Posts Tagged: nitrogen

Lawn-pocalypse! Surviving Drought

Ah, summer! The season of sunburns, pool parties, and… lawn droughts. If your once lush, green carpet now looks like a crunchy brown doormat, you're not alone. Let's dive into why your yard is staging a dramatic death scene and what you can do to...

Bermuda grass and weeds overtaking drought stressed turf grass.

A patch of former lawn, mostly dead, with a few green weeds and Bermudagrass

How Much Nitrogen Do Different Crops Use?

The ratio of N applied to N removed is a key metric in the Central Valley Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program (CVILRP). Growers report applied N and yield to agricultural water quality coalitions. The coalitions in turn convert yield to N removed from fields and report various statistics to the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. Nitrogen accumulated into perennial plant tissues may also be counted as “removed”. For these calculations, reliable values of N concentrations in the harvested parts and perennial tissues of crops are needed. It's important to know the amounts of N removed by various crops in order to have a better estimate of how to manage N to avoid ground water contamination.

For a report released in 2016, Geissler and team mined the scientific literature for data on N concentrations in harvested crop parts with an emphasis on California data (Geisseler, 2016). For many commodities, a robust dataset of recent samples from California was not available. With financial support from the California Department of Food and Agriculture – Fertilizer Research and Education Program (CDFA- FREP) and the help of the Kings River Watershed Coalition, John Dickey, Ken Miller, and their team at the Southern San Joaquin Valley Management Practices Evaluation Program, a large number of samples were collected and then processed in the author's nutrient management lab at UC Davis. The present report is the second update of the 2016 report, the first being released in March 2021, and includes results for kiwis, lemons, mandarins, oranges, nectarines, and grain sorghum. In addition, recently published data for cotton and N in perennial parts of cherry and citrus trees were included.

This sort of reporting will soon be required in all the Water Quality Control Board Regions.  Understanding how much nitrogen to apply is important not only for insuring water quality, but also for tree growth, health and insect and disease management. An expanded list for coastal crops will soon be made available by Richard Smith, Andre Biscaro and Michael Cahn.

You can read the more detailed discussion of the Geissler report HERE.

In the tables presented here "VC Acreage" represents the acreage of a given crop in Ventura County and "N Coefficient" is the amount of that crop removal represented in the different units in the following column.  There are different estimates for different crops largely because of varietal differences, soil types and climatic conditions of different growing areas.  The values are not exact, but approximations to give growers a better understanding of what a crop would use and therefore how much N to apply.

N Crop Coefficients Page 1

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N Crop Coefficients Page 7

CropManage Hands-on Training, Salinas CA Wed. April 3, 2024

Date: Wed. April 3rd,  2024

Course 8:30 am – 12 pm

Location: Monterey County Agriculture Conference Room

1432 Abbott St, Salinas CA 93901

•  Learn how to use CropManage to support irrigation and nutrient management decisions and record-keeping for your crops.
• Learn how to set up your ranch and crops in CropManage.
• Learn about the latest updates and how CropManage can assist with Ag Order 4.0
  

CropManage is a free online decision-support tool for water and nutrient management of vegetables, berry, agronomic, vineyard and tree crops. Based on research and field studies conducted by the University of California Cooperative Extension, CropManage provides real-time recommendations for efficient and timely irrigation and fertilization applications while maintaining or improving overall yield. 

At this free workshop, we will provide hands-on training so that you can learn to use the newest version of CropManage. Crops currently supported include many vegetables (carrots, cabbage, celery, broccoli, lettuce, tomato, spinach, etc.), berry crops (raspberry and strawberry), vineyards, tree crops (almond, walnut, pistachio, prunes, and pear), and agronomic crops (alfalfa and corn). CropManage is also available in Spanish. 

Who should participate? Growers, farm managers, other farm staff, crop advisors, consultants, and technical service providers are welcome. The workshop is for both new and current CropManage users. Spanish translation will be available.  

What to bring? This is a participatory workshop. Please bring a tablet or laptop computer so that you can follow along and participate in the exercises. Each participant will need a user account for CropManage. Please set up a free user account at https://cropmanage.ucanr.edu/ before the workshop. Please arrive early to set up your laptop or tablet computer on the wifi and get logged on to CropManage.

