Topics in Subtropics

Fires are common and we usually just think of the effects it has on plants and structures, but what impact can it have on soil. I recently came across a guide book from the US Forest Service that addresses how to evaluate fire impact on soil. Following wildfires in the United States, the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA/APHIS) and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) expanded the Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly) quarantine in Alameda and Santa Clara counties in California twice in October.

The USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection is one of the most unique collections in the Rare and Special Collections of the National Agricultural Library (NAL).

UC Davis Ag Econ Department has put together a set of crop loss calculators in Excel. They are generic, but also specific to lemon and avocado. If you have had damage from the recent fire, take a look at them.

The very fact that avocados can be grown in hard to get to places means that the trees are also in areas that are subject to wildfire damage. Recently several hundred acres of avocado burned in the Fillmore/Santa Paula foothills. The fire was fanned by high winds and low humidity.