In melons, as with many annual crops, weeds that emerge in the plant row are the most difficult and costly to remove. There are only a few registered herbicides for CA melon production, and efficacy can be marginal depending on weed species and method of incorporation. As a result, mechanical cultivation followed by hand weeding are the main methods of weed management.

Technology may be able to help. Automated weeders, or robotic weeders, use cameras and computers to distinguish crops from weeds. They are equipped with either spray nozzles, lasers, or cultivators to remove weeds within the crop row. Research by UC Davis weed scientist Steve Fennimore has shown that automated weeders reduced labor use in lettuce production by an...

We're in the final stages of preparation for Weed Day 2023 at UC Davis next week (June 21). 

After a three-year hiatus, we're excited to once again host the 64th edition of this long-running event.  With a post-pandemic fresh start, we decided to move the date a few weeks earlier than our historical timing but still have a good mix of herbicide performance and safety studies, non-chemical weed control research, and research overviews on some key weed topics in California.

I'm looking forward to the demonstrations, data, and networking with weed science colleagues from around the state.  Registration for the event will remain open until we hit our cap.

Weed Day 2023...

POSITION: Plant Ecologist / Plant Physiologist / Agronomist

LOCATION: Davis, CA

ANNOUNCEMENT #: ARS-D23PWA-12001468-mds

CLOSING DATE: July 12, 2023

LINK TO JOB DESCRIPTION: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/731291100

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The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Invasive Species and Pollinator Health Research Unit is seeking a full time Plant Ecologist or Plant Physiologist or...

Coming out of 2022, where roughly half of all California rice fields were left fallowed last year, and others may have been fallowed for two seasons, many of us have questions about what weed management will look like in 2023. While we do not have data on what a 1- or 2-year fallow does to all of our major weed species, we have some preliminary and anecdotal data that might lend some insight.

For small-seeded weeds such as smallflower umbrella sedge, redstem, and ricefield bulrush, the fallow period will likely have no effect. A good anecdotal example is from a field in Davis that was planted for a long time in rice, followed by nothing being planted for over 10 years. Once the field went back into rice, ricefield bulrush was...