- Author: Mark E Lundy
The 2022-23 cropping season got off to a wet start throughout most of California. Across the main small grain growing regions of the state, rainfall is 158% of average to date (Figure 1), with 164% and 197% of average in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, respectively.
Much of this rain came in high volumes over short periods. See for example the seasonal rainfall accumulation for a field in the Yolo County area compared to the historical (Figure 2).
- Author: Taylor Nelsen
- Author: Gabriel Rosa
- Author: Justin Merz
- Author: Mark E Lundy
The growth stage of a crop is a critical piece of information for growers and agronomists. For small grain crops like wheat and triticale, many field management decisions are sensitive to the stage of crop development. These include irrigation, fertilizer additions, herbicide and pesticide applications, and harvest timing. In addition, the planting date, the amount and timing of rainfall and/or irrigation, and cumulative seasonal temperatures all impact how rapidly a crop emerges, develops and matures. Because of the extreme variability in winter weather in the state, rates of development for small grain crops in California are not always consistent from year-to-year and farm-to-farm. This can make precision management and planning more...
- Author: Konrad Mathesius
Although much of this year's wheat has been planted, the cost of fertilizer and an unpredictable rainy season mean it's never a bad time to learn more about how to improve nitrogen management in small grains.
Join us for nitrogen management seminars being offered in the northern San Joaquin and the southern Sacramento Valleys. The seminars will cover a range of topics related to the use of the Nitrogen Fertilizer Management Tool for California Wheat. Lunch will be provided.
Over the years UC agronomists have had considerable success using the Webtool and working with growers to
- Author: Richard Smith
- Author: Eric Brennan
- Author: Mark E Lundy
Cereal rye, triticale and oats are commonly used as cover crops in the Salinas Valley in fall grown (Aug/Sept to Oct/Nov) and overwintered (Oct/Nov to Feb/March) planting slots. A key issue for growers is when to terminate the cover crop. This boils down to availability of equipment or breaks in the weather. Those types of issues are unavoidable and usually take precedence in decision making. In this article, we describe the various stages of cover crop seed development so that growers can let their cereal cover crop grow as long as possible without the risk of it producing seed that would become a weed in subsequent vegetable crops. This will allow the carbon to nitrogen (C:N) ratio to increase as high as possible to maximize the input...
- Author: Konrad Mathesius
This year, nitrogen is expensive and wheat is worth a lot of money. Now is a good time to optimize your N fertilizer management strategies.
Join us for any one of a series of workshops focusing on the use and application of the UC Small Grains Nitrogen Fertilizer Management Webtool in tandem with a N-rich reference zone and soil nitrate quick test information. The seminars are geared toward CCAs, soil labs, and other industry crop...