- Author: Oleg Daugovish
- Posted by: Gale Perez
Over the years of Kerb use in lettuce (more like decades) there has been a lot of work on application methods. Our transplanted lettuce in southern California is usually grown on drip and when possible, we like to apply all things through it. Our fields are surrounded by four cities and folks there just don't seem to enjoy sprayer rigs that much.
At the UC Hansen Research & Extension Center (clay loam soil) we applied Kerb at 2.5 and 5 pints/A rate either via drip or bed spray. The herbicide was applied with second irrigation after transplanting of ‘Inferno' romaine (great name for green lettuce). The irrigation continued after Kerb application to assure moisture movement from drip tape past the plant...
- Author: Maor Matzrafi
- Posted by: Gale Perez
Maor Matzrafi is a post-doctoral researcher with Marie Jasieniuk's lab at UC Davis.
It is well known that herbicide efficacy is strongly associated with environmental conditions (Kudsk and Kristensen, 1992), and this is why applicators are required (by law) to spray under specific environmental conditions. In recent years, we have witnessed an increase in extreme weather events that have emphasized the importance of maintaining proper environmental conditions at, but more importantly after herbicide application. As part of my PhD project, I demonstrated that the first...
- Author: Richard Smith
- Posted by: Gale Perez
Lettuce in the Salinas Valley is direct seeded by planting 3–4 times the amount of seed need and then thinning the stand to the desired spacing. Lettuce is one of the few crops that is still thinned because seed is still cheap enough and high yield potential is dependent on having maximum plant population.
In 2013 automated thinners were introduced to the Salinas Valley and are now employed to thin a significant portion of the lettuce crop. Labor shortages have spurred the growth in the use of automated thinner machines. The machines have basically three key components: 1) a camera to detect the crop, 2) computer for processing the images, calculating spacing and determining which plants to keep and remove, and 3) the kill...
- Author: Brad Hanson
As most orchardists and pest control advisors are well aware, glyphosate-resistant weeds have been one of the biggest weed management challenges in California orchard crops for several years.
Depending on where you are located in the Central Valley, your biggest challenges in the glyphosate-resistant weed department are probably one or more of the following winter annual weeds. In the San Joaquin Valley, hairy fleabane and horseweed (also known as mare's tail), dominate. In the Sacramento Valley and in some North coast areas, annual or Italian ryegrass is more common. For an extra challenge, many growers have a mix of several of these, in addition to...
- Author: Lynn M. Sosnoskie
I was browsing the internet the other day and came across a web-site that told me I could kill weeds without using pesticides. Naturally, I was intrigued and decided to read up on DIY chemical weed control. I won't be posting any recipes on this blog (Sorry! There are plenty of web pages out there for you to peruse.), but I will discuss what home-based products are routinely prescribed, as well as their efficacy and safety.
Do they really mean no pesticides? Well, what do we mean by 'pesticide'? A pesticide is generally defined as a substance that is used to control a pest (be it an insect, a microbe, a weed, a rodent, a bird...you get the drift); so, in...
