The following chart of Arizona Vegetable acreage in 2012 illustrates that lettuce was clearly the major vegetable crop ( 65,200 ac.) followed by melons (21,700), spinach (8000), broccoli (7400), cauliflower (3600), and cabbage(2800). Romaine (19,900) and leaf lettuce (8700) accounted for almost half of the total lettuce acreage with head lettuce (36,600) being the remainder.

There are relatively few herbicides registered for any of the vegetable crops. While there are 25 herbicides registered for cotton, 20 for alfalfa and 16 for wheat, there are only 5 registered for head lettuce, 7 for Cole crops and 6 for melons. There are only 4 registered for romaine and leaf lettuce which is fewer than have been registered for these crops at any time over the last 45 years.

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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.