- Author: Saoimanu Sope
In late January, the University of California Nursery and Floriculture Alliance co-hosted the 62nd Western Region International Plant Propagators' Society (WR-IPPS) Annual Meeting in Temecula.
UCNFA, associated with the Nursery and Floriculture Workgroup of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, is a statewide partnership of researchers and educators, growers, floriculture associations and allied industries. It serves the educational needs of California's agricultural industries that produce greenhouse crops and nursery products including vegetable seedlings, ornamentals, fruiting trees, vines and shrubs.
“Up until 2007 and before almonds and grapes became a big deal, nursery and floricultural products were the top crop commodity in the state,” said Loren Oki, specialist emeritus of Cooperative Extension at UC Davis and co-director of UCNFA. “Nurseries and floriculture are a $3.6 billion industry in California, but not many people know about it.”
Since its inception in 1951, IPPS has sought and shared plant production knowledge globally with an emphasis on nursery production. Oki has been a member of IPPS since the 1980s. His father, George, who owned and operated Oki Nursery, helped establish the Western Region in the 1960s, paving a path for Oki who served as president of WR-IPPS in the 1990s.
Although this year was the first that UCNFA co-hosted, Oki is confident that it won't be the last. “We're already planning a conference for the fall in conjunction with WR-IPPS. Since the target audience of UCNFA are growers, it just makes sense to partner with growers for these events,” Oki said.
This year's meeting involved 145 attendees, 29 exhibitors and 23 speakers and occurred over four days – two of which were dedicated to grower tours and the other two offering educational presentations in both English and Spanish, another first for WR-IPPS.
Gerry Spinelli, UC Cooperative Extension production horticulture advisor for San Diego County and member of UCNFA's administrative committee, was instrumental in coordinating the event. When he wasn't moderating sessions or facilitating Q&A, Spinelli was sharing his expertise on measuring pressure, distribution uniformity and improving irrigation management in English and Spanish.
“It's rewarding to see so much statewide interest in nurseries and floriculture,” said Spinelli. “WR-IPPS is a great opportunity to showcase the extraordinary San Diego nursery and greenhouse industry on an international stage, and a perfect occasion for clientele to meet our new UC Cooperative Extension advisors.”
Bruno Pitton, who became the UCCE environmental horticulture advisor for Placer and Nevada counties in November, appreciated the increase in science-based talks compared to previous years.
“Before, there were more talks on production practices from grower to grower. This year, I noticed that there's more science extension talks – which is a good thing,” said Pitton, who also gave a presentation on nitrogen management in nursery production and irrigation training.
Recent UC ANR hires like Emma Volk, production horticulture advisor for Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, had the opportunity to learn not only from industry leaders nationwide, but fellow ANR colleagues. For example, she heard Don Merhaut, UCCE specialist for nursery and floriculture crops based at UC Riverside, present on controlled release fertilizer dynamics in containers during a one-year growing cycle for Southern California.
UCCE advisors and specialists had a significant presence at this year's meeting, leaving a positive impression on attendees, including Tony Shireman, WR-IPPS president, who said that partnering with UC ANR experts helps IPPS achieve its mission to seek and share plant knowledge globally.
“We're fortunate to have connections to people like those joining us from Cooperative Extension. It allows us to expand our knowledge and extend our reach,” Shireman said.
Johanna Del Castillo Munera and Kosana Suvocarev, two professors of Cooperative Extension at UC Davis, also attended and joined Spinelli for both English and Spanish sessions. Del Castillo Munera presented on disease challenges and management for nurseries, and Suvocarev talked about crop water requirements for irrigation scheduling in nurseries and greenhouses.
“There's a good sense of community here and there's a lot of passion from the speakers,” said Grant Johnson, UCCE urban agriculture technology advisor for UCCE Los Angeles and Orange counties, adding that he valued the opportunity to learn from growers and scientists simultaneously.
After attendees spent an entire day touring local nursery and floriculture operations and learning from growers in North San Diego County and Riverside County, they concluded the day with a dinner and keynote address from Karen Ross, California Department of Food and Agriculture secretary.
