What Are the UC Ag Experts Talking About?

Event Name	Date
UC Ag Experts Talk: The Blight Phase of Botryosphaeria Disease of Pistachio & Walnut and Management	10/25/2023
UC Ag Experts Talk: Branched Broomrape: A Parasitic Weed Threat to the Tomato Industry	11/8/2023

What is involved in the webinars?

A series of usually 1-hour long webinars, designed for growers and pest management professionals, highlighting various pest management and horticultural topics for crops grown in California. Master Gardeners can benefit from participating, but the pest management methods presented, especially the pesticides, are not to be followed without a clear understanding of their legal use by homeowners.

During each session, a UC Expert on the subject makes a presentation and entertains write-in questions via Q&A during and/or after the presentation.

What are the topics and how do I register?

The Blight Phase of Botryosphaeria Disease of Pistachio and Walnut and its Management by Dr. Themis Michailides (October 25, 2023)

In the last two decades, diseases caused by Botryosphaeria fungi have become a major problem in nut crops (almond, pistachio, and walnut) and other tree crops in California. Significant research has been completed in these serious diseases over a span of 20 years. In this presentation Dr. Themis Michailides will focus on the blight phase of the disease that results in infection of the fruit and reduction of yields. In addition, historical approaches to manage this disease will be discussed.

One DPR CE unit (other) and one CCA CE unit (IPM) are approved.

Branched Broomrape: A Parasitic Weed Threat to the Tomato Industry by Dr. Brad Hanson (November 8, 2023)

Branched broomrape is currently classified in California as an “A” pest, that is, “an organism of known economic importance subject to California State enforced action involving: eradication, quarantine regulation, containment, rejection, or other holding action”. As a potentially severe economic pest and as a California “A-list” pest, establishment and spread of a branched broomrape in California tomato production regions could cause severe consequences for individual growers and for the entire tomato industry. In this webinar, Dr. Brad Hanson will provide regulatory and quarantine status and management updates.

One DPR CE unit (other) and one CCA CE unit (IPM) are approved.

Are there Continuing Education units?

When the subject discusses pest or disease management, continuing education units (CEU) will be requested from DPR (1 unit per session) and when relevant also Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) and International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) continuing education units. To qualify for the CEU make sure to

register separately with your own email address and log in from your own device
participate in the entire hour session
complete and pass a final test with 70% or higher; if not passed, the test can be retaken

If you are connecting by smartphone and need CEUs, be sure that you are using the zoom app (Android, iPhone) so that you have access to the presentation and we can track your presence in the webinar.

Certificates of completion will be emailed within one week to those who meet those requirements above.

The webinars are recorded and linked from this website for future study. However, continuing education units are awarded only to the participants who attend the live version of the webinar.

Make a gift to support UC Ag Experts webinars

Your gift furthers UC's Integrated Pest Management's mission to help California residents, growers, land managers, and other professional pest managers prevent and solve pest problems with minimal impact on people and the environment by developing and promoting the use of integrated and ecologically sound pest management programs. Make a gift and use the Comment field to specify that your gift is for UC Ag Experts Talk webinars.

Who is involved in the UC Ag Experts webinars?

This webinar series is brought to you by UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program with the technical support of Petr Kosina (UC IPM Content Development Supervisor) and Cheryl Reynolds (UC IPM Interactive Learning Developer).