- Author: Whitney B Brim-Deforest
- Posted by: Gale Perez
This year brings several new chemical tools to California rice. With many herbicide-resistant species as well as emerging problematic weed species, the new chemistries are a welcome tool for managing resistance and preventing the selection of resistant biotypes.
Cliffhanger™ (benzobicyclon) was just registered in 2024, and is a new formulation of a previously-registered granular product already widely in use in California rice. Since it can be applied as a foliar product, it expands the timing that benzobicyclon can be applied in the flooded system. It can also be applied as a direct-stream application into the water. It is an HPPD-inhibitor, providing a good option for rotation. It controls sprangletop, ricefield bulrush and smallflower umbrella sedge. Additional tank-mix testing will be occurring this season to determine if it might be a good partner in combination with other herbicides for added late-season watergrass control.
The last product recently registered is Zembu™ (pyraclonil). Zembu™ is a granular formulation of pyraclonil, applied pre-emergence or at day-of-seeding into a flooded field. It provides control of smallflower umbrella sedge and broadleaf weeds, and provides suppression of watergrass. As a PPO-inhibitor, it is a new mode of action for watergrass, as the only other PPO-inhibitor registered in California rice only has activity on sedges. It will provide a great rotational option for growers at the beginning of the season, as well as a great partner product (for added control) with other granular into-the-water products.
As always, the label is the law, so make sure to read and follow the current labels for each of these herbicides (found on the manufacturers website or at the Department of Pesticide Regulation's website). Also check in locally with your Agricultural Commissioner's office for training information and any other county-specific requirements.
With these three new options, as well as the currently-registered products, rice growers in California should have a great suite of tools available this year, both for resistance management as well as to prevent the selection of future resistance. For help planning a weed management program, please reach out to your local Rice Farm Advisor.
Original source: UC Rice Notes newsletter • April 2024
- Author: Nanelle Jones-Sullivan
When I first married into my husband's family, I was new to the Capsicum chinense family, but I thought I knew to what Scotch Bonnet was. A “Yank,” in a family ofyardies. For years I would buy Scotch Bonnet plants, and for years, brother-in-law would say “no.”
I did not know of “landraces,” that there were red and yellow Scotch bonnets, I did not know there were named cultivars. Since then, I have learned C. Capsicum can be a bit promiscuous, and as my father-in-law might say, may do some “mingling.”
One year, my mother-in-law harvested and gave me a pepper. We talked about its shape, its size, its color, not just the heat but the flavor, and especially the fragrance.
That year I scraped out the seeds, let the seeds dry, and saved them for the next season. I sprouted it, potted it up, and grew it on. I grow a lot of peppers, and understood it might have “mingled,” but I was excited to see the next generation.
What a beautiful plant! What amazing peppers! I over-wintered that plant through freezes, floods, triple digits, and wildfires. Some years I was not sure it would come back. Especially last year.
But it did!Phew! That was close. But I was not taking chances. I saved seed and grew another generation.
- Author: Steve Radosevich
Most of us who grow fruit trees think of pruning as a winter practice, done when the tree is dormant and leafless, and the tree skeleton can be better observed. Although dormant pruning is called for on most deciduous fruit trees, some additional summer pruning may help you maintain the tree size that you want in your backyard. Unlike dormant pruning, cutting off actively growing shoots and leaves in the spring and summer has a devigorating effect on the tree and will help control its size.
The Fruit Bush system, a method of pruning that keeps standard-size trees or trees on dwarfing rootstock small, relies on periodic summer pruning. The first pruning is done in late April or May when half of the new growth from that season is removed. A second similar pruning is done in June, and if vigorous growth continues, a third pruning is done in late July or early August.
This type of pruning results in a tree that is bushy in appearance, with a dense interior canopy that requires additional pruning so that sunlight can reach the lower fruiting branches. However, it is important to leave enough foliage to protect the tree from sunburn.
Fruit bushes are often kept at a height that allows you to do all your tree care - pruning, thinning, netting, picking, spraying - without using a ladder. With the use of this pruning system, trees can be planted much closer together, allowing you to plant more fruit trees in a small space. For more information on the fruit bush system go to https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8057.pdf . Fruit Trees: Training and Pruning Deciduous Trees.
Summer pruning is particularly recommended for apricots, to avoid a common branch-killing disease called Eutypa dieback, which can develop on pruning wounds that are made during wet weather. Try to do all your pruning on apricot trees in July or August. If some dormant pruning is still needed, wait until late in the dormant season.
For more information on summer pruning, as well as other summer tasks in the home orchard go to https://ucanr.edu/sites/ucmgplacer/files/171595.pdf for a two page publication Summer Care of Fruit Trees by Master Gardener Mike Kluk. Another free publication on pruning and training fruit trees can be found at https://homeorchard.ucanr.edu/The_Big_Picture/Pruning_&_Training .