On the last day, Chris Shogren, UCCE environmental horticulture advisor for Los Angeles County and member of UCNFA's administrative committee, and Eric Middleton, UCCE integrated pest management advisor for San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange counties, talked about pest and pathogen management. The advisors offered fascinating visuals including photos comparing the size of agave mites to a penny, and led a stimulating Q&A session.
To learn more about the UC Nursery and Floriculture Alliance, visit https://ucnfa.ucanr.edu/.
- Author: Saoimanu Sope
‘Ag Order' for San Diego County expected to be enforced by end of 2023
Generally known for its steady warmth and picturesque beaches, San Diego County is also home to nearly 5,000 small farms and is an economic hotspot for nurseries and floriculture. But the great diversity of ornamental crops that dominate the growing region and complexity of regulations make compliance challenging for growers, some of whom grow over 400 crop varieties.
“The regulatory environment for the growers is still complicated and overwhelming because, along with the Regional Water Board, growers are regulated by the County of San Diego,” said Gerardo “Gerry” Spinelli, University of California Cooperative Extension production horticulture advisor for San Diego County.
To help growers with compliance, Spinelli is prioritizing education and expanding growers' knowledge. By partnering with organizations such as the Farm Bureau of San Diego County and the San Diego Region Irrigated Lands Group, Spinelli works to reach more than 1,200 growers, supporting them as they navigate regulatory agencies.
Formally referred to as the Regional Water Quality Control Boards, the Regional Water Board aims to develop and enforce water quality objectives and implement plans to protect the beneficial uses of California's waters.
A unique place to grow in California
About 10 years ago, the Regional Water Board created the Agricultural Order (Ag Order), a set of rules outlining how growers manage water discharge from agricultural operations.
The new Ag Order for San Diego County, expected to be enforced by the end of 2023, will focus on nitrogen management and groundwater quality. However, new considerations are needed to address the variety of crops grown by a single farmer, a common practice in San Diego.
Calculating nitrogen input and output for more than 400 crop varieties is not feasible for small farmers, a challenge exacerbated by the meticulous attention needed for San Diego's high-end specialty crops like ornamentals, native plants and specialty fruit.
Furthermore, many San Diego growers have limited expertise and experience because they are entering agriculture as a second or third career. Many have become “accidental growers” in that they purchased land with a preexisting avocado or cherimoya grove, for example.
To help address these challenges, the grower community is emphasizing the need for more educational opportunities that are accessible and relatable.
Equipping growers through education
Enrico Ferro, president of the San Diego Region Irrigated Lands Group – a third-party entity that manages water sample testing on behalf of growers – has relied on Spinelli's teaching to “bridge the gap” for growers, including himself.
“Gerry has been great because he has expertise in nurseries, but the educational content he creates is relevant to all growers,” said Ferro, who is an avocado and citrus grower in San Diego's North County.
Spinelli, who specializes in containerized production in nurseries and floriculture, has been instrumental in providing technical assistance to growers since he joined Cooperative Extension in 2020.
“I started teaching over Zoom since I became an advisor during the pandemic, and I try to cover different topics for each training,” Spinelli said, adding that he teaches in English and Spanish, making his content more accessible to the grower community in San Diego.
For in-person educational opportunities, Spinelli created the “Last Wednesday” monthly meetings hosted at the Farm Bureau of San Diego County, which brings together growers and other agricultural experts to learn from one another.
“We try to get our information out in creative ways and Gerry is instrumental in that. He's our primary source of really wonderful information delivered in an engaging way,” said Tasha Ardalan, program coordinator for the SDRILG. “He's proactive and is always willing to try new things, too.”
Planning for San Diego's agricultural future
Currently, the Ag Order is modeled around regulations for the Central Valley. As conversations and planning for San Diego County continue, Spinelli is supporting the Regional Water Board with information on nurseries and greenhouses in hopes that the final Ag Order will better serve San Diego growers.
