UC Weed Science (weed control, management, ecology, and minutia)

Bagrada bug, Bagrada hillaris is a new invasive insect that arrived in the Salinas Valley in the summer of 2013.

One of the major research and extension areas in my program is weed control efficacy in orchards and vineyards. During the 2012-13 growing season, we conducted about 50 herbicide efficacy trials in commercial orchards or research station sites.

Since beginning the California phase of my career eight years ago (first with USDA-ARS and more recently with University of California), I have been involved to one degree or another in soil fumigation projects.

Introduction to the species: Abutilon theophrasti (commonly known as velvetleaf) is a summer annual weed native to Asia. For those not familiar with the species, plants are tall (to 1-2 m) and erect with green- or purple-colored stems that branch at higher leaf axils (Warwick and Black 1988).

I don't mulch much but this caught my eye: using those big round straw bales that unroll behind the tractor as an easy way to put out a mulch. John Wilhoit & Timothy Coolong (2013).