- (Focus Area) Food
- Posted by: Ann King Filmer
- Re-posted by: Gale Perez
Processing tomato growers are struggling to contain a potentially devastating parasitic weed that had not been seen since growers waged a successful eradication campaign four decades ago.
Branched broomrape is so...
- Author: Scott Stoddard
- Posted by: Gale Perez
The cantaloupe industry in California is in the middle of a huge paradigm shift, transitioning from classic western shipper varieties that require multiple harvests, to new Harper varieties, also known as LSL (Long Shelf Life) melons. Purported benefits include less labor at harvest and prolonged superior quality at the grocery store. Examples of Harper-type melons are the Infinite Gold, Fiji, Caribbean King and Caribbean Gold. Due to grower and buyer interest, seed companies are rapidly expanding the number of varieties with this trait.
However, LSL varieties are expensive hybrids relative to older, open pollinated cultivars, and seed costs can become a significant portion of the total cost of production, with some estimates...
- Author: Travis M Bean
- Re-posted by: Gale Perez
From the Topics in Subtropics blog (Oct. 15, 2018)
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Although the main objective of herbicide use in avocado orchards (and all crops) is to manage weed populations, sometimes unintentional injury of the crop itself can occur when herbicides are incorrectly applied. Herbicide injury in avocado can reduce yield, decrease fruit, reduce plant vigor, increase susceptibility to diseases and pests, and sometimes result in plant death. Common situations resulting in injury include spray drift, tank contamination, application of the...
- Posted by: Gale Perez
The recent California Agriculture magazine (April-June 2018 issue) has a couple of interesting articles:
Automated Lettuce Thinners Reduce Labor Requirements and Increase Speed of Thinning
by Elizabeth Mosqueda,
