All Issues

Field-scale trials conducted over a three-year period in the Coalinga area of Fresno County show geographic source of California grown barley planting seed of the same variety has no significant effect on yield, if the quality is otherwise equal. Certified planting stock grown each year at three different geographic locations—Davis, Coalinga, and El Centro—was obtained and planted annually in replicated trials and harvested during 1958, 1959 and 1960.

A lysimeter study, to determine the rate and frequency of sulfur fertilization and the source of sulfur for maximum returns, was initiated with the annual legume, rose clover, on Vista sandy loam. Such factors as the availability of sulfur in the soil, sulfur supplied by precipitation and air contact, leaching losses, and the uptake of sulfur by clover plants were considered in the study.

Vineyard decline—an increasing problem in Tokay vineyards in the Lodi district—results in low yields, large losses due to sunburn damage, small berry size and other low quality factors.

The success or failure, of fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides applied as soil amendments depends on distribution and concentration of the material in the soil.

Seasonal and area tolerances of lygus bugs—Lygus hesperus Knight—to DDT and toxaphene made it necessary to continue investigations with several new pesticides in 1959 and 1960.

Another new species of a tiny wasp—Aphytis—parasitic on the California red scale of citrus, was imported to California in 1960.