Dr Zheng Wang 
Vegetable & Irrigation Advisor
UCCE Stanislaus County
Education:
Postdoc - The Ohio State University
PhD - University of Kentucky
MS - Western Kentucky University
BS - Shenyang Agricultural University, China
Contact Me: 
3800 Cornucopia Way, Suite A  Modesto, CA 95358
209-525-6822 (O);
209-525-6840 (F)
zzwwang@ucanr.edu

Welcome to the UCCE Stanislaus County Vegetable Page. The purpose of this website is to generate and disseminate resources and tools for vegetable stakeholders in Stanislaus County to strengthen their vegetable production and business.

This site provides:

1. Progress on our area of ongoing research and extension programs
2. Descriptive photo galleries from different research and extension activities
3. Various deliverables from our research and extension programs (newsletters, scientific reports, presentation slides, etc.)
4. Tools that are built to strengthen stakeholders in decision making and troubleshooting

Stanislaus County Vegetable Crops Production

Vegetable production in Stanislaus County is historically diverse in commodities. According to the 2017 Stanislaus County Crop Report, vegetable crop production experienced significant increases in total harvested acreage (20%) and sales value (15%) compared to 2016, reaching totals of 28,630 acres and $180 million, respectively. Tomatoes (fresh market and processing), melons, and sweet potatoes continue to be the major commodities, constituting nearly 60% total acreage and sales value. Follow the link (http://www.stanag.org/crop-reports.shtm) to download the 2017 crop report and previous crop reports for more details. 

Plans for 2020 

There are two major themes for the UCCE Stanislaus County vegetable crops program in 2020: Sustainable Practices Evaluation and Plant Health. 

Sustainable Practices Evaluation: 

• Influence of compost application rates on nitrogen management and processing tomato productivity and quality: The goal of the project is to develop a better understanding of how fall-applied compost rates influence nitrogen use efficiency of the following year’s processing tomato. This project is financially supported by the California Tomato Research Institute.
• Evaluation of rootstock-scion combination on grafted processing tomato yield and quality: In 2020, the UC ANR tomato grafting team will continue the evaluation of the production of grafted processing tomatoes. Together with Dr. Brenna Aegerter from San Joaquin County, we will implement a trial near Stockton to assess the influence of several rootstocks on yield and quality of different commercial tomato scion cultivars.
• Evaluation of Biofertilizer and biofungicide on watermelon yield and fruit quality: In collaboration with the BioWorks, Inc., we will implement research trials to collect the performance data of “Rootshield” biofungicide and biofertilizers on watermelon growth, yield, and fruit quality. 

Plant Health: 

• Performance of Sulfentrazone and Acifluorfen on basil production: The herbicide evaluation trials will continue in 2020 with some treatment modifications. Acifluorfen was added as another testing herbicide. These trials will compare different application rates with grower’s standard practice on crop injury, weed elimination, and basil leaf biomass.
• Vegetable Disease & Pest Monitoring and Management: In 2020, I will continue monitoring prevalent vegetable crops diseases and related pests. Crops that are covered are, but not limited to, processing tomato, melon, watermelon, sweet corn, and pepper. Fusarium wilt, fusarium crown, and root rot, beet curly top virus, tomato spotted wilt virus, verticillium wilt, powdery and downy mildew and many others, as well as related pest vectors, are of particular attention.   

 2020 Field Walk - Vegetable Crop Research Projects

Stay tuned to the Veg View Newsletter with project updates.     

Presentations

YouTube Presentations:

• 2020 UCCE UCIPM Biologics Educational Webinar
• 2020 Growing The Valley Podcast

2021 Northern San Joaquin Valley Processing Tomato Meeting Presentation

• Influence of Compost Application Rates on Nitrogen Management and Processing Tomato Productivity 2019-2020 - Zheng Wang and Anthony Fulford – UCCE Stanislaus, Costanza Zavalloni - CSU Stanislaus

2020 Northern San Joaquin Valley Processing Tomato Meeting Presentations

• Availability of nitrogen in processing tomato residue - Daniel Geisseler, UC Davis Dept of Land, Air & Water Resources
• Developing Best Management Practices for compost applications to tomato - Brenna Aegerter and Xia Zhu-Barker
• Efficacy of drip-applied fungicides and fumigants against Fusarium diseases - Brenna Aegerter, UCCE San Joaquin County
• Evaluation of yield performance of grafted processing tomato - Zheng Wang, UCCE Stanislaus County
• Fusarium diseases of tomato - updates on field diagnosis and management - Cassandra Swett, UC Davis Plant Pathology Dept.
• Integrating biologicals for a holistic soil health management - Anthony Fulford, UCCE
• Project updates on tomato root-knot nematode and southern blight in Kern County - Jaspreet Sidhu, UCCE Kern County
• Recent changes in Tomato spotted wilt virus - Management and Research - Tom Turini, UCCE Fresno County

Vegetable and Irrigation Presentations

• Zheng Wang - 3-23-2021 - Screening Herbicides for Use in Basil
• Poster - Herbicide Evaluation in Basil Collecting Data to Support Registration of Sulfentrazone on Basil - 2020 ASHS Conference
• Poster - In-Row Spacing of Grafted Seedless Watermelon Impacts Yield and Fruit Quality
• Zheng Wang - 2-6-2020 - Home Vegetable Gardening - Presented at UCCE Stanislaus Master Gardener Class
• Zheng Wang - 1-29-2020 Evaluation of Yield Performance of Grafted Processing Tomato - Presented at the Northern San Joaquin Valley Processing Tomato Meeting
• Zheng Wang - 1-12-2020 - Effects of in-Row Spacing on Grafted Watermelon Productivity and Fruit Quality - Presented at International Plant & Animal Genome XXV
• Zheng Wang - 12-5-2019 Evaluating Microbial Biostimulants on Processing Tomato Production under Reduced Fertility
• Zheng Wang - 11-18-2019 - 2019 Crop Biostimulant Evaluation Trials
• Zheng Wang - 9-13-2019 Watermelon Grafting Field
• Zheng Wang - 9-19-2019 - Vegetable grafting value of recombination
• Zheng Wang - 10-22-2019 - Cucumber Beetles in Vegetable Crops
• Zheng Wang - Till Minimally, Cover Strategically -- Sustainable Vegetable Production - September 12, 2019
• Water in Central Valley-2019 CA Specialty Crop Tour
• Plant-fert-FREP workshop-May 29-19-final
• Crop Biostimulants – 2019 Plant Protection & Innovation – May 22, 2019
• Zheng Wang -Introduction for 2019- NSJV Processing Tomato Meeting-Jan. 31 2019
• Dr. Cassandra Swett-UCD Plant Path - Diag. wilt and crown rot of tomato-
• Zheng Wang - Cover cropping-Sustainable Vegetable Class- CSUS-Sep 18 2018
• Zheng Wang - Conservation tillage-Sustainable Vegetable Class- CSUS-Sep 13 2018
• Water in Central Valley-2018 CA Specialty Crop Tour
• Plant-fert-FREP workshop-May 9-18-final