- Author: Mark Lundy
With the majority of fall-planted California small grain crops reaching grain ripening stages and annual precipitation mostly finished, let's review 2017-18 seasonal weather patterns across the small grain regions of the state and at the UC small grain testing sites.
The season started out warmer and drier than usual, with infrequent rainfall events from November through February and precipitation totals that were roughly half of historical totals (Figure 1). This was accompanied by warmer than average temperatures over the same period, which resulted in more rapid development of small grain crops during the vegetative period of growth than would be the case in a normal year (Figure 2).
In contrast,...
- Author: Mark Lundy
This is a reminder that the annual Small Grains/Alfalfa-Forages Field Day to be held at the University of California, Davis Agronomy Field Headquarters from 8AM – 4:30PM.
The event showcases UC efforts in breeding and agronomic research related to small grains, alfalfa and forage crops and is one of the longest running field days in the state. The schedule for the day is available here:
- Author: Mark Lundy
Please mark your calendars for the annual Small Grains/Alfalfa-Forages Field Day to be held at the University of California, Davis Agronomy Field Headquarters from 8AM – 4:30PM. We will send out an agenda closer to the date. We hope to see you there!
- Author: Mark Lundy
After almost 6 weeks without a substantial rainstorm, there is finally some precipitation starting to appear in the 10-day forecast for the Sacramento Valley. The lack of rain thus far has made it difficult to proceed with N fertilizer topdress applications in non-irrigated wheat fields this season. In addition, the warmer than normal temperatures have increased the rate of crop development such that many fall planted wheat crops are further along than would normally be the case at this time of year. Figures 1 and 2 below represent the cumulative rainfall since 10/1/2017 and the cumulative growing degree days (GDD) for wheat since 11/21/17, when we planted our experimental trials in Davis (each is compared to a 10-year...
- Author: Mark Lundy
- Contributor: Nicholas Alexander George
- Contributor: Michael Rodriguez
- Contributor: Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
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The UC Grain Cropping Systems Lab and a cooperating network of UC Cooperative Extension agronomists established fall-planted small grain variety trials across the state of California from October to December 2017. These included: 10 locations with fall-planted common wheat (predominantly hard spring types) and triticale varieties; 5 locations with durum wheat varieties; 5 locations with barley varieties; and 2 locations with winter-type common wheat.
Precipitation has been below average and growing degree days (GDD) have been above average at the fall-planted trial locations during the first 6-8 weeks of growth. To see graphs of the...