Registration is free: Please register here 

by April 1, 2024. Seats are limited to the first 30 registrants.

 Questions: Contact Michael Cahn at mdcahn@ucanr.edu / 831-214-3690                                              

 

Agenda

8:30 – 8:50  am Registration and computer set-up

8:50 – 9:20  am Introduction

9:20 – 10:00 am  Getting started with CropManage

10:00 to 10:15 am   break

10:10 – 11:00 am  Using CropManage for decision support and record-keeping

11:00 – 11:45 am  Group exercise

11:45- 12 pm  Discussion /Q&A/ wrap up

Drop-in office hours

Continuing Education Units (CEU) for Certified Crop Advisors (CCA) have been applied.

2024 Irrigation and Nutrient Management Meeting

2024 Irrigation and Nutrient Management Meeting

Tuesday, February 20

7:55 am to 1:30 pm

Habrá traducción al Español

Registration Link:

7:30            Sign-in and refreshments

7:55            Introduction

 8:00           Managing runoff during the growing season and winter.

                     Michael Cahn, UCCE Irrigation Advisor, Monterey County

8:30           Satellite estimates of crop water use on the central coast and OpenET        

                   Lee Johnson, CSU Monterey Bay/NASA

9:00           Update on using high carbon amendments for reducing nitrate leaching during the winter

                     Richard Smith, UCCE Vegetable and Weed Emeritus Advisor, Monterey County

                    Joji Muramoto, UC Santa Cruz, Organic Production Specialist

9:30           Cover crops for reducing winter nitrate leaching and controlling storm water runoff.

                    Eric Brennan, Research Horticulturist, USDA ARS

10:00          Break

10:15         Ag Order requirements for the upcoming year

                    Sarah Lopez, Executive Director, Central Coast Water Quality Preservation Inc.

10:45         UCANR Nitrogen and Irrigation Initiative: Opportunity for technical assistance.

                    Aparna Gazula, UCCE Small Farm Advisor, Santa Clara County

11:00         Using CropManage to help with Ag Order compliance.

                    Michael Cahn, UCCE Irrigation Advisor, Monterey County

11:25         DPR Surface Water Protection Program: An overview of ag. monitoring on the Central Coast.

                    Pedro Lima, Sr. Environmental Scientist Cal DPR

11:50         Introduction to pump efficiency

                    Bill Green, Fresno State University, Center for Irrigation Technology

12:00          Pizza and Salad Lunch (free!)

12:45          Demonstration of pump efficiency and variable frequency drives (Parking lot)

                    Crystal Sandoval-Leyva, Fresno State University, Center for Irrigation Technology

2:15            Adjourn

 

CCA and DPR continuing education credits have been requested

For more information, contact Michael Cahn @ 831-759-7377, email: mdcahn@ucdavis.edu

Managing Nitrogen Organically

Practical Training in Nitrogen Planning & Management in Organic Production of Annual Crops

  BUT All Growers Could Learn from these sessions

 

- Virtual Event – Habrá traducción al Español

 

3-part Workshop

Session 1: Monday, Nov. 27th, 2023, 1-3pm

Session 2: Monday, Dec. 4th, 2023, 1-3pm

Session 3: Monday, Dec. 11th, 2023, 1-3pm

Session 4*: Monday, Dec. 18th, 2023, 1-3pm

*attendance optional

Registration

tinyurl.com/NitrogenWorkshop

• Cost: $25*

*No one will be turned away due to lack of funds.

Please contact Rob Straser (rkstraser@ucanr.edu)

• Must enroll in Session 1-3 (Session 4 optional)
• Limited to 80 participants
• CEUs in progress

- CDFA-INMTP

- CCA

About this workshop

In this 3-part series, participants will learn how to estimate nitrogen release from diverse organic sources and translate that knowledge to nitrogen fertilization plans and regulatory reporting requirements. Over the 3 sessions, we will cover the most common sources of nitrogen and complete a nitrogen budget. In session 2 and 4, participants will be able to work on and receive feedback on their own nitrogen budgets.

 

Who should enroll?

