- Author: Brad Hooker
- Posted by: Gale Perez
Tom Lanini is a fisherman first and foremost. Yet since 1978 he has devoted his time and energy to being a Cooperative Extension specialist at UC Davis, fighting the weeds that plague farmers across California. And with his retirement last spring, he has returned full time to his first passion, fishing.
In his career at UC Davis he occasionally mixed both pursuits, such as long ago when he and a couple colleagues went up to Twin Lakes in the Central Sierras to write a research paper and in their downtime they snuck in some fishing. And he once pushed the physical limits of Cooperative Extension Specialist Joe DiTomaso. Both graduate students at UC Davis, the two snow skied several miles and hiked several more to a remote fishing...
- Author: Gale Perez
Yes, there is life beyond weeds. Anyone who has met Tom Lanini knows he is an avid fisherman, Joe DiTomaso is a chef, and Brad Hanson brews beer BUT did you know...
Michelle Le Strange (UCCE Farm Advisor)
- Author: Julie Finzel
I had the privilege of attending and participating in the Weed Research and Information Center's 2013 Weed Science School. This biannual event proved to be exactly what I was expected...two and a half days packed full of really helpful and useful information and demonstrations.
The first day we got started around 12:30 and received instruction on general plant biology and herbicide absorption, translocation, and metabolism. These presentations were followed by information on the different mechanisms through which herbicides work to control weeds including lipid and amino acid synthesis inhibitors, cell division, and cell wall inhibitors, growth regulators, and photosynthetic, pigment synthesis inhibitors, and free radical...
- Author: Brad Hanson
In the past couple of years, I've gotten a lot of questions about goosegrass in orchard production systems, particularly about suspected glyphosate-resistant biotypes.
From a California orchard standpoint, we have two main goosegrasses (Eleusine spp) to deal with; these are goosegrass (Eleusine indica) and threespike goosegrass (Eleusine tristachya). These species are fairly similar but have quite different flowers (see the photo below).
According to the Weeds of California and Other Western States, goosegrass is a summer annual (or occassionally a short-lived perennial) while threespike goosegrass is a perennial (or sometimes...
- Author: Richard Smith
- Author: Shimat Villanassery Joseph
Bagrada bug, Bagrada hillaris is a new invasive insect that arrived in the Salinas Valley in the summer of 2013. It is a potential pest of cole crops which is of particular concern in Monterey County which has 97,830 acres of cole crops and other crops in the mustard family including bok choy, Napa cabbage, rappini, and component s of spring mix such as, mizuna and arugula. Paving the way for the movement of this insect into the valley are weeds in the mustard family.
Bagrada bug was first observed in fields of spring mix and broccoli in the south end of the valley between King City and San Ardo. Upon inspection of the weeds in the areas surrounding these fields, bagrada bug was observed on shortpod mustard...