Field visits and one-on-one consultations have long been the hallmark of agriculture cooperative extension and offices have been established in each county to facilitate this. Electronic technology has been developed, however, that no longer makes localized consultations the most efficient or even the most effective means of helping people to solve problems. Most people have smart phones or digital cameras that take excellent pictures they can be sent to us in a short time. Weed identification, herbicide injury diagnosis and other tasks can sometimes be done better with digital pictures then by us visiting the field. If we can’t identify the weed or the symptoms, the pictures can be sent to others who can help. We have a “Veg help” group comprised of over 100 experts in California and Arizona who regularly send each other pictures of problems they need help with. Pictures that we receive can also be filed for future reference. Pictures that are sent should include the same kind of information we would need if we came to the field. If it is a herbicide injury problem, it is helpful to know the cropping and pesticide use history, pesticides used in the vicinity, patterns in the field, soil type etc . Weed identification pictures should include information on where it was found and when. Putting something in the pictures to reference for size is also helpful.

Pictures can be e-mailed to either myself at btickes@ag.arizona.edu or to our vegetable IPM coordinator, Marco Peña at marcop@ag.arizona.edu. They can also be sent to our phones at 928-580-9902(Tickes) or 928-750-7894(Marco).

Click picture to listen to Barry

To contact Barry Tickes go to: btickes@ag.arizona.edu.

For questions or comments on any of the topics please contact Marco Pena at the Yuma Agricultural Center.
College of Agriculture, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.