- Author: Trina Kleist
- Posted by: Gale Perez
A contraption with a long, low, green metal arm swept noisily along the edge of a row of almond trees in an experimental orchard just west of UC Davis. Little flashes of light sparked between the bottom of the arm and the green weeds below, and puffs of gray smoke wafted up from the stricken pests.
Electrical energy zooms through the plant down into the roots, and the heat damages cells. “We start seeing injury in the weeds within 30 to 60 minutes after the treatment,” said doctoral student Tong Zhen, of the Department of Plant Sciences. “Most weeds will be killed in a day.”
Two weeks after treatment during an orchard trial in May, all of the treated hairy fleabane was dead, and 70 percent of the field bindweed was toast.
In addition to evaluating the effectiveness of this electrical weed control device, the multistate team also is evaluating its effects on crop safety and on the tiny organisms living in the soil. “Maintaining soil health is an important goal of most organic producers,” Zhen added.
The weed-zapper was demonstrated during the 2023 Weed Day held June 21, and it's the focus of research by Tong, staff research associate Seth Watkins and principal investigator Brad Hanson, all in the Department of Plant Sciences. In addition to studying the zapper's effectiveness, they are looking at soil health and crop safety after repeated uses in both almond and blueberry fields that are managed organically. Colleagues at Oregon State University are testing the device in cherry orchards, and colleagues at Cornell University are testing it in apple orchards.
Machines with vision, herbicide tests and Google Street View
More research presented during Weed Day included:
- Efficacy and crop safety of fluridone in pomegranates. Postdoctoral scholar Rohith Vulchi and Brad Hanson, a professor of Cooperative Extension.
- Effect of endothall-treated irrigation water on almond orchards. Stephen Chang, master's degree student, and Brad Hanson.
- Machine-vision cultivators in processing tomato. Steve Fennimore, professor of Cooperative Extension in the department, and Scott Stoddard, UCCE Farm Advisor.
- Farm machinery sanitation to reduce the spread of broomrape seed. Postdoctoral scholar Pershang Hosseini and Brad Hanson.
- Chemigation strategies to manage broomrape in processing tomatoes. Doctoral student Matt Fatino and Brad Hanson.
- Orchard crop injury from simulated rice herbicide drift. Doctoral student Deniz Inci, Brad Hanson and Kassim Al-Khatib, the Melvin D. Androus Endowed Professor for Weed Science.
More research:
- Weed control efficacy and crop safety of the PPO-inhibiting herbicide tiafenacil in orchards. Recent master's degree graduate Guelta Laguerre and Brad Hanson.
- Using Google Street View to map weeds along road networks, making weed control more efficient. Mohsen Mesgaran, an assistant professor in the department, Tong Zhen and Kassim Al-Khatib.
- Using pendimethalin for water-seeded rice. Doctoral student Aaron Becerra-Alvarez and Kassim Al-Khatib.
- Evaluation of group 15 herbicides in tree nuts. Recent master's degree graduate Andres Contreras and Brad Hanson.
Learn more methods at Weed Science School 2023
An intensive, hands-on course offered Sept. 19-21 teaches how to identify weeds, apply herbicides safely and detect symptoms of herbicide problems. Lectures and discussions will cover weed biology, ecology, organic weed management, herbicide action and resistance management, resistance prevention and environmental impacts.
The school is designed for those involved in consulting, research, development or sales of agricultural chemicals in the private or public sector. It's offered through the University of California Weed Research and Information Center.
More about Weed Science School 2023 here.
Find schedule, cost and a full agenda here.
Related links
More about Tong Zhen's evaluation of the electrical weed control device is here.
UC Weed Research and Information Center has lots of resources for weed management.
Agenda for Weed Day 2023, listing additional research.
