The California Dry Bean Advisory Board is requesting applied research proposals for 2021. This commodity-based research request is sponsored by the California Dry Bean Marketing Order, under the guidance of CDFA (CA Dept Food & Ag).
A question came up about managing root-knot nematodes in processing tomato and lima bean rotations. Root-knot nematodes are tiny worm-like soil dwelling pests that cause root galling on plant roots, resulting in significant yield and quality losses.
We cut our blackeye bean (cowpea) research plots at UC Davis almost 3 weeks ago and they're still too green to harvest. If we tried now, the vines would get wrapped around the threshing cylinder.
Last week, I visited a baby lima field in the southwest part of San Joaquin County that had overall poor pod set. Pods were filling lower in the canopy, but flowers had not set higher on the plants.