- Author: Aaron Becerra-Alvarez
- Author: Sarah Lorraine Marsh
- Author: Kassim Al-Khatib
- Posted by: Gale Perez
A new herbicide for early-season weed control in water-seeded rice will be available soon. The herbicide active ingredient (a.i.) is pyraclonil, which will be trademarked as Zembu™ (1.8% a.i.) by Nichino, America Inc. The mode of action is a protox porphyrinogen (PPO)-inhibitor or Group 14. This herbicide is formulated as a granule and will be used as a residual preemergence for application on the day of seeding onto flooded fields. The use rate is 14.9 lbs ac-1 applied by air. While this herbicide is not a new mode of action for water-seeded rice, it is a new mode of action for early-season residual weed control. Pyraclonil is widely used for weed control in paddy fields worldwide and is the most commonly utilized...
- Author: Justin Valliere
- Author: Jennifer Funk
A recent article in the LA Times argued that California native plants should not be the only option for drought-tolerant landscaping. Missing from this perspective was a discussion of the severe threat that many non-native plants pose to California's unique and biodiverse ecosystems including reduced native plant establishment and increased fire risk. Additionally, we know that the nursery trade plays an important role in driving these invasions. For example, a recent study by researchers at the...
- Author: Whitney B Brim-Deforest
- Editor: Taiyu Guan
- Editor: Consuelo B Baez Vega
- Posted by: Gale Perez
“White Water Fire” (Bergia capensis)
From Butte County Agricultural Commissioner's office:
A weed sample collected in Butte County on September 19, 2023, was submitted to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) botany lab for identification. The sample was identified as “White Water Fire” (Bergia capensis). Notes from the CDFA lab indicated that this is the first record of the plant in California and possibly the USA. CDFA has assigned a temporary Q rating, pending California pest rating proposal and...
/h3>- Author: Emily Dooley
- Posted by: Gale Perez
AI enables low-cost tracking of invasive johnsongrass
To manage johnsongrass, a noxious weed that crowds out cotton and sickens horses, farmers have tried herbicides, burning and hand-pulling. Now, researchers in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences have developed a more high-tech weapon against the invasive weed: artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Using photos from Google's Street View database, the researchers have tracked down more than 2,000 cases of johnsongrass in the Western United States for a fraction of the cost and time that it would take for drive-by or other in-person surveys. They call their tool Google Weed View.
The advancement could...
/h2>- Author: Bradley Hanson
A group of crop pest management and food safety researchers across the U.S. is currently gathering grower and ag industry information on field equipment sanitation practices with the ultimate goal of designing research to address needs of the agricultural industry and consumers.
My interest in California is largely driven by concerns about spreading seeds of the CDFA "A-list" parasitic weeds branched broomrape and related species in processing tomato, a topic with lots of current research. However, the risks of moving new pests around on field...