All Issues

By placing restrictions on tax incentives, the new law may discourage tax shelter investments in agriculture. Investment decisions will be based more on economics and less on possible tax losses.

The impressive showing of Spanish sub clovers may lead to wider use here for range and pasture in areas with low and variable rainfall.

The gypsy moth is a well-known pest of deciduous forests and landscape trees in northeastern United States. Most of the studies and available information on the feeding habits of larvae are therefore based on the flora of that region. However, as the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), is introduced into new areas such as California, different plants become available as potential hosts (California Agriculture, March 1977, July 1982, and March-April 1984).

Several products effectively control this relatively minor disorder.

New microbial insecticides are good prospects for use in tomato and celery IPM programs.

Preplant fumigation is the only acceptable way to control nematodes in some crops. 1,3–D is one of the few products available to do the job.

Labor is the greatest cost input for California growers, but reliable information on the subject is scarce.

Cauliflower is a cool-season crop that is exacting in its climatic and cultural requirements. For highest quality curd (edible portion), this crop needs an average monthly temperature of 60 to 70F. Extreme heat, poor cultural practices, or both can interrupt growth and result in poor quality curd, rendering the product worthless to the processor and fresh vegetable market.

Although it primarily affects Monterey pines, pitch canker is also a potential threat to other pines in the urban landscape as well as to commercial pine forests and recreation areas.

The reason isn't clear, but physical differences between cultivars may play a part.

Pecan is develouine as a crou of economic importance in California. A major portion of the state's approximately 2,550 acres of pecans is planted in the southern San Joaquin Valley (Fresno, Tulare, and Kern counties), where the summer is hot and dry and the fall normally rainless, facilitating late harvest of the crop. Smaller acreages occur in adjoining counties, and additional acreage is being planted in northern California. Several pecan shelling and processing facilities now exist in California, and the industry includes an Association of Pecan Growers.