Glyphosate-resistant alfalfa can reduce weed-control costs and potentially improve the quality of your harvested crop. Learn the proper management steps you need to take to help prevent weed shifts and herbicide resistant weeds when planting glyphosate-resistant alfalfa.

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Learn how to grow this sweet, low-fat nut, which is growing in market importance. Includes information on chestnut species and varieties, world consumption patterns, ecomonics, and marketing, as well as site selection, preparation, tree spacing, weed control, fertilization, diseases and pests, pruning, harvest, and storage.

Full Title: Classification of Conservation Tillage Practices in California Irrigated Row Crop Systems. Tillage has been practiced for nearly as long as there has been agriculture. New techniques in use now can reduce erosion and soil damage.

For more than 50 years California farmers have been growing common dry beans, a nutritious food source that stores well and grows on a plant that adds nitrogen to the farmer's soil. Learn the basics of dry bean production in this publication. Note that this revised electronic edition replaces the 1989 print edition, Common Dry Bean Production in California (Publication 21468).

"Conservation tillage" is an approach to soil management that balances the short-term need for a profitable crop with the long-term need for sustainably healthy ground. This publication looks at ways to control weeds while practicing conservation tillage.

Conservation tillage farming systems protect water and soil resources while still letting the grower produce a commercially viable crop. Less tillage also means less labor and equipment time, and that translates into lower overall production costs.

A cover crop is a noncash crop grown in the middles between tree rows and, in some situations, between trees within rows. Cover crops can provide many benefits in orchards and vineyards and have seen increasing use in recent years. This new handbook outlines a step-by-step process for success – including suggested cover crops, orchard factors to consider when choosing a cover crop, how and when to plant, and how to manage the cover crop. Note that this free downloadable release is an unaltered replacement of the for-sale 2006 print edition, Publication 21627.

Furrow and sprinkler irrigation have long been used for California row crops, but drip irrigation now offers a number of advantages, particularly in areas to are subject to excess salts in soil and irrigation water. See if drip is right for your farm.

Alfalfa is California's largest user of agricultural water, with about 1 million acres in production most years. When there's not enough water around, though, it can hit alfalfa growers hard. Here are some strategies that will help you weather a drought.

A hedgerow is a border of trees, shrubs, perennial grasses, forbs, rushes, or sedges that surrounds a farm field and can reduce the effects of wind and water erosion, provide habitat for beneficial insects, and more. Find out if a hedgerow is right for your farm.

Full Title: Establishing Integrated Pest Management Policies and Programs: A Guide for Public Agencies. Adoption of a written IPM plan is an important first step in implementing integrated pest management practices. This publication takes you through the process, step by step.

Basics of cold-weather protection for citrus, avocado, guava, loquat, and other subtropical fruit and nut trees.

Lower elevations of the Sierra Nevada have climate, soil, and drainage characteristics that make ideal growing conditions for certain fruit and nut tree varieties -- and less so for others. Use this guide to choose the best trees for your home orchard!

Learn how to plant, prune, and care for bare-root or countainer-grown fruit trees.

How to rehabilitate that overgrown, untended fruit tree, or decide whether it's worth the effort.

When you reduce the number of young fruit on a tree early in the season, you improve the quality of the remaining fruit at harvest time.

How to prune fruit and nut trees for optimum health and productivity.

Full Title: Getting a Handle on Broom: Scotch, French, Spanish, and Portuguese Brooms in California. Scotch broom and related plants can aid in erosion control and improve soil nitrogen content, but they can also be formidable as weeds. This publication tells how and where broom grows best and gives tips on how to keep it under control.

Everything you need to know about processing cling peaches in California.

California is one of the biggest producers of processing freestone peaches in the world. This little publication gives practical advice on what you need to know (and who you need to ask) before you decide to start your own processing peach orchard.

California is the leading worldwide producer of prunes (dried plums). This publication's information on costs, potential for profits, and other practical considerations will help you determine whether this is the crop for you.

Full Title: Guidelines for Describing Grazing Management & Utilization when Conducting Botanical Surveys. Terms and quantification techniques to help you accurately assess the effects of livestock grazing when you conduct a botanical survey of an area.

Full Title: Harvest Aid Materials and Practices for California Cotton: A Study Guide for Agricultural Consultants and Pest Control Advisers This study guide is for agricultural pest control advisers and others interested in reviewing information regarding harvest aid use in California cotton. Harvest aid chemicals are applied to cotton to increase the rate of leaf loss and desiccation, which allow timely harvesting operations. Using this guide, you can make better decisions on what harvest aid chemicals to use, economic considerations, the timing of applications, what chemicals to apply, and at what rate. You’ll also learn how to include other harvest factors into your decisions, including weather, crop maturity, and environmental conditions.DPR test material (QAL & PCA)This is an unaltered scan of the 2003 print edition, now available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF document.

A herbicide ceases to be a useful tool for farmers when its target weeds develop resistance to its effects. This publication helps you understand resistance: what causes it, and how you can slow or prevent its development.

Honey bees are vital to growing a successful cucurbit crop. Learn about timing, optimum conditions, and contracting with a beekeeper.

