Mark your calendar with these upcoming meetings brought to you by UC Cooperative Extension, USDA-NRCS, and the California Rice Experiment Station. See the links or attached flyer for more information.

 

1. UCCE Rice Production Workshop

Tuesday, August 7, 2018

8:30am - 3:00pm (lunch included with registration)

5311 Midway, Richvale, CA 95974

Registration is required. Visit http://ucanr.edu/rice2018 to register, or see this post for more information.)

 

2. USDA-NRCS Warm Season Cover Crops Field Day

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

10:00am-12:00pm

Lockeford Plant Materials Center, 21001 N. Elliott Rd., Lockeford, CA 95237

No registration required. See agenda in the attachment (below).

 

3. UC Davis Dry Bean Field Day

Thursday, August 23, 2018

10:00am-12:00pm

UC Davis Agronomy Farm: Take Hutchison Dr. approximately 1.5 miles west from Hwy 113, in Davis.  Turn south on Hopkins Lane, and then take the first left turn (heading east) onto a gravel/broken pavement road with a row of olive trees; park along the fence.  The field is located north of the Bee Biology Center. 

 

4. Rice Experiment Station Annual Field Day

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

7:30am-12pm (lunch included)

Rice Experiment Station, 955 Butte City Hwy, Biggs, CA 95917

No registration required. For more information, visit http://www.crrf.org/.

 

4. UCCE Alfalfa and Forage Field Day

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

7:30am-12:30pm (lunch included)

Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, 9240 S. Riverbend Ave., Parlier, CA 93648

More information will be forthcoming.

I visited a lima bean field in the Delta at the beginning of June. The beans were showing what appeared to be dampening off symptoms (Figure 1), and dying plants were leaving large gaps down the rows. The problem was pretty widespread throughout the field. Two rows of beans were planted down 60-inch beds with a single drip line buried down the middle of the beds, at about 10-12 inch depth. The soil classification is a mucky clay. While the beans were planted in May, the grower admitted that the soil was still perhaps a bit cool for planting beans (48-52⁰F). (Ideally, we would wait for the soil temperature to reach 65-70⁰F before planting limas.) Additionally, the seed was planted quite deep (4-5 inches), when it probably should have only been planted 1-2 inches deep, provided good moisture in the seedbed. With these conditions, my tentative diagnosis was Rhizoctonia solani because of the reddish-brown lesions I was seeing on the roots. Usually, a seed treatment helps mitigate or control these types of seedling diseases. The grower and I checked a bag of extra seed in the barn, and there was a fungicide seed treatment on the seed.

I sent plant samples to the UC Davis Plant Pathology Diagnostics lab for confirmation on disease. Rather than Rhizoctonia, the lab identified Fusarium oxysporum on all of the plant tissue submitted. While Fusarium oxysporum is the causal agent of Fusarium wilt (a.k.a. Fusarium yellows), the symptoms on these plants indicated root and crown rot, and NOT yellows. Fusarium root rot is common on other beans; however, it has not been a common problem in California limas. For this particular field, its cropping history has been various vegetables for the last couple years, including tomatoes with a severe Fusarium problem in 2016. Rotating out of beans or vegetables to grains would be a good management strategy for future years because Fusarium can live in the soil for several years. Fungicide seed treatments may also help. In this particular case, we talked about managing water well to try to avoid moisture stress (too much or too little) of the current crop to optimize the crop that is there. The grower and PCA assured me that they can manage the moisture well with the drip irrigation on this soil type.  For future bean planting, waiting until soil temperature is warmer and not planting as deep would also be important strategies.

UC Cooperative Extension will host a Rice Production Workshop on August 7, 2018 from 8:30am to 3:00pm at Lundberg Family Farms (5311 Midway, Richvale, CA 95974). The Rice Production Workshop is an in-depth workshop that covers the principles and practices of rice production. It is intended for those who are new to the rice industry or those who are looking to brush-up on their knowledge of the applied sciences of rice production. These workshops are generally hosted every two to three years. We ask for registration by August 1st, and the registration fee covers lunch, snacks, and a manual. Enrollment is limited to 75 people. We have applied for DPR and CCA continuing education credits. The agenda is below and in the attached flyer. Please contact your local farm advisor for more information.

Agenda:

8:30      Sign in, pick up class materials

9:00      Introduction and Workshop Overview

9:10      Rice Growth and Development

9:30      Land Formation, Water Management

9:50      Tillage, Planting and Stand Establishment

10:10    Break

10:30    Variety Selection

11:00    Invertebrates

11:30    Diseases

12:00    Lunch

1:00      Fertility

2:00      Weeds

3:00      Adjourn

Last week was California Invasive Species Action Week. Guest authors Tunyalee Martin, with the UC IPM Program, and Gene Miyao, farm advisor, describe a parasitic plant that has been found in the Delta. Help in the fight against invasive species by learning more about California Invasive Species Action Week.

Watch out for parasites! Wait, in my tomato field?

We're not talking about ticks or fleas on your dog. We're talking about a parasitic weed that lives by attaching itself to the roots of other plants. This parasite is broomrape (Fig. 1), a plant that has no chlorophyll and lacks conspicuous leaves. In fact, you'll only likely see it above ground when it's flowering.

Broomrape has quite a rap sheet. Egyptian broomrape, whose first detection in the U.S. in 2014 was in California, is on the federal noxious weed list. Branched broomrape is on the California noxious weed list (A rating = eradication, containment, rejection, or other holding action); on the federal noxious weed list; and is listed as noxious in 10 other states. Broomrape has the potential to damage many economically important crops in California including bell pepper, cabbage, carrot, celery, eggplant, legumes, melons, potato, tomato, and sunflower.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture describes branched broomrape as “terrible” and justifies the A rating because it: 1) could establish itself widely in California, 2) can parasitize many plant hosts (both agricultural crops and many common agricultural weeds), 3) produces many tiny seeds (over 100,000 and only 0.3 mm long) that can easily disperse, 4) has a high potential to harm commercial agriculture, and 5) could also harm rare or endangered wild plants.

As a parasitic plant, broomrape acquires the nutrients and water it needs from the host plant. You might observe symptoms of stunting or yellowing in your crop plants, but broomrape grows and attaches underground, and the only part of broomrape that you may observe above ground are the flower spikes.

If you see this pest, contact your local agricultural commissioner, or for identification, your UC Cooperative Extension office. Use certified seed and clean nursery stock.

Resources:

USDA-APHIS factsheet for Egyptian broomrape

UC IPM Weed Gallery for branched broomrape

CDFA Pest Rating for branched broomrape