Last week (December 1, 2010), the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) registered the soil fumigant Midas for use in the state following months (years) of controversy and protests.
Early winter is is a good time of year to talk about another landscape weed problem - catchweed bedstraw (Galium aperine) also known as cleavers in much of the rest of the world (among many other names).
Although somewhat self serving (isn't that part of what a blog is?), I thought I'd post a link to an article about the the Weed Science group at UC Davis.
Date: November 30, 2010 Time: 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM Contact: Student Services staff is available M-F, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Phone: (800)752-0881 From Davis or Woodland (530)757-8777 Sponsor: UC Davis Extension Location: Da Vinci Building Address: 1632 Da Vinci Ct. Davis, CA Web site: http://extension.ucdavis.
Over the last few years, several of my UC Davis, CSU-Fresno, and USDA-ARS collaborators and I have been involved in research related to using steam heat to thermally disinfest soil as an alternative to methyl bromide fumigation.