Identity preservation (IP) is a system of production, handling, and marketing practices that maintain the integrity of commodities. Crop varieties with unique traits benefit from IP programs that can capture their added value in markets.

Full Title: Irrigation Water Salinity and Crop Production: Farm Water Quality Planning Series. This is reference sheet 9.10 in the Farm Water Quality Planning series. All irrigation water contains dissolved mineral salts, and these can have a profound effect on crop performance. This publication helps you understand the basics of this relationship.

Full Title: Key Points of Control and Management for Microbial Food Safety: Information for Growers, Packers, and Handlers of Fresh-Consumed Horticultural Products. Most commercial produce that we eat is wholesome and disease-free, but it takes some work and attention to keep it that way. Here are some basic steps to remember.

Full Title: Key Points of Control and Management for Microbial Food Safety: Information for Producers, Handlers, and Processors of Melons. Most commercial melons that we eat are wholesome and disease-free, but it takes some work and attention to keep it that way. Here are some basic steps to remember.

Full Title: Key Points of Control and Management of Microbial Food Safety: Information for Producers, Processors, and Handlers of Fresh Market Tomatoes. Most commercially produced tomatoes are wholesome and disease-free, but that result takes a lot of work. Here are some basic steps to remember.

Tillage operations in vegetable production represent time, energy, equipment, and labor costs that can comprise more than 25% of preharvest production expenses. Reduced-tillage, or minimum-tillage, production systems for vegetables have been developed to control costs and optimize soil management.

Basic information for commercial growers, including climatic requirements, varieties, planting, fertilization, harvest, and marketing channels.

A near-ripe citrus fruit that splits on the tree gives a disappointing end to the growing season. Read about likely causes of navel orange split and what you can do to help reduce its occurrence.

This leaflet covers varieties, cultural practices, weed control, harvesting, feeding value, and disease and insect pests in oat hay. This is an unaltered scan of the 1982 print edition, now available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF document.

This publication provides an introductory overview of the properties, applications, known efficacy, and worker exposure and safety consideration of applying ozone in the postharvest environment.

Freezing temperatures can have a devastating effect on tree and vine crop production, if they occur during critical developmental periods. Proper management of your orchard or vineyard before a frost night can minimize potential damage. These management practices, before a frost night, are called "passive protection."This is an unaltered scan of the 1987 print edition, now available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF document.

Covers timing, scion wood selection, and techniques for patch budding onto small and large established trees.

Pears that are weather damaged or otherwise unsaleable need not go entirely to waste: you can still use them as feed for cattle, sheep, or goats. This brief publication gives you the basics on making the best of your fruit tree losses.

Surface scarring can prompt a citrus packinghouse to downgrade fruit from "fancy" to "choice," or even "juice." This publication helps you, the grower, to recognize specific types of scars and their causes so you can prevent costly rind damage in future. 58 color photos; 3,541KB download.

The leafy parts of poison hemlock have some resemblance to those of its relatives carrot, celery, and parsnip, as well as a variety of leafy herbs. It is, however, toxic to humans and other animals. Learn how to manage this vigorous, competitive weed.

The potential for contamination of almonds by harmful organisms increases during harvest when the nuts are dropped to the ground. Learn procedures that can reduce the potential for on-farm contamination of almonds.

The burning of rice straw as agricultural waste is under increasing scrutiny, but growers have to get rid of the stuff somehow. Here are a number of alternative uses for rice straw that can transform it from a liability to an income-producing asset.

Full Title: Sediment Management Goals and Management Practices for Nursery and Floriculture: Farm Water Quality Planning Series This is fact sheet 3.9 in the Farm Water Quality Planning series.

Full Title: Sediment Management Goals and Management Practices for Strawberries: Farm Water Quality Planning Series This is fact sheet 3.12 in the Farm Water Quality Planning series.

Full Title: Stages of the Cottony Cushion Scale (Icerya purchasi) and its Natural Enemy, the Vedalia Beetle (Rodolia cardinalis). Color photos of various life stages of cottony cushion scale and a natural enemy used for its biocontrol, the vedalia beetle. Cottony cushion scale is a pest of citrus and woody ornamentals.

Nonpoint source (NPS), common in agriculture, reaches the environment as runoff from a field, not output from a waste pipe. Its control and regulation are also different from other types of pollution that may seem more familiar.

Strip-tillage, a form of conservation tillage, limits soil disruption to a narrow strip down each planting line, thus helping maintain soil structure and minimize dust. Read about new equipment and techniques, as well as the many benefits of this method.

Conservation tillage (CT) has become an important management tool in production systems throughout the world. Learn how it lessens the environmental impacts of farming in California.

A soil's physical and chemical properties determine whether it is vulnerable to erosion, which can reduce soil quality and cause other problems besides. Learn the basics of identifying what type of erosion is affecting your land and what's causing it.

Irrigated orchards, vineyards, and row crops have high erosion rates. The vegetative filter strip (VFS) offers one way to control erosion rates and keep soil in the field rather than letting it be carried off site in drainage water.

The basic hows and whys of agricultural water use, presented in a way that is useful to non-farmers. This is an unaltered scan of the 1986 print edition, now available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF document.

Basic information for commercial growers, including climatic requirements, varieties, planting, fertilization, harvest, and marketing channels.