“I'm trying to help others understand how nursery and greenhouse production systems function, and how and why they are different from an almond orchard or tomato field in Fresno,” explained Spinelli.
Michael Mellano, CEO of Mellano & Company, a fresh cut flower grower and distributor in Oceanside, feels the impact of the Ag Order and its failure to account for variability. Growing over 100 varieties of flowers, Mellano said that for several plants there is little scientific research on how much nitrate to apply.
“Farmers want to do a good job. We make mistakes and we try to fix them as quickly as we can, and we try to educate others on what works,” said Mellano, who is also a member of the SDRILG.
Growers like Mellano and Ferro agree that the farming community in San Diego needs to be given the latitude to solve problems within their means, an ability that requires an understanding of San Diego's uniqueness.
“San Diego is significantly different, and we need an Ag Order that is reflective of our differences,” said Valerie Mellano, SDRILG consultant and former UCCE environmental issues farm advisor. “In developing the new Ag Order, there's a huge opportunity for education and research, something that we know Gerry can easily do and continue to support us in.”
Thus far, Spinelli's educational content has reached two-thirds of SDRILG's 1,200 members. In addition to the live training sessions, growers can watch videos that cover topics such as evapotranspiration, irrigation distribution uniformity, water quality indicators and more on Spinelli's YouTube channel.
Since the Ag Order requires all growers to complete two hours of water-quality education, the SDRILG has agreed to apply one hour of credit to growers who attend a one-on-one session with Spinelli.
As San Diego's growers continue to leverage educational opportunities – whether it's alongside Spinelli, SDRILG or learning from one another – Spinelli emphasized that their success also relies on an ag order that adheres to a distinctive landscape, multitude of specialty crops and growers with varying expertise.
/h3>- Author: Christine Casey
- Author: Lea Corkidi
Regular Haven visitors notice that we frequently change our planting. It's one of the joys of gardening -- there are always new plants to try and experiment with. At the Haven, research on new plants and methods for bee gardens is essential to our educational mission.
Previous posts have reported on our work with bee plant preferences, with an emphasis on low-water plants. Our colleagues at UC Cooperative Extension in Southern California have done similar work for that part of the state. Previous blog posts have covered research with mulch, plant color, and water; all are important components of a healthy bee garden.
But all this is for naught if it isn't put into practice. So our current work is to create tools for the California horticulture industry to educate employees and customers about bee garden best practices based on this research. The first step in this work is development of an efficient sampling method so growers, landscapers, and public gardens can easily assess the bee-attractiveness of new plants as they come on the market. This will allow these plants to be marketed correctly, and will also help growers to target bee-friendly pest management.
In our attractiveness studies the Southern CA team used timed counts, while the Northern CA team used a snapshot count method (1). This technique consists of 20 second quick counts of every plant that is repeated three times in succession rather than a single 3-minute timed count. The snapshot count is faster to complete and more readily worked into the day of an otherwise busy nursery employee.
The purpose of this study was to calculate the relative net precision (RNP) of each bee counting method at a wholesale nursery (Fallbrook, CA) and a public garden site (Encinitas, CA) in San Diego County. RNP is calculated as shown below and is a way to assess sampling efficiency by balancing precision and sampling cost (2).
RNP = [1/(cost x Rv)] x 100, where Rv = (SE/mean) x 100
Plants in full bloom were sampled weekly for at least 4 weeks using both methods. Bees were counted as honey bees or other bees as this distinction is easy for an untrained observer; only honey bee data is reported here. At both locations, we saw a larger absolute number of bees with the snapshot method, but the trend of most attractive to least attractive was the same for both methods (Figures 1 and 2). We are most interested in this trend rather than the absolute number, which is expected to vary between locations. Additionally, regression analysis shows that the two counting methods are strongly correlated (Figure 3).
Finally, we saw differences between the RNP values calculated for the two sampling methods, with higher RNP for the snapshot method at both locations (Table 1). Higher RNP means greater sampling efficiency (2).
A second year of study will begin in April at additional sites to confirm these findings. We look forward to providing the California green industry with a useful tool for supporting pollinator gardens.
