- 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>By Michele Carter, Butte County Master Gardener, January 2, 2015
Winter has finally arrived in the north state! Winter temperatures can pose a threat to the fruit and foliage of citrus, as well as other succulents, tender perennials, tropical and subtropical plants.
The most common type of frost in California is referred to as radiation frost. Radiation frost occurs on cold nights when the air is clear and still. Soil, buildings, plants, and other objects at the earth's surface act as a heat reservoir by absorbing heat during the day. Heat is lost, or radiated, from the earth's surface into the atmosphere and plants are damaged when enough heat is lost from this reservoir to lower the temperature at the surface to below critical temperatures. Greater damage occurs with colder temperatures or a longer duration of cold. Temperatures can drop more rapidly when the air is very dry and the dewpoint is low. If the dewpoint is very low a freeze can occur without the formation of dew and frost. This condition is known as a “black frost.”
Avoid planting frost-sensitive trees in the lowest areas of the yard or garden, as cold air tends to flow downhill and can accumulate in such depressions. Trees planted near structures or walls, particularly those with southwest exposure that absorb and retain reflected heat during the day, may be damaged less during periods of frost because that heat is released during the night. Fertilize and prune during the spring and early summer so that new foliage will have enough time to mature before the onset of cold weather. Bare, moist soil stores more heat during the day and radiates more heat during the night, so rake away mulch, ground cover, weeds and leaves from around the tree during cold weather.
Monitor weather forecasts and take note of how low temperatures will go, and for how long. When the weatherman warns of frost, there are several precautions you can take to protect your plants.
- Identify cold spots in your landscape by monitoring with thermometers
- Identify plants at risk: citrus, succulents, tender perennials, tropical & subtropical plants
- Have supplies ready: either sheets or blankets with stakes or a framework to hold covers off foliage, or frost cloth (which can lie directly on plant foliage); lights; wraps for trunks; thermometers.
- Wrap trunks of tender trees, using towels, blankets, rags or pipe insulation.
- Move potted plants to warmer spots next to the house or under a patio cover.
- Water plants and trees. Dry plants are more susceptible to damage and moist soil retains heat better than dry soil.
- Cover plants just before sunset to capture and hold in as much heat as possible. Remove sheets/blankets daily if it's sunny, to allow soil to absorb heat during the day.
- Add heat by hanging a 100-watt lamp designed for outdoors in the interior of the tree, or use a holiday string of outdoor lights (not LED lights, since they don't give off heat).
If a tree's or plant's larger branches sustain frost damage, don't prune away damaged wood or remove the plant too soon. Wait several months in order to assess the extent of the damage and allow time for possible recovery during warm weather. As new foliage begins to grow, frost-killed twigs and branches will be apparent and can be pruned at that time. Postpone heavy pruning until the following year to allow trees to regrow to the point where damaged wood can be clearly determined.
For more information visit the ANR Catalog, publication 8100 (Frost Protection for Citrus and Other Subtropicals).
- Author: Trisha Rose
Bougainvillea, a genus native to South America has found a home in many, many gardens.. “Discovered” by a French naturalist Dr. Philibert Commercon in 1768, he named the plant after his friend and ship’s admiral Louis-Antoinede Bougainville who sailed around the world between 1766 and 1768 with Dr. Commercon on board. By the early 1800’s two species were introduced to Europe while Kew Gardens distributed their propagated specimens to the British Colonies throughout the world.
The many species are relatively pest and disease free but are sensitive to frost and if they survive will behave as deciduous shrubs, dropping their leaves in the winter with new leaves emerging in the spring. As this shrub/vine is an exotic beauty, it isn’t the most hardy choice for all of Solano County. It does very well in Sunset zone 17 (most of Vallejo and Benicia) and can be a good “container on wheels “ choice for Fairfield, Davis and Dixon’s zone 14. In zone 9, Vacaville, it would take a lot of effort to protect this shrub from the frequent winter frosts and cold. If you can manage to give this shrub the environment it needs, you will be grandly rewarded with an exuberant mass of color. Although the true flowers are tiny, they are surrounded by intensely colorful bracts in red, purple, and magenta. Other milder colors are available, but for the most part I see only the intensely colorful species in our environs.
So now to my dilemma, I have had too much of a good thing. I inherited a number of well established bougainvilleas (aka bougies) when I moved into my home in Glen Cove. Two of the shrub/vines dominate the front garden. One has climbed up the garage wall and onto the roof below the 2nd story. Another is near the property line on the other side of the garage. The wall climber has required quite vigorous pruning (hacking) every year just to keep it in bounds. The 2nd grows so lushly it topples over once we get a good rain storm. I prop it back up and its none the worse for wear, except that it will fall over again and again until the rain’/wind storm subside in the spring.
Our son has been providing the big ladder pruning help each year until he moved out of the area. Don’t think this was an incentive to leave, at least hope not. So my husband and I have climbed up the big ladder and hacked at the long canes trying to corral them each year. Enough, late this past fall, we got out the loppers and cut the whole shrub down to about five feet tall. As spring has progressed we have been thinking what should we do with this shrub. We love the color but the maintenance is just too much. So , I had an ah ha moment. Let’s do an espalier and keep it to a height I can easily reach with my pruners. Of course, we are giving up the big drama, but we are also avoiding the “waiting to happen” problems the use of really big ladders invite.
Also, we decided to bungee cord the other bougie and attach it to an eye-hook a couple of years ago. This has worked wonders, no more falling bougie!