ripen. Additionally, the authors found that the ripened fruit at either 15°C or 18°C remained more green then fruit ripened at the higher temperatures. Avocados ripened above 20°C were more likely to develop pink discoloration in the mesocarp. Ripening temperature had no effect on overall likeability, or ratings of grassy or rich flavor.
- Author: Ben Faber
Mandarins, also known as “zipper skins” and “easy peelers” can have very fragile peels/skins/rinds/exocarp that make them easily subject to more damage than most oranges and lemons. Some are a bit tougher skinned than others, but some are so fragile that any rough handling often prevents them from going through conventional packing operations.
These skins were recently put to the test in the recent fires in Ojai. There was a mix of different varieties - ‘Pixie', ‘Gold Nugget', ‘W. Murcott', ‘Yosemite Gold', ‘Tahoe Gold' and others. Some of them were more sensitive than others, some were closer to the fire, all were affected by smoke to some degree. In Matilija Canyon where smoke was present for many more days than in the east of the Ojai Valley and possibly more ash, the trees have started flowering sooner. That might be temperature difference, either cooler or warmer, so it is hard to say how much effect the smoke has had versus, the ash and/or heat. Smoke has many different gasses in it, one of which is ethylene which is a naturally occurring ripening agent. Smoke not only has gasses, but it occludes the sun so less or more or altered light might have an effect on these fruit. It's not a controlled experiment, so some little scientist is going to have to come along and wriggle out these different effects. Whatever. Fire and smoke have an effect on mandarins as we have seen in other crops, such as cherimoya, avocados and other citrus.
Heat damage. Fruit facing the fire.
Ash effects on fruit coloring. Fruit was covered with ash for several days until rain washed it off. Might be a pH effect (ash is alkaline), temperature effect, uneven light radiation, or other…….
Same sort of uneven coloring, that actually looks like an ashy color, but the ash has washed off the cluster by rain
And here's something interesting where fruit facing the fire is much lighter colored than fruit facing away from the fire. Here are two pieces of fruit, one from the side directly facing the fire, and the other from the other side of the tree. The side of that fruit facing the fire was also lighter colored. So, it had an effect through the canopy (small tree). The canopy was otherwise intact, unaffected heat or flames.
Oh yeah, and there is the characteristic fruit drop from either the heat, smoke gases, water stress or ….
And then there's the fruit that looks like it had actual embers on the skin.
If the tree survives and keeps its green leaves, sometimes the fruit is affected in ways that don't appear for a while. The peel may be affected, but in many cases the fruit is just as sweet as it could be. It just looks terrible. That might even be a selling point. "Here have a wonderous piece of history that braved the horror of the Ojai fires."