Calag Archive

More than 7½ million Easter lily bulbs are produced in coastal northern California and southern Oregon. This figure represents 75% of all the lily bulbs produced in the United States for eventual use as potted plants and cut flowers. In addition to the bulb industry, vast numbers of flowering potted plants are forced by California nurserymen for Easter sales.

The latest phytotron unit at Davis (a rotating sunlit room that follows the sun) is now in operation, and is expected to be particularly useful for plant growth experiments which benefit from intense sunlight. This 20 × 20 ft room has a roof and front face of double-pane and clear plastic panels with prismatic lower surfaces to direct sunlight downward from the roof. Photocells which trigger an electric motor cause the room to face the sun continuously, receiving strong direct sunlight from dawn to sunset.

This large, late-maturing, whitefleshed, freestone of superior quality, requiring only a moderate amount of winter chilling, is recommended for home use in California's intermediate valleys and southern mesas.

A new concept for aerial application of agricultural pesticide chemicals, seeds, and fertilizers is now nearing the point of practical application. The concept involves utilization of air forced from the trailing edge of the wing of an aircraft to give boundary layer control of air flow effects on the wing and to entrain and transport dry chemical materials through ducts in the wing and discharge them rearward. The new system offers improvements in application of dry materials by permitting higher application rates per acre, and wider, more uniform material distribution. Research leading toward the development of the “distributor wing” has been conducted for the past five years by agricultural engineers at University of California, Davis, in cooperation with Kenneth Razak, formerly Dean, College of Engineering, University of Wichita, Kansas, who has also developed an aircraft to utilize the new wing.

Cucumbers (for pickling) can soon be harvested with a commercial machine in a single once-over operation. A commercial prototype machine is available, and the feasibility of the once-over harvesting is enhanced by double-cropping possibilities in California and by date-of-planting information included in one of the two articles describing these studies.

With the development of a commercial machine for once-over harvesting of cucumbers for pickling, studies have been directed to obtain information on cultural practices necessary for a single machine harvest. Previous work on canning tomatoes emphasized the effectiveness of scheduled plantings {California Agriculture, Vol. 19, No. 4; April, 1965) for a single harvest.

Reductions in citrus yields caused by nematode infestation may vary from 10 to 50%, according to nutritional and environmental conditions—particularly under different soil moisture and soil oxygen conditions—since some citrus plants achieve apparently normal growth even in the presence of nematodes. These studies indicate the possibility that differences in soil environmental conditions (texture, pH, moisture, diffusion rates, salinity, nutrient availability, and other factors) may have more influence on good growth and performance of citrus than nematode populations on the roots.

The continuing shift of market milk production from a farm-oriented operation to a factory-type enterprise increases the importance of making management decisions based on factors other than feed production and family labor. Selection, economical purchasing and wise use of feeds will always be important profit factors, since feeds make up more than half the cash cost of dairying in California. Labor costs may have a major influence on profits in smaller herds, but are usually of decreasing importance as herds become larger and certain efficiencies are realized.