Salinas Valley Agriculture

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Photo 1. Seeded lettuce field being germinated with buried drip.
Article

Fate of surface applied nitrogen in season-long drip irrigated fields

August 5, 2019
By Michael D Cahn
During the past two years acreage of season-long drip in lettuce has increased rapidly in the Salinas and adjacent valleys. Using drip for the entire crop cycle allows growers to germinate seeded crops with buried tape (Photo 1), and eliminates labor needed for installing and removing sprinklers.
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DBM tendencies jul19
Article

Update on diamondback moth area-wide monitoring program

August 5, 2019
Last year, this pest was present in large numbers during August and September. The idea is to have additional data from the pheromone traps to inform the IPM decision making process. Below is a table showing the number of moths per day and per trap since February. Table 1.
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Figure 1. On left: Kerb at 3.5 pints/A applied at planting; On right Kerb at 3.5 pints/A
+ Prefar at 1.0 gallon/A applied at planting. The main weed is common purslane which
was not controlled by Kerb because it was pushed below the zone of germinating
weed seeds by the germination water
Article

Weed Control in Lettuce

July 18, 2019
By Richard F Smith
Weed control in lettuce and other crops is a key issue this time of year. Purslane is particularly problematic and is adapted to warm conditions and can grow very rapidly especially during July and August. At times growers and PCA's are disappointed with the efficacy of Kerb on this weed.
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