* * * * * * * * *
Original source: UC Davis • Dept. of Plant Sciences website • News: Sept. 5, 2023
Trina Kleist is the Communications Specialist for the Dept. of Plant Sciences at UC Davis. Her contact information is tkleist@ucdavis.edu, (530) 754-6148 or (530) 601-6846.
- Author: Lauren Snowden
The majority of resources offered through the UC Master Gardener Program are only available in English, so when an internalUC Agriculture and Natural Resource (UC ANR) grant arose to develop online educational resource materials in other languages it was the perfect opportunity to expand its gardening resources for Spanish speakers. UC ANR and UC ANR-affiliated academics and staff from across the state submitted proposals for review in hopes of getting projects funded and out into their communities.
Extending the UC Master Gardener Programs' reach and impact to non-English speaking audiences is key to achieving the program's mission of reaching all Californians. According to the 2019 census data, the most common non-English language spoken in California is Spanish; 28.8% of the overall population of California are native Spanish speakers. For this reason, building the UC Master Gardener Program's resources in Spanish is a significant priority area.
Award with a twist
While evaluating the proposals, Strategic Initiatives leaders discovered four proposals with similar gardening themes, and after careful consideration granted the award but with a little “twist”. The four proposals would be combined to form one collaborative project. The proposals shared common goals and had overlapping scope, so the Director of the UC Master Gardener Program, Missy Gable, was charged with coordinating a collective effort to develop food gardening resources in Spanish and distribute these new resources through the UC Master Garden Program channels.
Thanks to shared goals a creative team formed, including awardees:
- Dr. Lucy Diekmann, Urban Agriculture and Food Systems Advisor in Santa Clara County
- Mimi Enright, UC Master Gardener Coordinator in County
- Maggie Reiter, former Environmental Horticulture Advisor in Tulare/Kings Counties
- Dr. Yu Meng, Youth Family and Community Advisor in Imperial County
Collaboration and unexpected outcomes
With a spirit of collaboration, the group worked alongside UC Master Gardener volunteers, local community organizations and partners, and UC Communication Services News and Outreach in Spanish staff to create and release a series of food gardening videos in Spanish.
The project also funded a comprehensive vegetable gardening resource that is set to be released in 2022 in both Spanish and English. The teamwork didn't stop here though, YFC Advisor, Dr. Yu Meng initiated the development of a new UC Master Gardener Program in Imperial County so collaboration will continue and expand to meet the needs of residents in our southernmost locations.
Vídeos de jardinería en español (Gardening videos in spanish)
The statewide UC Master Gardener YouTube channel is now hosting a playlist of videos in spanish titled, Vídeos de jardinería en español . These videos are available for individuals or local programs to share on social media, websites, or anywhere the program is reaching the gardening public.
- Cultivando alimentos en su jardín seguramente: Growing food safely in your garden
- Beneficios de tener un jardín de verdure: Benefits of having a vegetable garden
- Fertilidad de la tierra: Mantener su tierra saludable con abono, estiércol, y cultivo de cobertura: Soil fertility: Keeping your soil healthy with compost, manure, and cover crops
- La jardinería en contenedores: Container Gardening
- Clima Desértico: Preparación de su Jardín en el Condado de Imperial: Desert Climate: Preparing Your Garden in Imperial County
- Germinación de Semillas: Cultivos Estacionales y Técnicas de Brotación: Seed Germination: Seasonal Crops and Sprouting Techniques
- El Manejo de Plagas e Insectos en el Jardín : Pest and Insect Management in the Garden
- Primeros Pasos: Diseñando su Jardín : First Steps: Designing Your Garden
Full YouTube playlist link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw6OczuNHpWDc1YzCKXqj2PYQnDTl6Hx9
A special thank you to those working in front of and behind the camera and computers to get these videos produced. The videos have already reached thousands of people in communities across California and beyond!
Join us LIVE
UC ANR and the UC Master Gardener Program are joining the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15 through Oct. 15. Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated nationally to acknowledge Latinos' contributions and vital presence in the United States. UC ANR has already held several zoom forums and there are three more to come. The below events will be presented in Spanish.
