- Author: Mark Bolda
- Author: Steven Koike
Slime molds, classified in the group called Myxomycetes, are primitive fungi that feed on dead or decaying organic matter and have elaborate life cycles. The mature fruiting bodies of slime molds are quite diverse and can appear as sheets, mounds, crusts, blobs, and even eggs or structures of insects (Photo 1).
Occasionally, slime molds can be found growing incidentally around or on crops. The pictures below are of the slime mold Fuligo septica that is emerging from the bark mulch of a local blueberry field. The immature stage (Photo 2) is yellow, without distinct shape, and has a sticky, gooey feel when touched. This is the form that one finds oozing and moving onto organic material. When mature, a tan to off-white, crusty calcium layer forms on the top of the creeping mass (Photo 3). When fully mature and dried, the calcium layer breaks, exposing and releasing millions of brown spores.
Slime molds can also grow onto living plant parts and appear to cause a disease. Photos 4 and 5 show a slime mold growing on top of strawberry leaves; photo 6 shows slime mold colonization on a wasabi leaf. However, it is important to emphasize that slime molds are completely saprophytic, meaning they feed on dead organic material only. Slime molds therefore do not present any harm to plants.
Slime molds will only develop if there is sufficient organic matter present to feed the fungus and if there is ample and consistent moisture to allow it to develop. For these reasons, slime molds are rarely seen in cultivated fields but are more common in forests, shaded landscape areas, and lawns.
- Author: Mark Bolda
An excellent article by the "Agricultural and Resource Economics Update" from the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics of the University of California regarding the future of farm labor for California growers and beyond:
http://giannini.ucop.edu/media/are-update/files/articles/V16N4_1.pdf
Following the statement summarizing the author's research showing that the era of farm labor abundance is coming to an end, arrives the money line:
"This means that immigration policy will cease to be a solution to the U.S. farm labor problem in the long run and probably sooner. In fact, we already may be witnessing the start of a new era in which farmers will have to adapt to labor scarcity by switching to less labor intensive crops, technologies, and labor management practices."
Seriously recommended reading for those in the berry business.
- Author: Mark Bolda
This is an announcement for a light brown apple moth (LBAM) training meeting to be held this coming May 9 at 40 Zils Road in Watsonville. The purpose of the meeting is for growers and others to obtain LBAM identification certification in order to be able to implement on-farm Integrated Pest Management practices to meet San Benito, Monterey and Santa Cruz County quarantine area compliance agreement requirements for export.
Everyone planning to attend the meeting must RSVP for this meeting by contacting Sofia Hernandez of the California Strawberry Commission at shernandez@calstrawberry.org, (831)724-1301 or Hillary Thomas, hthomas@calstrawberry.org, (831)254-1184.
The link for the meeting announcement and agenda is:
- Author: Mark Bolda
The annual Watsonville Strawberry Pomology Field Day will take place this year on Tuesday, May 7. Talks will feature performance updates of recently released cultivars, research on soil diseases and a general pest management update.
Agenda is posted below.
Watsonville Strawberry Pomology Field Day May7 2013
- Author: Mark Bolda
Anybody who knows me or who has been reading this blog for some time knows that I am a HUGE advocate of the correct use of spray adjuvants. And so here is a top to bottom description of these materials for anybody involved in spraying or making decisions on the use of pesticides.
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9504
Really great work by colleague Franz Niederholzer.
