- Author: Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
- Author: Rachael Freeman Long
Last week, I visited a baby lima field in the southwest part of San Joaquin County that had overall poor pod set. Pods were filling lower in the canopy, but flowers had not set higher on the plants. The field, which was planted in late-June/early-July had an excellent stand, and ostensibly, good fertility and moisture status (Figure 1). There were two possible reasons for the poor pod set that immediately came to mind: 1) lygus damage and 2) heat stress.
I checked data from the CIMIS stations nearest to this field, which are the Brentwood and Manteca stations. Between May 1st and August 31st, the Brentwood station recorded 16 days with a temperature over 100°F, and the Manteca station recorded 9 days over 100°F. Most notably, the heatwave in mid-August struck at perfectly wrong timing. This field was about 50 days after planting, which is generally the prime time for bean flowering. The heatwave brought daytime temperatures over 105°F and nighttime temperatures that barely, if at all, dropped below 70°F. In fact, it is the high nighttime temperatures that will impair pod development by hindering pollen movement and rendering it sterile. This is not just the case for limas; it can happen with other dry beans, as shown by Rachael Long in this blog post from a couple weeks ago. Had the heatwave occurred earlier in the summer, it could have caused a split set, which is not desirable. The mid-August timing, however, means that day length is now too short for further pod development, and yield will likely be lower than expected.
Naturally, one should ask what would be considered a ‘high' nighttime temperature? Rachael remembers having a conversation roughly 20 years ago with UC dry bean breeder of that time, Steve Temple, who said that nighttime temperatures above 68°F will cause poor pod set. This is corroborated by recent work out of the University of Delaware that indicates nighttime temperatures of roughly 70°F impairing pod set. CIMIS recorded nighttime temperatures in that range. The grower indicated that some nights stayed closer to 80°F, which is the temperature at which breeders screen varieties for heat tolerance.
So, what can a grower do during a heatwave? Obviously, we can't control the weather, but it's important to ensure that beans are not moisture-stressed at bloom, and especially not when bloom occurs during a heatwave. Check the top 12 to 24 inches of the soil profile, and irrigate if the soil is dry. If in doubt about how much water is needed, check the reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and irrigate to replace at least 120 percent of your daily ETo. Daily August ETo in the San Joaquin Valley ranges from 0.2 to 0.3 inches per day, so growers would want to apply 120 percent of that amount. In the field that I visited, the crop looked very healthy and non-stressed, so there is no clear suggestion for a management practice that could have saved the set during our recent heatwave.
For more information on lima bean production in California, please see the UC production manual.
- Author: Rachael Freeman Long
Have you ever wondered about this damage to garbanzo beans where there's a hole clipped in the pod and the seed is missing (see photo)? In this case, the damage is from pesky ground squirrels that were foraging in and around our garbanzo research plots at UC Davis this spring. However, other culprits could include field mice or voles, rats, and pod borers such as corn earworm. If you suspect caterpillar worm pests, you should be able to find them easily enough in the plant canopy. Sometimes corn earworms move from corn fields into garbanzos, so watch for infestations from nearby corn fields. Field mammals are more elusive, though ground squirrels are active during the day and easy to spot.
Generally, garbanzos have few pests because the plants (including seed pods) are covered with tiny glands that secrete acids that help repel pests. These acids are strong enough to cause skin rashes and damage clothing. However, ground squirrels don't seem bothered at all by these plant acids as they thrived on our garbanzo seeds, green and dried alike! Looking back, we should have paid more attention to where the field trial was located, avoiding places where ground squirrels thrive, such as a nearby ditch bank. We also should have controlled them as soon as they were active.
Ground Squirrel Control. Various methods can be used to control ground squirrels around fields, including fumigation, trapping, and toxic baits. Of critical importance is the timing for control. Effective management depends heavily on understanding the unique life cycle and behavior of the California ground squirrel. Baiting with treated grain is effective in summer and fall because squirrels primarily feed on seeds during this period. Burrow fumigation is most effective in spring, when moist soil helps seal gasses in the burrow system. Fumigating at this time is also more effective in reducing ground squirrel numbers since squirrels die before they can reproduce. More information on ground squirrel management can be found on the UC IPM website for ground squirrel control at http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7438.html.
- Author: Rachael Freeman Long
Recently, I received a call about a blackeye bean field in the San Joaquin Valley with a lot of bean pods that did not fill out at the tips (photo). I contacted the UC Riverside blackeye bean breeders Drs. Phil Roberts and Bao Lam Huynh and they shared that this problem is primarily caused by heat, which affects pollen viability and thus fertilization. Here's their response:
It [lack of pod fill] is the typical male-sterility symptom [lack of pollen viability] associated with extreme temperatures (heat or cold). Based on the planting date you gave, we just checked the temperature in Denair, CA [farm location] and noted that it was quite warm (~100) during the flowering time (40-50 days after planting) and recently during the pod filling stage, so heat must have been a main cause. The symptom could also be more severe if water is limiting.