Links to join will be sent to registrants prior to each event. Registration required: https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.cfm?surveynumber=35503
- Oct. 6, 1-2:30 PM - Zoom community forum in Spanish
Be better parents, how to make your kid a leader.
Guest speakers: Claudia Diaz – 4-H youth development advisor - Oct. 13, 1-2:30 PM - Zoom community forum in Spanish
How to have a successful vegetable garden
Guest speaker: Master Garden Volunteers from UCCE Contra Costa County - Oct. 15, 1-2:30 PM - Zoom community forum in Spanish
The power of a nutritional meal
Guest speakers: Susana Matias Medrano/Nutritional Science & Toxicology/ UC and CE Berkeley
Sources:
2019 US Census, https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/news/updates/2019.html
Data USA, California. https://datausa.io/profile/geo/california
UC ANR Employee Blog, https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=29017
- Author: Lauren Snowden
UC Agriculture and Natural Resource (UC ANR) and the UC Master Gardener Program are joining the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, From Sept. 15 through Oct.15, Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated nationally to acknowledge Latinos' contributions and vital presence in the United States.
Over the coming weeks UC ANR will hold several zoom forums with topics ranging from how to stop the implicit bias towards Latinos and other ethnic groups, what do we need to know to better understand the Latino community. To the indigenous migrant workers, who are they? What are the most pressing needs? These communities were hit hard by COVID-19.
Registration is required for these events (links provided below), however they are being recorded and posted to the Hispanic Heritage Month 2021 website for those who can't make it.
Hispanic Heritage Month Honorees
We are celebrating three Latino UC ANR professionals in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. Congratulations to Liliana Vega, Leticia Christian, and Gersain López, each have an informative, short 2 minute video explaining their work and will be part of a forum on Sept. 29. They were chosen for being Latino professionals who serve their communities while always upholding UC ANR's public values of academic excellence, honesty, integrity, and community service. Watch the honorees videos below.
Zoom Forums
All the zoom forums will be from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and moderated by Ricardo Vela, manager of News and Information Outreach in Spanish (NOS).
The below events will be presented in English. Links to join will be sent to registrants prior to each event. Registration Required: https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.cfm?surveynumber=35590
- September 15, zoom forum, 1-2:30 PM
One size does not fit all! – Myths, Stereotypes and Discrimination against Latinos.
Guest speaker: Victor Villegas /Oregon State University/Latino advocate.
Testimonies from: Christian Gomez Wong, Beatriz Nobua-Bherman and Bertha Teresa Felix-Simmons. - September 22, zoom forum, 1-2:30 PM
Indigenous Migrant Communities – “The forgotten ones in the age of COVID19”
Guest speakers: Arcenio López/ Exec. Director Mixtec Indígena Organization Project (MICOP) - September 29, zoom forum, 1-2:30 PM
Meet the HHM 2021 Honorees
Guest speakers: Katherine E. Soule /Liliana Vega – 4-H; Tuline N Baycal/Leticia Christian – CalFresh Healthy Living, UC; Jairo Diaz/Gilberto Magallon/Gersain Lopez – Desert Rec.
The below events will be presented in Spanish. Links to join will be sent to registrants prior to each event. Registration Required: https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.cfm?surveynumber=35503
- October 6 zoom community forum in Spanish, 1-2:30 PM
Be better parents, how to make your kid a leader.
Guest speakers: Claudia Diaz – 4-H youth development advisor. - October 13 zoom community forum in Spanish, 1-2:30 PM
How to have a successful vegetable garden
Guest speaker: Master Garden Volunteers from Contra Costa County UCCE. - October 15 zoom community forum in Spanish, 1-2:30 PM
The power of a nutritional meal
Guest speakers: Susana Matias Medrano/Nutritional Science & Toxicology/ UC and CE Berkeley
Registration and Website Links
Please help us make this year's celebration a success, spread the word about the events.
