- Author: Ben Faber
It's so nice to be able to find a way to rapidly answer homeowner questions. Once one questions has been addressed, invariably another one pops up. There are mysteries to plants and they can go on and on forever. The University of California Cooperative Extension has locally trained volunteers to answer the questions that local homeowners are going to ask about local plant problems. You can find Master Gardener contacts by going to the map to find a local office and the local MG Helpline: http://ceventura.ucanr.edu/Offices/
Recently I got an email from a homeowner that had a burning question about the name of an avocado found in a picture. That one question lead to another and to another and eventually to how to plant a tree in a heavy clay soil. i was going through explanations, and suddenly remembered a website put together by Greg Alder with photo steps going through the whole process: http://gregalder.com/yardposts/how-to-plant-and-stake-an-avocado-tree/
After passing that link on to the homeowner, I havent had any more questions about planting avocados. The site does the trick.
So if you are looking for more answers about avocados, the Annual Meeting of the CA Avocado Society is October 4 - next month. Come on the tour and see how it's done:https://californiaavocadosociety.org/annual-meeting.html
Filling a planting hole to see if water drains well enough before planting an avocado. A great photo from the blog.
![filling a hole filling a hole](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/62992.jpg)
- Author: Guy B Kyser
Capitol Public Radio broadcast a report on spotted spurge this morning, including an interview with UCCE Farm Advisor Whitney Brim-DeForest.
- Author: Cheryl A. Wilen
A few months ago I wrote about starting some tests looking at various postemergence herbicides for non-crop use, (see Just started new tests of contact herbicides). This project was initiated due to new ordinances some cities in southern California were considering or adopted that limited the use products containing glyphosate on city owned property. I changed up some of the products from the original test I did and repeated some others.
Some are listed as organic and some are organic but not be organically approved by a certifying agency e.g. OMRI. One is listed as a biopesticide (Fiesta). One is a synthetic pesticide (Finale) that may be a good replacement in certain situations.
The treated areas (4x10') were divided into 3 parts. The front 4x5' section was treated with the herbicide two times. The back 4x5' section was split into two 2x5' sections. The left section was treated with the herbicide + 0.5% Liberate surfactant and the right side was left as an untreated check. This was done to account for any differences in weed species in each plot.
I used 90GPA spray volume at 40PSI using a flat fan nozzle. Most weeds were under 5” when the treatments were first applied but escapes were larger by the second application. Most plots had hairy fleabane, horseweed, annual sowthistle, Jerusalem oak, and common purslane.
While I'm still evaluating the data, I can say that some products look pretty good and while the costs are high (see Table 1), at least the cities can narrow down what products would work for them.
Just considering overall weed control, my observations are that FinalSan+Liberate; WeedPharm (or any 20% acetic acid) with or without surfactant; Suppress; and Finale have the best potential. While 3 of the 4 products are organic, note that all are more hazardous than Roundup per the signal word. Fiesta provided excellent control of hairy fleabane, horseweed, and annual sowthistle, especially when the surfactant was included. Because seedlings emerged after treatments, they contributed to the overall weed pressure. In the best scenario, these materials would be applied with a preemergent herbicide to suppress weed germination. This would likely reduce cost of the postemergent treatments as well as labor costs.
- Author: Cheryl A. Wilen
- Posted by: Gale Perez
A few months ago I wrote about starting some tests looking at various postemergence herbicides for non-crop use. This project was initiated due to new ordinances some cities in southern California were considering or adopted that limited the use products containing glyphosate on city owned property. I changed up some of the products from the original test I did and repeated some others.
Some are listed as organic and some are organic but not be organically approved by a certifying agency e.g. OMRI. One is listed as a biopesticide (Fiesta). One is a synthetic pesticide (Finale) that may be a good replacement in certain situations.
I used 90GPA spray volume at 40PSI using a flat fan nozzle. Most weeds were under 5” when the treatments were first applied but escapes were larger by the second application. Most plots had hairy fleabane, horseweed, annual sowthistle, Jerusalem oak, and common purslane.
While I'm still evaluating the data, I can say that some products look pretty good and while the costs are high (see Table 1), at least the cities can narrow down what products would work for them.
Just considering overall weed control, my observations are that FinalSan+Liberate; WeedPharm (or any 20% acetic acid) with or without surfactant; Suppress; and Finale have the best potential. While 3 of the 4 products are organic, note that all are more hazardous than Roundup per the signal word. Fiesta provided excellent control of hairy fleabane, horseweed, and annual sowthistle, especially when the surfactant was included. Because seedlings emerged after treatments, they contributed to the overall weed pressure. In the best scenario, these materials would be applied with a preemergent herbicide to suppress weed germination. This would likely reduce cost of the postemergent treatments as well as labor costs.
One should also consider where they are used. For example, these could be used for weed treatments in tree wells, edging, or in cracks while glyphosate or other lower cost products could be used along fencelines or where there are grassy weeds.
- Posted by: Gale Perez
Just saw this on the ANR News Blog :: April 13, 2016
Wilen recommends home gardeners use a swivel (or hula) hoe to scrape the surface and decapitate weeds. “It's a bit of exercise,” she said, "but you can do it so quickly, it's not a problem.”
Another weed control strategy is a thick layer of mulch, with does double-duty by reducing water evaporation from the soil surface, thereby conserving water. Wilen suggests a three- to four-inch layer of mulch be spread in garden beds and landscape borders before the weed seeds have a chance to germinate. Mulch blocks the sunlight weeds need to push through the ground.
Fabric weed barriers are useful for controlling particularly challenging weeds, like nutsedge. Wilen suggests covering the fabric with mulch for an esthetically pleasing weed-free garden.
Though the common herbicide glyphosate (such as Roundup) kills weeds and is safe if used correctly, Wilen prefers using the swivel hoe. "It's just quicker and easier than pulling out the spray equipment," she said.