Santa Cruz County

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Survey on AI Chatbots in Farming

April 11th, 2025

This short survey aims to gather your valuable insights on how a specialized agricultural chatbot could assist with your day-to-day farming operations. You can either test our prototype and compare it with ChatGPT, or simply share which features would be most beneficial for your specific farming context.The…

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Evaluation of Heavy Metals in Agricultural Fields following the Moss Landing Battery Fire

March 26th, 2025

By Michael D Cahn, Richard F Smith

Summary: This limited study indicated that a slight deposition of metals (Copper and Manganese) may have occurred in one agricultural field, but the increases measured in the surface samples were likely insignificant relative to normal background levels for these soil types. Other sites showed no increase in…

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A red and black insect close up on green leaves

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IPM: Integrated Pest Management

March 21st, 2025

Basic information about IPM: Integrated Pest Management

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Figure 2. Proportionality between number of developed achenes and weight of receptacles of strawberries of the same age. (from Nitsch, J.P. 1950). As per JSTOR.

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Growth of the Strawberry Fruit Related to Flower Ovule Number and Auxin Production

February 17th, 2025

By Mark P Bolda

The strawberry is not a true fruit since the botanical fruits are the small, hardened achenes that everybody refers to as seeds distributed on the outside of the ripened receptacle that contains all of the sugars and vitamins that we look forward to eating.

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Grower and PCA Assistance Needed - National Spotted Wing Drosophila Impact

February 14th, 2025

By Mark P Bolda

Mark here - Dylan Beal, our new entomologist, has asked me to get the word out about the spotted wing drosophila survey included below. Key point is that it is looking at how impacts of this pest have changed for you over the past 10 years.

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Your input needed! National Spotted Wing Drosophila Impact Survey

February 13th, 2025

By Dylan J Beal

As part of a national team of entomologists studying the management of spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), we are reaching out to Central Coast Strawberry and Caneberry growers/PCAs regarding a survey on SWD Impacts.

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Tolerance of lettuce varieties to Fusarium wilt – 2024

February 6th, 2025

By Yu-Chen Wang

Tolerance of lettuce varieties to Fusarium wilt 2024 Alex Putman, Yu-Chen Wang, and Chris Greer Summary Fusarium wilt of lettuce, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lactucae (FOL), is an economically significant disease on the Central Coast of California.

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February 12 Annual UCCE Strawberry Production Research Meeting Announcement

January 22nd, 2025

By Mark P Bolda

Hi folks, the 2025 UCCE Annual Strawberry Production Research meeting will take place this year February 12 at the Arts Building at the Santa Cruz County Fairground.

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Does Early Flower Removal Actually Result in Higher Fruit Yield in Strawberry?

January 20th, 2025

By Mark P Bolda

I had a great conversation earlier today with a grower concerning the effect to strawberry fruit productivity of removing the emerging flowers in the early winter months of the season. Beautiful field by the way, good strong plants, nice and green.

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2025 Irrigation and Nutrient Management Meeting and Cover Crop Field Day

January 17th, 2025

By Mercy Olmstead

Join us for the 2025 Irrigation and Nutrient Management Workshop and Cover Crop Field Day! DAY/DATE: Wednesday, February 19, 2025 TIME: 7:55 am to 3:00 pm LOCATION: Agriculture Conference Room, 1432 Abbott St Salinas CA 93901 Free Workshop + Pizza We are excited to invite you to our UCCE Annual Irri...

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California Plant and Soil Conference, February 6 and 7

January 15th, 2025

By Mark P Bolda

Happy New Year everyone! Looks like the year has come out storming with a lot to do and events to attend. The big UCCE Annual Strawberry Production Research meeting is to take place February 12 at the County Fairgrounds in Santa Cruz County, I'll be posting the agenda for that quite soon.

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2025 CropManange Hands-on Workshop - Watsonville

January 10th, 2025

By Mercy Olmstead

Bringing Irrigation and Nutrient Management Decision-Support to the Field CropManage Hands-On Workshop & Office Hours - Watsonville Date: January 23, 2025 Time: 10:30 AM - 3:00 PM Location: Watsonville Public Library, 275 Main St.