Growers, CCAs, PCAs and other agricultural professionals who are interested in learning about nitrogen management in organic production are encouraged to enroll.

 

Program agenda

Session 1: Monday, Nov. 27, 2023, 1-3pm

Understanding nitrogen: the nutrient, the role of microbes and the

relevance of soil organic matter

Presenters: Daniel Geisseler, Radomir Schmidt and Margaret Lloyd

We will begin with an overview of the sources, transformations and fates of sources of organic nitrogen in soil. Foundational to this, we'll cover the role and dynamics of microbes in nitrogen management, and how that impacts management decisions. Lastly, we'll discuss using nitrogen budgets to understand the sources and proportions of available nitrogen to meet crop demand.

Session 2: Monday, Dec. 4, 2023, 1-3pm

Estimating nitrogen release from organic amendments and contributions

from cover crops

Presenters: Patricia Lazicki and Margaret Lloyd

This session will focus on estimating nitrogen release from compost, organic fertilizers and cover crops. In addition, participants will be invited to apply the training to their own operations and receive feedback on the budget calculations during this session.

2

Nitrogen Planning & Management Workshop UC Cooperative Extension

Session 3: Monday, Dec. 11, 2023, 1-3pm

Putting it all together: Completing a nitrogen budget, synchronizing

nitrogen release with nitrogen demand, soil tests, and frontiers in nitrogen

science

Presenters: Daniel Geisseler, Joji Muramoto, Michael Cahn and Margaret Lloyd

In this session, we will address specific aspects of organic soil fertility management in warm season vegetables. Discussions will include crop nitrogen demand and strategies to supply demand, as well as using and interpreting soil testing. Specific references will be made to strategies for complying with forthcoming regulations. We will conclude with a discussion on new frontiers in organic nitrogen management.

Session 4*: Monday, Dec. 18, 2023, 1-3pm

*attendance optional

Grower Panel and Open House

In this session we will have 1-2 growers share their experience managing nitrogen on their farms. Then, we will open it up to questions, share experiences and discuss the nitrogen budget file. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own data to receive feedback.

 

About the Presenters

Daniel Geisseler is a Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at UC Davis.

Daniel's research and outreach focuses on nutrient turnover and plant nutrition in agricultural systems. He is interested in the

effects that different management practices have on nutrient use in California crops and how nutrient use efficiency can be

improved, particularly with nitrogen.

 

Patricia Lazicki is the Vegetable Crops Advisor for Yolo, Solano, and Sacramento Counties, working mainly in tomatoes.

Her research interests include soil health, and nutrient management and fertility in organic annual cropping systems.

 

Margaret Lloyd is the Organic Agriculture and Small Farms Advisor for Yolo, Solano and Sacramento Counties. She runs an

active research and outreach program focused on nutrient management and pest management for organic vegetable farms.

 

Joji Muramoto is an Assistant Cooperative Extension organic production specialist at UC Santa Cruz. His research and

extension focus on nitrogen and soilborne disease management in organic cropping systems across the state

.

Radomir Schmidt is a program manager at the Working Lands Innovation Center at the UC Davis Institute of the Environment.

As a soil microbiologist, Radomir conducts research on the effects of specific farming practices (organic amendment

application, enhanced rock weathering, cover cropping, no-till systems) on carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas fluxes in

soils, and on the roles of microbial communities in soil health improvement and maintenance

.

Michael Cahn is an irrigation and water resources Farm Advisor for UC Cooperative Extension in Monterey County. His

research and extension program focuses on irrigation efficiency, nutrient use of crops, and protecting water quality. He led

the development of CropManage, an online decision support tool for irrigation and nutrient management.

 

For more information, contact Rob Straser: (rkstraser@ucanr.edu) or Margaret Lloyd (530-564-8642, mglloyd@ucanr.edu).

The University of California prohibits discrimination or harassment of any person in any of its programs or activities. (Complete nondiscrimination policy statement

can be found at http://ucanr.org/sites/anrstaff/files/107734.doc). Inquiries regarding the University's equal employment opportunity policies may be directed to

Affirmative Action Contact and Title IX Officer, University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2801 2nd Street, Davis, CA 95618, (530) 750-1397

Nitrogen workshop flier

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