- Author: Brad Hanson
I only have a moment to post today but wanted to put up two links concerning the research and publications of a retired Purdue University researcher. Dr. Don Huber has made a number of claims about the effects of glyphosate-resistant cropping systems on soil pathogen populations and micronutrient uptake. I have received several calls about this (particularly the micronutrient aspect) in recent months.
The first link is to a Washington Post article entitled "Researcher's warning about genetically modified crops spreads, but scientists question...
- Author: Brad Hanson
Today I wanted to follow up on my post from a few weeks ago about volatile organic compounds (VOC) from herbicides and other non-fumigant pesticides. In case you missed it, the discussion on February 27 was about an online VOC calculator developed by California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR). This tool allows users to compare calculated VOC emissions of individual pesticides or season-long pesticide programs.
In the same area of the CDPR website, there is a document called "
- Author: Brad Hanson
Earlier this month, I attended the 2011 Plant and Soil Conference which was held in Fresno this year. This annual meeting put on by the California Chapter of the American Society of Agronomy (http://calasa.ucdavis.edu/ ) usually has several sessions during the two-day program designed to update Certified Crop Advisors, Pest Control Advisors, and other professional agronomists on current research and regulatory issues. One of the speakers in the Environmental Quality Session, Pam Wofford from CDPR, spoke about reducing emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) from pesticides by switching formulations. I thought I’d touch on that issue today.
There are a number of definitions of...
- Author: Brad Hanson
This week I received an email request for information on the soil concentration of herbicide necessary to have a phytotoxic effect. This is a simple-sounding question and I was able to confidently say “Well, that depends….”.
Of course this isn’t a simple question at all because of the great differences among herbicides, soil types, environments, and in plant susceptibility not to mention complicated interactions among the factors. As an example, in the herbicide treatment table IPM guidelines for Pear (http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r603700311.html) it is obvious that herbicides can be active at quite different concentrations. In this table, there is up to a...
- Author: Brad Hanson
Last week (December 1, 2010), the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) registered the soil fumigant Midas for use in the state following months (years) of controversy and protests. I’ve been meaning to talk a bit about soil fumigation in this blog and I’ll try to address the general issues in a future post. For today, I’ll focus on methyl iodide since it is a "hot topic".
Midas, marketed in the US by Arysta LifeScience, is a combination of methyl iodide...