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Table 1. Mean and range of crop coefficients (coeff) developed by this FREP funded project and additional crops evaluated. Factors used to develop the coefficients are also included: percent dry matter (%DM) and percent nitrogen (%N)

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Comprehensive List of Nitrogen Removal Coefficients for Crops Grown in Coastal California

January 9th, 2025

By Michael D Cahn

The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (CCRWQCB) approved Ag Order 4.0 in April of 2021. This regulatory action requires growers to calculate the quantity of nitrogen (N) that leaves their fields in harvested product.

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Practical Whole Farm Solutions for Pest Management Practitioners and Growers Meeting

December 17th, 2024

EcoFarm and Wild Farm Alliance Jointly Present: Wednesday, January 22, 2025 from 8 am - 5 pm Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, CA $99 (lunch included) This EcoFarm Pre Conference is a unique opportunity to learn a whole systems approach to pest management, addressing both soil health and...

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Evaluating the uniformity of an irrigation system can determine if water is being applied efficiently

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Top 10 tips to getting the most out of your irrigation water for vegetable production

December 12th, 2024

By Michael D Cahn

As we come to the close of the 2024 growing season there is time to think about how to improve in the upcoming year. Please consider implementing some of these tips on irrigation management as you prepare for the 2025 season.

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Botryotinia fuckeliana on the left (produced in the laboratory), Botrytis cinerea on the right (a mummified strawberry).

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One Fungus = One Name: Fungal Nomenclature in the Age of Genetic Analysis

November 22nd, 2024

By Mark P Bolda

A few weeks ago Mark got a call from a person who was wondering why a fungus that we work with, he believes it was Zythia ,also has another name, that being Gnomonia. There's quite a bit to sort out here, and so please follow us here.

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Fifth instar of spiny assassin bug - this looks a lot like what we have been finding in strawberry fields, especially towards the end of the season.

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Introducing the Spiny Assassin Bug

November 18th, 2024

By Mark P Bolda

Close readers of this blog will know that last year Mark noted toward the end of the season a very unusual looking insect in two of his strawberry research plots, which UCCE Entomologist on the Central Coast at the time Kirsten Pearson identified as the spiny assassin bug, an insect in the family Re...

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2024 Online Central Coast Tree Crops Workshop--November 13th

November 6th, 2024

By Michael D Cahn

Wednesday November 13, 2024 8:00 AM - 11:45 AM VIA ZOOM This workshop will be held online via Zoom. The Zoom link will be emailed to participants upon registration. Please register to join us for this workshop: https://ucanr.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Sustainable Agriculture Workshop

November 6th, 2024

By Paramveer Singh, Michael D Cahn

When: December 3rd, 2024 Where: UC Cooperative Extension Monterey County Agriculture Conference Room 1432 Abbott St, Salinas, CA 93901 Join us for our first-ever Workshop on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Sustainable Agriculture.

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WINE GRAPE IPM SEMINAR

October 28th, 2024

By Larry J Bettiga

WINE GRAPE IPM SEMINAR WHEN: Tuesday, November 19, 2024 WHERE: Monterey County Agricultural Center, 1432 Abbott Street, Salinas, CA, 93901 TIME: Registration: 8:00 am Meeting: 8:30 am 12:00 pm Pre-registration to attend: https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.

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Welcome to UC Cooperative Extension County of Santa Cruz

UCCE County of Santa Cruz department serves and works in the community and with local industries. Our Advisors extend knowledge and conduct applied research in areas such as Strawberries and Caneberries, and Forest Management; and Community Education Specialists offer outreach and education in 4-H Youth Development, and Climate Smart Agriculture.

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Office Locations

UC Cooperative Extension County of Santa Cruz

500 Westridge Drive
Watsonville, CA 95076
United States

Phone

(831) 763-8001

cesantacruz@ucanr.edu

Personnel

Mark P Bolda

Farm Advisor, Strawberries & Caneberries

COOP EXT ADVISOR

Julie M Katawicz

Community Educational Specialist II

CMTY EDUC SPEC 2

Joji Muramoto

CE Specialist

ASSOC SPECIALIST COOP EXT

Bailey Smith-Helman

Community Education Specialist III

CMTY EDUC SPEC 3

Brian Woodward

Forest Advisor for Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and Santa Clara Counties

ASST COOP EXT ADVISOR

Mission Statement

The University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) enhances the quality of life and the environmental and economic well-being of the citizens of California through research and education. Cooperative Extension farm, natural resources, 4-H, and nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisors extend knowledge and provide county research in more than 50 county offices in California.