Here's an article from the UCCE San Joaquin County Field Notes newsletter (May 2013.)

Medusahead has been invading our rangelands for years. The Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has photo documentation from the early 1980’s with large stands of medusahead on the east side of the county. Medusahead can also be found in the Livermore area but until this spring I have never seen it on San Joaquin County’s west side. It is a very invasive grass that can potentially reduce grazing capacity by at least 50%. Early detection and control can help eradicate it on a ranch. Here I summarize the research projects that my...

Seeing yellow these days? As in…those brightly-blooming yellow-flowering shrubs along roads and hillsides from the Bay Area to the Sierra Nevada foothills. Broom—French, Spanish, and Scotch—is in full spring bloom, even at higher elevations.

Spanish broom, Spartium junceum (also known as Genista juncea), is a heat-loving, deciduous, flowering shrub with yellow, pea-like flowers in the family Fabaceae. Originally used as a landscape shrub, it has escaped into wild lands and occupies disturbed sites along roadsides in warm, sandy soil. It can establish dense stands and out-compete native vegetation.

Like Spanish broom, French broom, Genista...

Spring is finally upon on us in Northeast California.  The joy of flowering trees, green grass, and warmer weather is here!  Unfortunately, the familiar site of yellow dandelion flowers and other broadleaf weeds in my lawn is also abundant.  As someone that works on a research farm (Intermountain Research and Extension Center), spring is my busiest time of the year.  Most of my time is spent planting and managing crops.  After working outside all day, the last thing I desire is spending time controlling weeds around my house.  As such, my home lawn and garden weed control program is based around one principle.  Control weeds using the easiest method possible.  For me, this usually means using...

Glyphosate-resistant (GR) Palmer amaranth is, currently, the most significant weedy pest of cotton grown in the SE US. In order to reduce population size, maximize herbicide efficacy and prevent the development of further resistances, cotton growers must consider using additional mechanical (i.e. tillage) and cultural (i.e. cover crops) weed management strategies. Small plot experiments conducted in Georgia between 2008 and 2010 showed that the use of deep-tillage plus a heavy rye cover crop, when paired with a herbicide program consisting of both residual and POST-applied...