Monterey

Cilantro was produced on 5,543 acres in Monterey and Ventura Counties in 2011. The production of cilantro has shifted to high density 80-inch wide beds and a large proportion is now mechanically harvested.

Bagrada bug has an interesting scientific name - Bagrada hilaris. This bug is native to Africa and the genus probably represents the ancient Bagradas River in North Africa. Species name hilaris' means cheerful, merry or joyful in Latin.

Weed control in onions can be challenging. Onions have various challenges that make weed control difficult. They grow slowly early in the crop cycle and never achieve a good competitive crop canopy to suppress weeds.

Marestail (Conyza canadensis; aka horseweed) and hairy fleabane (C. bonariensis; aka flax leaf fleabane) are serious weed problems in vineyards in Monterey County.

Want to learn more about weeds? Attend the... Salinas Valley Weed School 2012 Tuesday, 11/13/2012 8 AM-12 noon Agricultural Center Conference Room 1432 Abbott Street, Salinas, CA It's free... there's no fee. For more information call Richard Smith (831) 759-7357. CLICK HERE for the agenda.

It was in last January when I first wrote about the invasive pest Bagrada bug (Bagrada hilaris). It was only reported in Imperial, Riverside, and Orange Counties at that time.

The development of improved cultivation technology for row crop production has been an active area of research, and has made significant progress in recent years. Currently, standard cultivation removes weeds from the majority of the bed using sweeps, knives, coulters and blades.

2010-2011 Roadside Weed Control Evaluation with Organic and Conventional Herbicides Richard Smith and Steve Tjosvold, Farm Advisors University of California Cooperative Extension, Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties A trial was established near Bonny Doon, California (in the Santa Cruz mountains).

Ivana Li's fascinations with insects began in early childhood. She delighted in the insects on her parents' rose buses--the aphids, the ladybugs, grasshoppers and the caterpillars.

When TED extends an invite, that's a high honor. Scientists-artists Diane Ullman and Donna Billick, co-founders and co-directors of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, have been invited to speak at the second annual TEDx program hosted at the University of California, Davis.