Those interested in attending the September forums should register here.
For the Spanish community forums, please register here.
For more information, Zoom backgrounds and phone wallpapers
- Hispanic Heritage Month 2021 (Main page) http://ucanr.edu/hhm-2021
- Hispanic Heritage Month 2021 (Recursos, Resources) http://ucanr.edu/hhm-2021-recursos_resources
- Hispanic Heritage Month 2021 (Recetas) http://ucanr.edu/hhm-2021-recetas
- UC ANR Honorees Page https://tinyurl.com/ycpcdufh
Questions, Contact:
Ricardo Vela, rvela@ucanr.edu, (951) 660-9887
- Author: John Hickey
Reposted from the UC Berkeley News
Eight months after the Camp Fire consumed the Northern California town of Paradise and was pronounced the deadliest wildfire in state history, California is facing the potential in the coming months for more death and destruction.
Scott Stephens, a UC Berkeley professor of fire science, says the heavy rains of February and March have left California grasslands with perhaps twice as much burnable fuel as this time a year ago.
“Most of the time, you'd have one ton of dry mass per acre, and right now it's about double that,” Stephens, who has spent a quarter century in Berkeley working on fire behavior, fire ecology and forest policy, says. “I would expect grassland fires to be more intense and move around more quickly because of that.
“All that dry grassland will be responsive to sparks and flying burning embers. The fuel load will increase flame lengths. Once the grasslands start to burn, they could produce more embers themselves, since they have higher fuel loads.”
Stephens says California could help itself greatly by following the Australian model of fire prevention, where there is regular governmental outreach to people who live in fire-prone areas.
That's one reason he's a keen booster for Senate Bill 462, which is currently under consideration in Sacramento. One segment of the bill calls for the development of a group of outreach advisors who could be in the field long before a firestorm, giving advice about fire issues to those most likely to need it.
“This is not an average year,” he says. “The grasslands in some places are twice as tall as normal. That makes fire prevention more challenging, particularly at the urban wildland interface,” where homes are built on or adjacent to fire-prone lands.
“In general,” he adds, “the state has not done well to engage people and acquaint them with their vulnerabilities.”
“The UC Extension programs across the state have been doing this kind of thing in agriculture for 50 years,” Stephens says. “These are people who live in the counties most impacted and who can make a difference. We should be taking some inspiration from Australia and do the outreach about fire within communities and city councils.”
Stephens has spoken several times in Sacramento on behalf of SB 462, calling it “a critical program for the state to move forward.” The Camp Fire, and the Carr and the Tubbs fires that preceded it, may have gotten California out of a legislative quagmire concerning fire, although it's an open question whether or not the legislature will ever get a bill to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk.
“In my two years doing this, I've never seen the state do what has been done the last two years,” Stephens says. “Both the legislature and the governor are moving into fire areas, trying to understand things better. This bill came out of the education committee in the Senate and got the support of a lot of environmental committees.”
As originally written, the bill's funding would have been $20 million. Once the bill arrived in the appropriations committee, however, that figure was reduced to $1 million, and the bill currently is awaiting consideration by the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.
Stephens says the funding cut would mean only two or three people could be hired to do the kind of outreach he envisions across the state. The original funding would have seen the hiring of perhaps 15.
Wildfire season in California has typically run from mid-summer through late autumn, although the last two seasons have stretched that. Stephens says getting ahead of the wildfire season would include, in addition to outreach, the passage of Senate Bill 462 and a concerted effort to mow or trim the dried grasslands.
“We need to see what is happening,” Stephens says. “Right now, the people who are dying in these fires are the elderly, the vast majority of whom are over 65. These are people who are not as mobile and who don't have the same resources. They are the ones who need this outreach.”
- Author: Elizabeth Grafton-Cardwell
- Author: Barbara Alonso