Safe, healthy and happy Thanksgiving
Bay Area newspaper features giant watermelons
The San Francisco Chronicle devoted space in the Sunday paper for a story about gigantic watermelons cultivated by a Santa Clara County UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener.Master Gardener Mike Kent sent away for giant watermelon seeds and tended a patch at the program's two-acre research garden, "Nine Palms Ranch." The result was five supersized watermelons including a 103.2-pound behemoth that was carved up and shared at a September tasting and open house.
According to the story, written for the Chron by Master Gardener Laramie Treviño, UCCE farm advisor Aziz Baameur was on hand for the watermelon tasting. He said the monstrous melon was surprisingly sweet, and while it is a curiosity, the size isn't practical for most consumers. In fact, watermelon breeding programs are focused on smaller, rather than larger, fruit.
"Most people don't want 40-50-pound watermelons - they'll hurt their backs trying to put them in their cars," Baameur was quoted. "If you have a small yard, that is all you're going to grow."
The newest trend is seedless "personal" watermelons, about the size of a cantaloupe. They are easy to carry and fit comfortably in the refrigerator. Many varieties of personal watermelons have been found by UCCE advisors to have very thin rind and bright red, crispy and intensely sweet flesh.
Small-sized watermelons are more popular than monstrosities.
Water allocations leave rice farmers cold
Rice farmers in Northern California are trying to determine exactly how much their yields have suffered because of cold irrigation water, according to an article this week in the Chico Enterprise-Record.
The story, written by Heather Hacking, said UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Cass Mutters has done research to document the temperatures of water in the fields. Rice doesn't produce as well when irrigated with water at lower temperatures, and the longer the water is cold, the more damage is done.
Back in 1968, when Oroville Dam was built, the state water project created the Thermalito Afterbay to warm water destined for irrigation. From the beginning, farmers suspected cold water would still impact yields, but rather than negotiate the specifics then, language was left in the contracts to figure out later. About 10 years ago, because of water project complexities, water was being delivered to farmers at temperatures that made yield decline evident. Last year, the Department of Water Resources agreed to compensate growers for their yield losses.
That has set up the current scenario, in which experts are comparing the yields on farms close to the reservoir with those farther away to determine what yield losses can be attributed to cold irrigation water.
Rice research field.
UC farm advisor reminds readers to check for hazardous trees
Cooler, breezy weather in California this week is a welcome sign of autumn. After three years of drought, the beginning of fall holds hope for a "normal" rainy season. Since the hoped-for stormy weather can release branches from trees, UC Cooperative Extension horticulture advisor Michelle LeStrange reminded readers in her Visalia Times-Delta column today to take a close look at their landscape trees.
"It’s better to find a broken branch in your tree," she wrote, "than on your car."
She suggests trees be inspected before and after storms for leaning, weakly attached multiple trunks, a split where large branches attach to the trunk, cavities or decay (mushrooms on the tree or roots can be a sign), cracks, broken and dead branches.
LeStrange, the Master Gardener advisor for Tulare County, pointed out a photographic guide produced by UC Cooperative Extension titled “Recognizing Tree Hazards,” which is available at UCCE offices for $4 and free on the Web.
Hazardous-tree.
Grass is always greener
Americans love their lawns. The ubiquitous mowed and edged turfgrass is beautiful, functional and, unfortunately, thirsty. Creating an esthetically pleasing, lush, but drought-tolerant lawn is the goal of a UC Riverside research program that was the center of a Los Angeles Times feature story this week.Turfgrass specialist Jim Baird told reporter Karen Kaplen he hopes grass from his patchwork of experimental turf plots at UC Riverside will grace the lawns, parks, golf courses and athletic fields of the future.
"My colleagues say I'm crazy," Baird is quoted. "But it doesn't hurt to dream."
Research by another UC Riverside scientist, cytogeneticist Adam Lukaszewski, cited in the article seems to be bringing Baird's dream closer to reality.
Lukaszewski crossed ryegrass with a variety of meadow fescue. When scientists stopped irrigating to simulate drought, the control grasses quickly started to yellow.
"The others stayed green and stayed green and stayed green," Lukaszewski told the Times reporter.
The scientists determined that the most vibrant grasses all shared the same stretch of DNA on the short arm of chromosome 3 that came from fescue.
"If they had it, they made it," Lukaszewski said. "If they didn't, they croaked."
NASA has determined that lawns, golf courses and parks cover 50,000 square miles of the United States. The promising turfgrasses under study at UC Riverside and other universities around the country have a tremendous potential to reduce water, fertilizer and pest control inputs on this huge swath of American land.
Beautiful golf course turf.
Students return to the farm
A capacity class of Marin College students returned to the Indian Valley Farm for the fall session of the school's new organic farm and environmental landscaping program, according to a post yesterday in the San Francisco Examiner's Sustainable Food blog by Jeri Lynn Chandler.
The program is a collaboration between the College of Marin, the Marin Conservation Corps and UC Cooperative Extension's Marin Master Gardeners. It is funded with a $374,254 College of Marin chancellor's grant and matching resources totaling $1,114,210 from more than 26 industry partners, the blog said.
“This is a welcome ray of light in an otherwise gloomy and dark economic climate,” said the College of Marin's Superintendent/President Frances White in an August news release. “These funds couldn’t have arrived at a better time and will ensure that our organic garden educational program continues to thrive.”
The four sustainable farm-related classes being held during the fall semester are Principles and Practices of Organic Farm and Gardening, Integrated Pest Management, Environmental Landscape Design and Introduction to Sustainable Horticulture.
A tractor demonstration at the Indian Valley Farm.