- Author: Becky Wheeler-Dykes
- Posted by: Sam Romano

by Becky Wheeler-Dykes, UCCE Glenn Orchard Systems and Weed Ecology Farm Advisor
Recent research has shown many potential benefits of utilizing whole orchard recycling (WOR) when removing an orchard. Instead of burning the wood produced in orchard removal, WOR involves chipping the wood from pulled trees and redistributing it back into the field using a chip or amendment spreader. This management technique has been mostly used in walnut orchards being followed by new walnut orchards. The conservation of the carbon in the wood benefits the soil by increasing nutrients available for the next crop, improving the soil's water holding capacity and and enhancing microbial activity. After a recent evaluation of weed populations in a...
- Author: Matthew Fatino
- Author: Bradley Hanson

Branched broomrape (Phelipanche ramosa) is of growing concern to California tomato and specialty crop and seed producers. It is an obligate root holoparasite that gains all of its nutrients from the host crop and its unique biology means it spends the majority of its lifecycle below the soil surface, making it inaccessible to conventional weed control strategies like cultivation or foliar herbicides. Its regulatory status as an “A-listed” pest in California requiring crop destruct and a hold order on any infested field creates a huge economic burden for affected growers, even if the weed itself is not yet at levels that cause yield...
- Author: Justin Valliere
- Posted by: Sam Romano

One of the first steps in ecological restoration is often controlling invasive weeds, which can be a major barrier to native plant establishment. But what happens after restoration is complete? At most sites, weed pressure is an ongoing challenge that land managers must grapple with to maintain the diversity, structure, and functioning of native plant communities.
The Invasive Weed & Restoration Ecology Lab at UC Davis is currently exploring the use of “competitive planting” as a method for weed suppression in restored grassland communities. As part of a USDA-funded project, we are evaluating what seed mixes can best facilitate the establishment of native perennial bunchgrasses while also preventing reinvasion of...
- Posted by: Gale Perez

Sterile Pollen Technique Shows Promise for Palmer Amaranth Weed Control
Newly published research provides a novel and sustainable weed-management strategy
WESTMINSTER, Colorado – 22 May2024 – Recently published research in the journal Weed Science shows that a sterilization technique commonly used to control insect pests can be modified to control weeds that require pollination to reproduce. More specifically, the researchers determined that employing a sterile pollen technique (SPT) could effectively disrupt Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S.) reproduction.
Palmer amaranth remains among the most detrimental weeds in North American agriculture,...
/h3>- Posted by: Gale Perez

From the eOrganic and Performance and Economics of Electric Weed Control in Organic Perennial Crops Project:
Electric Weeding Research Updates
(Click HERE to see the presentations)
- Electric Weed Control in Orchards • Tong Zhen, Ph.D. student (Hanson Lab) at UC Davis
- Crop Safety and Weed Control in Organic Highbush Blueberries Using Electric Weeding • Luisa Baccin, Ph.D. student (Moretti Lab) at Oregon State University