All Issues

A two-year study jointly conducted by U.C. Davis and Yuba City revealed that location, size, and rural atmosphere are the major factors attracting more and more people from urban areas to small cities. To retain these qualities, planning and growth control are needed.

Crop rotation and efficient fertilization practices minimize the amount of nitrate nitrogen reaching groundwaters from fertilizers. Cereal crops reduce soil nitrogen levels by using nitrogen remaining after previous crops.

Permeability studies show that California white oak containers will hold wine during wine aging with a minimum loss from seepage and evaporation. Effects of this wood on quality were not evaluated.

Depending on the particular shipment, 25 to 90 percent of the feeder and stocker cattle coming into southern California desert feedlots get sick. Death losses and culling rates range from 6 to 8 percent among the lighter calves (250 to 400 pounds) and from ½ to 2½ percent for larger animals.

No new hybrids have yet been introduced, but some of the hybrids tested have many good qualities. Characteristics evaluated include plant vigor, ear length, husk cover, kernel sweetness and tenderness, and tolerance to ozone air pollution.

High yields in processing tomatoes depend on a great many factors, not the least of which is good weed control. Weeds compete severely with the tomato, primarily for water and light, and interfere with mechanical harvest. The arsenal of herbicides available for annual weed control in tomatoes is relatively large compared to those for other vegetable crops. However, because tomatoes are planted over a large range of soil types and weather conditions, it is difficult to make accurate general recommendations.

Botrytis fruit rot, commonly known as gray mold rot, is the major fruit rot of southern California strawberries. It is caused by the fungus, Botrytis cinerea, which thrives in wet conditions and cool temperatures. Because tolerance to benomyl by this fungus has been noted in the past several years, trials were initiated to test several other fungicides, alone and in combination with benomyl against B. cinerea.