- Author: Sarah Light
In March of this year I traveled to Chimoio, Mozambique to provide an Integrated Pest Management training to a group of farmers through the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer program. On my first day at the farm, we toured the farm and discussed their worst pest issues. One of the farmers brought a red flowering weed to show me, which he said it caused major issues in corn and was very difficult to control.
We continued on our way and it became clear that the biggest pest issue they were facing was the fall armyworm, an invasive species that spread to Mozambique in 2017 and can decimate a corn field. Since chemical inputs aren't always economically feasible for low-input systems like the one I was working in, I was interested learning about...
- Author: Richard Smith
- Posted by: Gale Perez
In vegetable production, growers cultivate most of the bed leaving only a 4-inch wide uncultivated band around the seedline. Weeds not controlled by preemergent herbicides or cultural practices in the uncultivated band are ultimately controlled by hand. Labor costs have increased and availability has decreased in the last 4 – 5 years which has spurred grower interest in automated weeder technology. In the last two to three years, automated weeders have become available in the Salinas Valley. All current machines were developed and manufactured in Europe: the Robovator developed in Denmark by Poulsen Engineering and distributed by Pacific Ag Rentals (Salinas); the Steketee IC developed in the Netherlands and distributed by Sutton...
- Posted by: Gale Perez
Be sure to check out the following articles in the Good Fruit Grower magazine (April 24, 2018)
Herbicide resistance pushes California grape growers to try bringing back weed control strategies such as sheep and cultivation -- UC Cooperative Extension Weed Science Advisor John Roncoroni quoted in article
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- Author: Lynn M. Sosnoskie
Spray and pray? Squirt and look? Burn baby burn?
Besides the Beavis and Butthead laughs (Heh. Heh-heh. Heh) that usually come when you tell someone you are a weed scientist, is the expectation that you advocate for the use of herbicides as the sole weed management strategy in any given system. I do evaluate chemical weed control (I won't deny it) and, surely, there are those who like to engage in recreational herbicide applications on the weekends; however, weed science is a very varied discipline with investigators that study weed biology and ecology, weed evolution, and weed suppression using biological, cultural, and physical tools.
I was very happy to see the following image (Figure 1)...