References
1. Garbuzov and Ratnieks. 2014. Functional Ecology 28: 364-374.
2. Buntin pp 99-115 in Handbook of Sampling Methods for Arthropods in Agriculture. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. 1994.
- Author: Ed Perry
Citrus trees grow best in loam or sandy loam soil, but you can grow them in most soils that have good drainage. If your soil drains poorly, you might try planting in a raised bed or on a mound. Plant your trees in an area that receives full sun, and allow enough room for the tree's mature size. I don't recommend planting in a lawn area because it's difficult to irrigate both the citrus and the lawn correctly. Also, the grass tends to absorb many of the nutrients needed by the tree.
Dig the planting hole just deep enough to plant the tree at the same level that it was in the nursery. The diameter of the hole should be about 6 inches larger than the root ball. If the hole is too deep, the tree will settle too much after planting. Trees that settle too deep are likely to be killed by crown rot, a fungus disease that frequently develops where the soil covers the bark of the tree.
You can place balled and burlap-wrapped trees in the planting holes without removing the cloth sacking that covers the roots. Plant them a little higher than they were in the nursery, allowing about 3 inches for settling. Try to have the uppermost roots branch out at about ground level after the trees have settled.
Do not put any fertilizer in the hole when planting your tree because it may damage the roots. It's safer to apply fertilizer to the surface of the soil after you've planted. If you use manure, use it lightly because roots may be damaged by salts which manures contain.
Citrus trees do very poorly in dry soil, so be sure to pay close attention to irrigation, especially during the first summer.
Ed Perry is the emeritus Environmental Horticultural Advisor for University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) in Stanislaus County where he worked for over 30 years.
- Author: Ben Faber
California Horticulture Sales Reach $2.63 Billion in 2019
U.S. Horticulture Operations Report $13.8 Billion in Sales
Sacramento, CA, Dec. 9, 2020 – On Tuesday, December 8, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released the 2019 Census of Horticultural Specialties report, the only source of detailed production and sales data for floriculture, nursery, and specialty crops for the entire United States. The data show that horticulture operations in California sold a total of $2.63 billion in floriculture, nursery and specialty crops in 2019, down 9% from the sales in 2014. California sold 19% of the total U.S. horticulture sales of $13.8 billion in 2019, more than any other state. In addition to sales, the number of horticulture operations in California decreased 22% during this time to 1,331, and the number of operations in the United States decreased 11% during this time to 20,655.
“The horticulture census is a vital tool that highlights the contribution horticulture growers bring to our local, state, and national economies,” said Pacific Region Director Gary R. Keough. “It shows changes and trends in the industry over the past five years and beyond.”
Horticulture production occurred primarily in 10 states, which accounted for 66% of all U.S. horticulture sales in 2019. California ($2.63 billion), Florida ($1.93 billion) and Oregon ($1.02 billion) led the nation in sales.
The top five commodities in California horticulture sales in 2019, and compared to 2014, were:
- Nursery stock, $831 million, down 13%
- Potted flowering plants, $322 million, up 7%
- Transplants for Commercial Vegetable and Strawberry, $266 million, up 4%
- Cut flowers & cut lei flowers, $249 million, down 26%
- Annual bedding/garden plants, $232 million, up 6%
Other key findings for California from the 2019 Census of Horticultural Specialties report include:
- Family- or individually-owned operations made up the largest number of operations, accounting for 48%, but corporately-owned operations accounted for 80% of sales ($2.11 billion).
- Total industry expenses were at $2.21 billion in 2019, with hired labor being the largest cost, accounting for 36% of total expenses.
The Census of Horticultural Specialties is part of the larger Census of Agriculture program. It provides information on the number and types of establishments engaged in horticultural production, value of sales, varieties of products, production expenses and more. All operations that reported producing and selling $10,000 or more of horticultural crops on the 2017 Census of Agriculture were included in this special study.
For more information and to access the full report, visit www.nass.usda.gov/AgCensus.