Seminars to cover tree crop diseases, squirrels

Area farmers can enhance their knowledge at two Grower Continuing Education seminars scheduled on Monday and on Dec. 12, sponsored by the Sutter County Agriculture Department and UC Cooperative Extension Sutter-Yuba.

Leading off Monday's seminar will be Franz Niederholzer, UC farm adviser for Sutter-Yuba and Colusa, who will review almonds and prunes.

"I'm going to speak on the Navel Orangeworm — there was more pest pressure from the Navel Orangeworm in almonds in 2012 than in 2011 or 2010 — and talk about practices growers can use to reduce damage," said Niederholzer. "I'll also do a little bit on spider mites in tree crops in general."

"And I will give cost-saving tips for dormant sprays for tree crops," he said last week.

Following Niederholzer will be Terry Bechtel of the Regional Water Quality Control Board; Jeff Citron, Matt Baldwin and Sondra Spaethe of the Feather River Air Quality Management District; and Scott Bowden of the Sutter County Ag Department, who will talk about pesticide-use reporting under the CalAg Permit program.

The seminars provide the opportunity for growers to get their hours of continuing education to maintain licensing to spray from the state, according to Jan Kendel of Sutter County Ag. Growers are required by the Department of Pesticide Regulation to have a private applicators certificate. "Crop dusters, ground sprayers and pest control advisers are also welcome and do come to the meetings," she said.

At the Dec. 12 seminar, first up will be Janine Hasey, UC farm adviser for Sutter-Yuba. "I will give an update covering several new diseases in walnuts that we've been seeing since 2010 such as Botryosphaeria canker and blight, Paradox canker, and Anthracnose," she said.

Kendel will follow Hasey, giving an update on dormant spray regulations.

Bill Graves, executive director of Green Planet Plastics of Chico, will give a review of pesticide plastics recycling programs, and Roger Baldwin, of the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center near Fresno, will talk about developing an integrated pest management (IPM) strategy for controlling ground squirrels.

"Squirrels were horrible in 2012," said Kendel, organizer of the seminars, "and any grower who can come to that seminar would learn how to control squirrels."

Kendel said the workshops are well-attended, drawing from 25 to 88 attendees per meeting. "Typically, other counties do one or two a year, but we do four a year — we're over-achievers here," she said.

The two upcoming seminars, both scheduled from 9 a.m.-noon, will be held at the Sutter County Agriculture Department, 142 Garden Highway, Yuba City. There is no charge for admission.