California Fruit and Vegetable

Tag: Jaspreet Sidhu

  • 42nd Carrot Conference Planned by UCANR

    UC Ag and Natural Resources will hold the 42nd International Carrot Conference, scheduled for June 2-3 at the Bakersfield Marriott Convention Center.

    The Carrot Conference is an opportunity to share and discuss research findings and a way for people to exchange ideas and concerns in all aspects of carrot production. Topics such as breeding, new products, production, and pest management are discussed in formal paper sessions, poster sessions, and a field tour, as well as other social gatherings.

    The conference also provides continuing education opportunities with 4.5 other DPR hours approved for June 2. More details and an agenda can be found here. For additional information please contact: Jaspreet Sidhu, Kern County Cooperative Extension, 661-868-6222, 661-304-8870. — Contributed by UC Ag and Natural Resources

  • UCCE Investigates New Marketable Potato Varieties that Suit California Growers Well

    While the University of California does not have an official potato breeding program, the cooperative extension has close ties and collaborations with other universities and private companies that do, and Kern County has become quite the hub for trialing new potato varieties to determine whether they are suitable for the warm and dry climate of the West.  Jaspreet Sidhu, Vegetable Crops Farm Advisor heads up these informative trials and spoke with Matthew Malcolm on California Ag Network about the most recent results at her annual Potato Variety Trial Field Day. Watch this brief interview and read the full results in the current issue of California Fruit & Vegetable Magazine.

  • Root Inhibitor Herbicide Injury in Tomatoes

    Pic 1 Swollen stems at the soil line

    Root inhibitor herbicides such as Trifluralin (Treflan HFP) and Pendimethalin (ProwlH2O) are soil applied and preplant- incorporated and used for control of many annual grasses and broadleaves in processing tomatoes in the Central Valley.

    This year, I have seen symptoms from these root inhibiting herbicide injury in a processing tomato field and the damage was quite uniform and widespread in the field. The affected plants had a very atypical swelling at the soil line, were wilting and collapsing (Pic 1, 2 and 3). The stems were very brittle and easily snapped at the soil line near the swollen stems (Pic 4), which is a characteristic of Pendimethalin injury. There was some lodging in the field probably due to winds or a rainy event (Pic 3).

    Pic 2 Wilted plants in the field.

    It is hard to predict why this happened as the herbicides are supposed to be incorporated into the top 2-3 inches of soil where the weeds germinate, and the transplants are plugged deeper. One of the hypotheses could be that there were some heavy rains that could have moved the herbicides deeper into the soil profile. Another possibility is that residual trifluranlin or pendimethalin from the previous crop along with current application may have caused soil herbicide levels to be beyond crop tolerance.

    Pic 3 A collapsed and dead plant in the field.

    Similar damage was observed in the Sacramento valley in 2021 where a young tomato field was affected significantly with root inhibiting herbicide injury. These are typical injury symptoms for these herbicides and can be seen on other veg crops such as melons, peppers etc.

    Please contact your local Vegetable crops Advisor if you see similar symptoms in the field. — By Jaspreet Sidhu, UCCE Vegetable Crops Farm Advisor

    Pic 4 A stem broken off at the soil line.