Always be prepared with good irrigation management practices for all crops going into heatwaves, like the one we're having now. The minimum seasonal irrigation needed to produce a blackeye bean crop being managed for full yield from one pod set is 16 to 18 inches. This estimate includes a pre-irrigation of 4-inches, and irrigations of 4-inches when floral buds first appear, and 8 to 10 inches during 5 to 6 weeks of flowering and pod filling. If additional irrigations are needed during the vegetative stage, one could increase the total irrigation requirement to 20 or more inches. Irrigating for a second flush of pods could require an additional 8 to 12 inches of water. Irrigation requirements are further increased by any water required to leach salts or to compensate for an inefficient irrigation system.
Additional water may need to be applied during extreme heat events which drive plant transpiration rates to the limit. Make sure to check the soil moisture in the top 12 to 24 inches of the soil profile and apply additional water if the soil is dry. If in doubt about how much additional water is needed, check the reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and make sure to irrigate to replace at least 120% of your daily ETo in your area. The current (mid to late August) daily ETo in the San Joaquin Valley ranges from 0.25 to 0.30 in/day; make sure your applied irrigation replaces 120% of these values.
More information on growing blackeye beans can be found in the publication, UC ANR Blackeye bean production in California, http://beans.ucanr.edu/files/226601.pdf.
- Author: Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
My observations of the field were that there were patches of several nearby plants with symptoms, but across the three contiguous fields, the patches were widespread. I suspected a vascular disease because of what appeared to be a progression of the disease from yellowing to necrosis to eventually plant death. I submitted samples to the plant pathology lab at UC Davis, and they diagnosed Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris, which is the Fusarium wilt pathogen for garbanzos. Fusarium wilt (also called Fusarium yellows) has the external symptoms previously described, but in addition to these symptoms, splitting the stems may reveal reddish-brown streaking in the vascular system at the center of the stem (i.e. xylem). The roots won't show discoloration with Fusarium wilt like they will with Fusarium root rot. Fusarium wilt should not be confused with yellowing caused from virus, which will exhibit discoloration in the phloem. Fusarium wilt can reduce yield by reducing seed quantity and size.
In general, cultural practices are the only ways to manage this disease. Luckily, the Fusarium wilt pathogens are crop-specific, so this pathogen will only infect garbanzos. The pathogen, however, can survive for a long time in the soil (upwards of 6 years or more) because it can survive under wide temperature and pH ranges. Therefore, crop rotation is an important management practice. Crop rotation will help to slow the proliferation of the disease, but it generally won't eliminate it. Growers should plant certified disease-free seed. They should not save seed for planting because Fusarium wilt (and Ascochyta blight) can live externally on the seed. Growers should also consider planting UC-27, which has disease resistance and is adapted to the Central Valley. Disease management may also include cleaning soil from equipment when moving from an infected field to a non-infected field. In some studies, soil solarizaton has been shown to reduce Fusarium wilt in subsequent garbanzo crops, but to my knowledge, there hasn't been any work on soil solarization in California garbanzos.
Garbanzo beans are an important crop worldwide for human and animal nutrition. In California, they are grown during the winter months, like small grains, and provide growers with another crop choice that can be winter rain-fed. Because they are a legume, they can fix atmospheric nitrogen to fulfil some of their nitrogen needs. Garbanzos also are more tolerant of soil salinity than common beans and limas. In California, we annually grow approximately 10,000 acres of garbanzos. California garbanzos are generally a high-quality product grown for the canning industry. More information on garbanzo production in California can be found in the UC production manual.
- Author: Rachael Freeman Long
The Insect and Mite sections of the UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines for Dry Beans have been recently revised and updated and are now available online at: UC IPM Dry Beans Pest Management Guidelines.
Authors include UCCE Farm Advisor Rachael Long and UC IPM Advisor Pete Goodell (emeritus). The guidelines include an updated photo page to help identify pests and the damage they cause to dry beans at: Photo Identification.
These guidelines can help with managing pests in your fields. Interested in Lygus bugs and how to control them? Take a look at the guidelines on lygus and see that the thresholds vary by bean class and type. For example, blackeye beans (cowpeas) have different tolerance levels to lygus than lima beans. Some lima bean varieties are more tolerant to lygus than others. Interested in biocontrol of aphids? See photos of natural enemies that prey on aphids at: Photos to identify natural enemies of aphids.
There is also a newly revised table on the relative toxicities of insecticides and miticides to natural enemies and honey bees in dry bean production, found at: Insecticide Toxicities.
This information and much more is available through the newly revised 2018 UC IPM Dry Bean guidelines! This follows the recent revision of diseases and abiotic disorders in dry beans. The weed management section is currently in review and will be available later this year.
