UC Davis and UC Cooperative Extension are excited to share newly developed tools that optimize nitrogen (N) fertilizer management in wheat and other small grains. The new tools and case studies illustrating how they've been applied in commercial settings will be discussed at an upcoming webinar on 11/4/2021 from 2-4 PM (2 INMP/CURES CEU credits available for those who REGISTER).

These tools are the product of many years of UC research and include an interactive website that provides customized, site-specific nitrogen fertilizer recommendations. Recommendations are based on monitoring of crop health and...

Common chickweed (Stellaria media) (Figure 1) is a winter annual found throughout California and considered to be one of the most common broadleaf weeds infesting cereal crops (also referred as small grains) in the state (Wilen 2006). Herbicides can provide effective control of chickweed; however, overreliance on a single herbicide (or group of herbicides with the same site of action), is likely to result in resistance to that herbicide (or group of herbicides) (Tranel and Wright 2017). Even though herbicide-resistant common chickweed populations have not been confirmed in California, lack of effective control with post-emergence applications of the ALS-inhibiting herbicides pyroxsulam (Simplicity) and tribenuron (Express...

Concerns about a growing resistance to herbicides

In Mediterranean or arid climates, particularly in areas with marginal soils, crop rotations are often limited to a narrow range of hay, pasture, a handful of winter legumes, or rainy-season grasses. Arid conditions and weathered soils drove Australia's rainfed grain growers to adopt no-till strategies earlier than their counterparts in California. While beneficial from a water use perspective, successful no-till systems depend on herbicides to control weeds that were traditionally kept in check with tillage.

Dependence on herbicides alone in these systems has resulted in weeds with resistance to multiple modes of action. In Australia, there is one...

Weather patterns are highly variable across the state of California. They change from year to year and across locations. While parts of the state may be experiencing drought conditions this year (Figure 1), each location can have dramatically different weather. For growers and agronomists, location-specific weather information is essential to understand plant growth and water use. It is also important for planning field management activities such as fertilization and irrigation.

We have created a new interactive website where users can access their location-specific precipitation and temperature data: