http://ucanr.org/sites/UCNFA/index4.cfm?blogrss=10592&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed From the UC Blogosphere... en-us UC ANR http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/ Tue, 21 May 2013 11:40:00 PST Tue, 21 May 2013 11:40:00 PST UC ANR I usually can't get within 25 yards of a dragonfly. Not so in our back yard. A flame skimmer or firecracker skimmer (Libellula saturata) has apparently decided that this is where he wants to be. Last Saturday, for nine hours, he perched on a six-foot-high bamboo stake, leaving only for a few seconds at a time to snag a flying insect before returning to eat his prey. The flame skimmer, about a 2.5-inch Odonata, looks prehistoric. In fact, according to a UC Berkeley website, "The oldest......
]]> Mon, 20 May 2013 22:34:52 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10429&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10429 Reporters sought UC Cooperative Extension expertise for recent articles about unusual farming efforts in two parts of California. Fresno Bee reporter Robert Rodriguez covered the story of sisters in their early 20s who have settled on their dad's Laton alfalfa farm after he suffered complications from a black widow bite. The young women purchased chickens on a whim and began producing specialty eggs under the brand name "Just Got Laid." Rodriguez spoke to Shermain Hardesty, UCCE specialist......
]]> Mon, 20 May 2013 09:31:10 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10421&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10421 Managing Animal Pests in Your Garden By Steve McDermott Master Gardener In San Luis Obispo County, our suburban homes rub up against the wilder, normal habitats of our native animal neighbors. Sometimes we interrupt their natural patterns of survival, and often times add attractive alternatives to their food choices. Colorful flowers, nubile sprouts, and fresh fruit often become more attractive to native creatures than their normal faire of wild grasses and scarce foliage. But......
]]> Sat, 18 May 2013 11:44:59 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10401&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Noni Todd http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10401 The lady beetle, aka ladybug, was at the wrong place at the wrong time. We don't know how she managed to get tangled in the cellar spider's web or why the cellar spider opted to have her for dinner instead waiting for a tasty honey bee, a nutritious leafcutter bee or a plump bumble bee. Nevertheless, we came upon this predator-prey attack in our backyard. It was too late to save the ladybug. Ordinarily, the ladybug's bright red coloration serves as a "warning" to predators. Plus, ladybugs......
]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 21:36:28 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10419&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10419 ]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 13:52:09 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10416&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Noni Todd http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10416 Consider the lady beetle, aka ladybug. It's not a bug, but a beetle. It belong to the family Coccinellidae, and scientists have described about 5000 species worldwide, and about 450 in North America. Some quick facts... Ladybugs are not always red with black spots. The colors can be red, yellow, orange, gray, black, brown and pink. And, not all ladybugs have spots. Some have stripes and some have neither spots nor stripes. Coccinellid are omnivores, dining on soft-bodied insects such as......
]]> Thu, 16 May 2013 23:08:20 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10411&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10411 "For many years, beekeepers and environmentally interested individuals have expressed the opinion that the use of neonicotinoid insecticides ("neonics") have interfered with the ability of honey bees and native bees to conduct their life activities properly," begins Extension apicuturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology in his latest edition of his newsletter, from the UC Apiaries. "Since laboratory studies have detailed the disruptive effect on those insects, it was......
]]> Wed, 15 May 2013 19:20:25 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10405&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10405 First steps in setting up an irrigation system By Christina Muller UC Master Gardener What should I know before setting up an irrigation system for my garden? Katie in SLO Living as we do in a Mediterranean climate, water is a valuable resource and for some people it may be the largest annual expenditure in the garden. It makes sense to conserve and apply water as judiciously as possible. A well-planned irrigation system can accomplish this. It is important to first......
]]> Wed, 15 May 2013 12:55:35 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10400&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Noni Todd http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10400 A Sudden Oak Death "Blitz" planned for Sonoma County June 15-16 will prepare local residents to spot infected plants, collect samples from their neighborhoods and submit them for laboratory testing, reported the Kenwood Press. The session is hosted by UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners and Matteo Garbelotto, UCCE specialist in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley. Trees susceptible to sudden oak death include California bay laurel, tan oak, live......
]]> Wed, 15 May 2013 09:23:42 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10390&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10390 Don't ever call the European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) a slow poke. It's not "as fast as a speeding bullet" (Superman), but close. The males, quite territorial, chase away other pollinators, including honey bees, sweat bees and butterflies. The European wool carder bee gets it name from the fact that females collect or "card" leaf fuzz for their nests. Today we watched the bees sip nectar from our catmint blossoms and mate. If you've never seen them in California, that's......
]]> Tue, 14 May 2013 22:25:59 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10389&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10389 The Santa Barbara County 4-H program is raising awareness about the county board of supervisors' plans to cut funding for UC Cooperative Extension, according to reports that appear on the KSBY Channel 6 website and in the Santa Barbara Independent. According to the Independent article, written by Mary Thieleke Jackson, director of the Santa Barbara County 4-H Management Board, a draft budget released Friday, May 10, does not include a county contribution to UC Cooperative Extension. Budget......
]]> Tue, 14 May 2013 10:02:28 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10381&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10381 (Editor's Note: This luncheon has been postponed until October 2013. Details forthcoming) The buzz around the UC Davis campus is a June luncheon. Not just any luncheon, but "A Luncheon in the Garden." The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, directed by Amina Harris, is gearing up for the event, to be held Saturday, June 2 from noon to 3 p.m. in the UC Davis Good Life Garden, by the Robert Mondavi Center for Institute for Wine and Food Science. Its purpose is to introduce and support the......
]]> Mon, 13 May 2013 21:42:57 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10379&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10379 UC Berkeley researchers relied on historical samples of marbled murrelet breast feathers to understand what factors may be impacting the species' survival today, said an article on Crosscut.com. The team compared the ratios of stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in the feathers, which revealed what the birds ate. They learned that, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, murrelets relied heavily on sardines, anchovies and squid. But as decades passed, anchovy, sardine and squid stocks......
]]> Mon, 13 May 2013 10:38:55 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10377&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10377 Bed bugs are quickly becoming major household nuisance pests. California has recently experienced a multitude of bed bug reports, with San Francisco now considered one of the Top 10 most infested cities in the country. Bed bug detection can be very difficult and almost always requires special training since bugs prefer to hide in dark, inaccessible cracks and crevices near their hosts’ resting spots. An experienced pest management professional can examine all possible harborages in a......
]]> Mon, 13 May 2013 09:57:31 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10376&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Ambray@ucdavis.edu(Aubrey Bray) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10376 It was definitely a hot spot. Honey bees foraging last week on a pomegranate tree on Hopkins Road, west of the UC Davis main campus, competed for food on hundreds of blossoms. We counted five honey bees on one blossom alone in what amounted to a pushing/shoving match. Most of the bees probably came from the nearby apiary at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, off Hopkins Road. The pomegranate is an ancient fruit and the honey bee is an ancient insect.......
]]> Fri, 10 May 2013 22:08:48 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10372&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10372 California cherries are now beginning to show up at roadside stands, farmers markets and grocery stores, but the supply in 2013 may be a touch scanty, reported Reed Fujii in the Stockton Record. Joe Grant, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in San Joaquin County, said the cherry crop is light throughout the area, across orchards and varieties. "That rules out orchard-to-orchard factors, management factors or disease factors," he said. Crop losses are often weather-related, but early frosts, or......
]]> Fri, 10 May 2013 09:33:22 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10362&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10362 Saturday, May 11 is "Moth-ers Day" at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis. Moth-ers Day? Yes, moths have mothers, too! The open house, free and open to the public, will take place at the Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. The focus is on moths, and moths of all sizes, shapes, colors and patterns will be displayed, said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. Most moths are......
]]> Thu, 09 May 2013 21:40:51 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10353&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10353 Despite light rain earlier this week, it appears the Butte and Glenn county rice industry is getting seeds in the ground during the ideal planting window, reported the Chico Enterprise Record. The ideal time for planting rice is May 1-15, said Randall "Cass" Mutters, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Butte County. As the date gets later, farmers will end up with a later harvest. Fall weather is more unpredictable and farmers could end up harvesting in the mud. Last year, farmers were still......
]]> Thu, 09 May 2013 09:41:30 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10346&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10346 If you think that every insect on a flower is a honey bee, you should see what the UC Davis Department of Entomology is showcasing at the Dixon May Fair, May 9-12. You'll not only see honey bees in a bee observation hive, but specimens of bumble bees, cuckoo bees, carpenter bees, long-horned bees, squash bees, plasterer bees, mining bees, leafcutter bees, wool carder bees and sweat bees. The exhibit is in the Southard Floriculture Building on the May Fair grounds, located at 655 S. First......
]]> Wed, 08 May 2013 22:25:20 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10344&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10344 I notice moths flying around my oak tree, should I be concerned? Ann M. Atascadero By Andrea Peck Master Gardener The small grey or tan moths that you see flitting about your oak tree are likely the oak moth. About ½ inch in length with pronounced wing veins, the moths are commonly seen during the fall and summer months. Two to three dozen tiny white eggs are laid on the underside of the leaves; eggs turn pink to brown before hatching. The larva that emerges is known as......
]]> Wed, 08 May 2013 11:07:05 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10340&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Noni Todd http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10340 A day in the life of a single worker bee... A honey bee tumbles off the flowering catmint (Nepeta) and struggles to right herself. Her wings tattered, her body battered, she does not buzz away. Perhaps she is approaching the end of her six-week lifespan--three weeks working inside the hive and three weeks working outside the hive. Bee scientists say that worker bees literally work themselves to death. As a forager, she likely made about 40 trips a day gathering nectar and pollen. Forty......
]]> Tue, 07 May 2013 22:25:49 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10337&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10337 To feed the growing world population, farmers will have to produce more food in the next 40 years than they have in the last 10,000, according to an op-ed piece published in the Modesto Bee and written by Barbara Allen-Diaz, vice president of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Don Bransford, chair of the UC President's Advisory Commission on Agriculture and Natural Resources and a partner in Bransford Farms in Colusa. The article was written to bring attention to the fact that, despite......
]]> Tue, 07 May 2013 10:21:03 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10333&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10333 It's not "Rise and Shine!" any more. It's "Sparkle and Shine." "Sparkle and Shine," a yellow rose related to the Julia Child Rose, drew quite a bit of attention at the UC Davis event, "Roses: the "Eyeconic Weekend," sponsored May 4-5 by the California Center for Urban Horticulture (CCUH) at Foundation Plant Services, 455 Hopkins Road, west of the central campus. Participants loved it--and so did the honey bees. The bees--probably from the nearby Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research......
]]> Mon, 06 May 2013 23:18:00 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10331&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10331 The nearly 30-member 2013 class of California Naturalists in Mendocino County participated in a field day Saturday at the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center, reported the Ukiah Daily Journal. The University of California's California Naturalist program aims to host courses around the state to train outdoor enthusiasts on a variety of topics, such as plants, animals, water resources and geology. The Mendocino Program focuses on the local mixed oak woodland. "The goal of the program is to......
]]> Mon, 06 May 2013 09:56:52 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10326&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10326 We all take short cuts--short cuts around the campus, to the beach, to a favorite restaurant... Honey bees take short cuts, too. We've often watched assorted bumble bees and carpenter bees drill a hole in a long-tubed flower to rob the nectar. And we've watched honey bees benefitting from this behavior. Today we observed a carpenter bee, Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex, engaging in nectar robbing in salvia at the UC Davis Arboretum. Nectar robbing occurs when a bee or other animal......
]]> Fri, 03 May 2013 21:58:44 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10321&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10321 One reason the Napa County wine industry is so successful is its commitment to working together, wrote Paul Franson in an op-ed piece that ran in the Napa Valley Register today. Franson credits frequent industry meetings in the area, where a wealth of information on grape growth and wine production are offered. A recent meeting he cited was a field day last month in which John Roncoroni, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Napa County, took two groups through the Huichica Creek Demonstration......
]]> Fri, 03 May 2013 08:49:39 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10316&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10316 The 40 mile-per-hour howling wind didn't seem to bother the syrphid fly, aka hover fly and flower fly. It clung to a blossom on the tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii, and proceeded to nectar. Its wings sparkled in the morning sun. This is a pollinator and one that's often mistaken for a honey bee. A honey bee it isn't. It's a fly. If you want to read more about them, be sure to check out entomologist Robert Bugg's UC ANR publication, Flower Flies (Syrphidae) and Other Biological......
]]> Thu, 02 May 2013 21:30:08 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10315&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10315 California red scale: The biofix for California red scale was March 11-25 for various areas of the San Joaquin Valley and degree days have been accumulating ever since. Kern County is always warmest and has reached the 550 dd 1st crawler emergence point. The other counties will reach that mark in the next two weeks. It has been an exceptionally warm spring and so we are about 50 degree days ahead of the 30 year average. See my web page for Monday updates.......
]]> Thu, 02 May 2013 09:36:34 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10308&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed eegraftoncardwell@ucanr.edu(Elizabeth Grafton-Cardwell) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10308 I beg your pardonI never promised you a rose gardenAlong with the sunshineThere's gotta be a little rain sometime... So began Joe South in his hit song, "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden," popularized by country singer Lynn Anderson in 1970. That was Joe South's rose garden. What UC Davis has is an eight-acre field of roses, and you're invited to celebrate "Roses: the "Eyeconic Weekend" on Saturday and Sunday, May 4-5. It's a free event, with free training/informational sessions. The best......
]]> Wed, 01 May 2013 21:55:34 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10305&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10305 UC researchers are testing tobacco's potential to be genetically modified in order to produce biofuel, reported Louis Sahagun in the Los Angeles Times' ScienceNow blog. “The beauty of our proposal is that carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere as a byproduct of combustion of these bio-fuels would be captured again by tobacco plants and, through the natural process of photosynthesis, be converted back into fuel," said Anastasios Melis, professor in the Department of Plant and......
]]> Wed, 01 May 2013 08:36:38 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10293&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10293 Thursday, May 2 is a good day to learn about butterflies. That's when butterfly expert Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, will be speak at the Northern California Entomology Society meeting, to be held at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis. The meeting will begin at 9:15 a.m. with registration for club members and guests, and conclude at approximately 2:30 p.m. The group, which meets three times a year, is comprised of......
]]> Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:02:22 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10292&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10292 May is the time to prepare for your summer garden! Terri Sonleitner Law, UC Master Gardener I love the blooms in my garden now, but I know summer is just around the corner. What things should I be doing in my garden in May to prepare for summer? Charla, Atascadero. Gardeners all look forward to May. Plant growth is at its peak, everything seems to be in bloom, and all heat loving summer vegetables can be planted in the vegetable garden. May is a great time to be outside......
]]> Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:31:32 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10279&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Noni Todd http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10279 First identified in California in 2004, the goldspotted oak borer (GSOB), Agrilus auroguttatus, has killed more than 24,000 oak trees in San Diego County since its arrival, probably in the late 1990s. In 2012, it was detected in Riverside County and it is expected to spread northward in the state. The most seriously damaged oaks are those in the red oak group including coast live oak, Quercus agrifolia, and black oak, Q. kelloggi. It also infests canyon live oak, Q. chrysolepis but has......
]]> Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:38:32 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10280&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jggonzales@ucdavis.edu(Jan Gonzales) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10280 It doesn't usually make the 6 o'clock news--or even the 10 o'clock news--but it's trouble. Trouble, indeed. The brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha hales), a native of Asia, was first discovered in the United States in Allentown, Penn., in 2000. Since then, it's been making a big stink. Literally. It's a major agricultural threat that feeds on vegetables and fruit, says UC Davis associate entomologist/chemical entomologist Jeffrey Aldrich. USDA has estimated $21 billion worth of crops......
]]> Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:43:04 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10277&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10277 A settlement between Caltrans and the California Farm Bureau Federation, which resulted in CFBF dismissing a lawsuit against Caltrans about the Willits Bypass Project, includes a long-term wetlands study by UC Davis and UC Cooperative Extension researchers, according to Caltrans and farm bureau press releases issued last week. Caltrans is building a bypass along U.S. Route 101 around the community of Willits. The project will relieve congestion, reduce delays, and improve safety for traffic......
]]> Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:50:26 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10270&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10270 First identified in California in 2004, the goldspotted oak borer (GSOB), Agrilus auroguttatus, has killed more than 24,000 oak trees in San Diego County since its arrival, probably in the late 1990s. In 2012, it was detected in Riverside County and it is expected to spread northward in the state. The most seriously damaged oaks are those in the red oak group including coast live oak, Quercus agrifolia, and black oak, Q. kelloggi. It also infests canyon live oak, Q. chrysolepis but has......
]]> Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:25:01 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10268&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Ambray@ucdavis.edu(Aubrey Bray) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10268 When there's so much pain, grief and sorrow in the world, it's time to shut off the TV, log off the computer, exit the house, and photograph honey bees. Watching honey bees foraging in the tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii, is therapy enough. They are sisters, sisters with a job to do, and so little time to do it. Buzzing from one blossom to another, gathering nectar and pollen, they are a symphony of color, grace and sound, unlike the cacophony that savagely screams from the 10 o'clock news.......
]]> Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:46:28 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10264&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10264 Congrats to “The Bee Team” at the University of California, Davis. The one-of-a-kind team, comprised of five Department of Entomology faculty members, received the coveted team award from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA), for their collaborative work specializing in honey bees, wild bees and pollination issues through research, education and outreach. Their service to UC Davis spans 116 years. The “Bee Team” is comprised of Extension......
]]> Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:19:55 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10255&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10255 The first thing you notice when you walk up to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, are the natives. Native plants, that is. California golden poppies and phacelia are among the plants sharing the "Pollination Habitat" bed. The golden poppies literally light up the landscape. The phacelia, not so much. The next thing you notice are the bumble bees, carpenter bees, honey bees and syrphid flies foraging on the natives. An occasional butterfly......
]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2013 23:01:02 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10238&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10238 On April 22 a field event was held at Lindcove with speakers Joseph Morse from UC Riverside and Jim Cranney from the California Citrus Quality Council. The issue discussed was how California citrus growers are going to prevent fruit from arriving in Korea with live Fuller rose beetle eggs, now that Korea is no longer going to fumigate citrus. Korea will reject citrus shipments if live Fuller rose beetle eggs are found. Speakers suggested that a systems approach that combines several......
]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:19:04 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10232&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed eegraftoncardwell@ucanr.edu(Elizabeth Grafton-Cardwell) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10232 Decisions, decisions... Where's the best spot for the new residents of my garden? I acquired two ladybugs last Saturday during the 99th annual UC Davis Picnic Day. Background: as part of the campuswide celebration, the Department of Entomology annually hosts an all-out bugfest at the Bohart Museum of Entomology and at Briggs Hall. And keeping with the Briggs Hall tradition, the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program gifted picnickers with the treasured ladybugs. Now ladybugs aren't......
]]> Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:36:41 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10231&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10231 Snails and Slugs By Kim McCue Master Gardener Oh, the promise of spring! We’ve scoured seed racks and catalogues, carefully selecting the perfect specimens for our summer garden. When the first green shoots appear, we lovingly water and watch over them only to come out one morning and discover our potential bounty has been decimated in one night. The silver trails left behind by the culprits are like bright, neon arrows pointing to what is now the bane of our existence......
]]> Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:58:04 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9805&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Noni Todd http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9805 “Bumble bees are major contributors to pollination of crops and wildflowers throughout the temperate northern hemisphere. Many species have declined, contributing to fears that we might face a 'pollination crisis.'" So says David Goulson, professor at the University of Stirling, U.K., who will speak on “The Ecology and Conservation of Bumble Bees” on Wednesday, April 24 at a UC Davis Department of Entomology seminar. His seminar, set from 12:05 to 1 p.m. in Room 1022 of the......
]]> Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:28:41 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10224&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10224 In the spirit of Earth Day, the UC Master Gardeners recently did a piece with the County of San Diego in which MG Renee Tepper discusses some of the things you can do to evaluate your current gardening practices and offers up suggestions for other things you can do to make your garden a little more earth-friendly and sustainable. Go to http://www.mastergardenerssandiego.org/sustain/ to take the survey to see if your garden is earth-friendly. It has lots of information and links to improve......
]]> Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:10:31 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10051&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed rkrason@ucanr.edu(Ryan Krason) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10051 UC CalFresh educators took part in a field trip for fourth-graders in Fresno where the children tasted a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, reported Dale Yurong on ABC 30 Action News. "We encourage them to try it and then they try it and wind up liking it," said UC CalFresh nutrition educator Kristi Sharp. "That's a saying that we say - you can't judge it unless you try it." Fresno Unified School District is the state's largest recipient of funds from the fruit and vegetable......
]]> Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:20:59 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9807&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9807 Q. What does it take to make my own compost? -- Eric from Santa Margarita. By Jutta Thoerner Master Gardener Choose a convenient site; keep the compost pile close to your garden in a shady location. Doing so will encourage you to add to the pile and observe its progress. If you only compost garden waste, piles don’t need to be enclosed. Kitchen wastes added to the pile require a sturdy enclosure to prevent animals from digging through the piles. Work with what your yard and......
]]> Sat, 20 Apr 2013 15:46:28 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9803&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Noni Todd http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9803 Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen isn't the only person coordinating a honey tasting at the UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 20. Amina Harris of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center will, too. She's offering honey tasting, along with arts and crafts for kids, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the south building of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science (RMI). And both are free. Mussen will greet folks from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Briggs Hall courtyard as they sample......
]]> Fri, 19 Apr 2013 21:32:23 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9801&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9801 For those that have attended our Water School meetings, the time is finally here! Our new self assessment app "Know Your H20 is now available on the iTunes Store for free! Right now there are only a self assessment for Tree Crops but we will be working in the near future to create sections for Greenhouses & Nurseries, Animal Agriculture, and Commercial Turf & Landscape. We'll let you know as those become available. App Description Water quality laws and regulations are putting a......
]]> Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:19:35 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9792&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed rkrason@ucanr.edu(Ryan Krason) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9792 After the extraordinary explosion at a fertilizer plant in Texas this week, people living in rural agricultural areas are looking around warily to see whether a similar facility might be in their own backyards. The Redding Appeal-Democrat asked Franz Niederholzer, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Sutter and Yuba counties, whether such danger lurks in their community. Niederholzer said ammonium nitrate fertilizer was popular and prevalent until 1995. "It was phased out after the bombing in......
]]> Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:10:25 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9789&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9789 If you don't like lima beans, not to worry. You'll probably like lima bean honey. Lima beans are a honey production crop, and this varietal is one of the six honeys to be sampled at the UC Davis Department of Entomology's free honey-tasting event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 20 at Briggs Hall. It's all part of the 99th annual UC Davis Picnic Day. Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen has been staffing the activitity at the UC Davis Picnic Day for more than three decades. Every......
]]> Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:21:35 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9785&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9785 There's no doubt about it. Bugs will rule at the 99th annual UC Davis Picnic Day this Saturday, April 20. The UC Davis Department of Entomology is planning lots of "bug" activities as part of the campuswide celebration. Visitors to Briggs Hall and the Bohart Museum of Entomology will find much to do and see from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey, coordinator of the department’s Picnic Day activities, says there will be cockroach races, termite trails, ant......
]]> Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:41:23 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9778&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9778 UC Cooperative Extension range research was featured at a field day Saturday in Tehama County, reported Julie Johnson in the Corning Observer. Josh Davy, UCCE advisor in Tehama County, reviewed test plots were 60 varieties of annual and perennial range grasses were growing. Ken Tate, UCCE specialist, and Leslie Roche, postdoctoral researcher, both in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, gave an update on their long-term grazing research projects evaluating the effects of multiple......
]]> Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:46:08 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9772&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9772 If you're a research scientist studying the malaria mosquito, or interested in genomics, you'll want to attend a seminar on Wednesday, April 17 at the University of California, Davis. Bradley White, assistant professor at UC Riverside, will speak on “Ecological Genomics of Malaria Mosquitoes” at the UC Davis Department of Entomology seminar from 12:05 to 1 p.m. in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Building, corner of Hutchison and Kleiber Hall drives. Professor Gregory Lanzaro of the......
]]> Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:11:27 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9768&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9768 The "Roadside Attractions" column in the Santa Maria Times today comments on the increasing number of hoop houses seen along Santa Barbara County highways and byways. Hoop houses, long white tents also known as tunnels, shelter raspberries, the article said. “There’s been a dramatic increase in berry growing in the county,” said Mark Gaskell, UC Cooperative Extension advisor for San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. Hoop houses essentially serve as mini-greenhouses.......
]]> Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:58:17 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9760&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9760 Some folks call them "mosquito hawks" or "skeeter eaters" or "blood suckers." They're not. None of the above. Crane flies, in the family Tipulidae, don't prey on mosquitoes and they don't suck blood. These slender, long-legged insects remind us of runway models. Thin. Demure. Fragile. Any similarity, though, ends when you see them fly. They fly rather clumsily, wobbly even. You've probably seen them around your home, garden or business office. If you do, they're easy to photograph!...
]]> Mon, 15 Apr 2013 22:23:50 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9758&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9758 Citizen scientists are once again beginning their annual Northern California search for signs of Sudden Oak Death, reported Lisa Krieger in the San Jose Mercury-News. Volunteers were trained in Santa Cruz on Friday and training sessions are planned for Orinda, Berkeley, San Francisco, Saratoga, Burlingame, Woodside, Atherton and Los Altos Hills. "This outreach is really important because it not only teaches people how to look for the disease, but it also helps them to monitor for it in their......
]]> Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:15:58 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9751&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9751 So far, the impact of climate change on San Joaquin County hasn't been apparent, reported Reed Fujii in the Stockton Record. The story said Paul Verdegaal, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in San Joaquin County, has been tracking local crop and weather data for 30 years and to date has seen only normal year-to-year variability. "There's no particular trend in early bud break (in vineyards); there's no particular change in earlier harvest," Verdegaal said. "I haven't seen any hint of a trend,......
]]> Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:11:24 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9750&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9750 What about those Africanized honey bees? Where are they located in California? Hollywood movie refer to them as "killer bees." Ditto, the news media. "The known natural distribution of Africanized honey bees (AHB) in California is along a line that runs diagonally from northeastern Tulare County to southwestern San Luis Obispo County, then south to Mexico," says Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology. "A colony of AHB was found in Madera County following......
]]> Fri, 12 Apr 2013 20:56:49 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9746&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9746 Since the development and launch of ANR’s Strategic Vision 2025, the division has identified five initiatives that represent the best opportunities for ANR’s considerable infrastructure and talent to seek new resources and new ways of partnering within and outside UC to find solutions for California. Click on link below to learn more. http://ucanr.edu/sites/StrategicInitiatives/...
]]> Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:39:12 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9742&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed rkrason@ucanr.edu(Ryan Krason) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9742 You can't always choose your tenants. Sometimes they choose you. Take the case of our two bee condos, which are blocks of wood drilled with holes for native bee occupancy. One, with the smaller holes, is for leafcutter bees (Megachile spp.) The other, with the larger holes, is for blue orchard bees (Osmia lignaria), fondly known as BOBs. The leafcutter bees were the first to occupy the bee housing. At one time we had 16 leafcutter bees and one earwig. The blue orchard bee condo now has......
]]> Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:29:13 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9738&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9738 Mark your calenders! The Honey and Pollination Center at the University of California, Davis, is planning a "Luncheon in the Garden" on Sunday, June 2 from noon to 3 p.m. in the Good Life Garden at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science on campus. It promises to be a delightful afternoon. Executive director Amina Harris says it will be a "dazzling five-course meal from appetizers to cheese and desserts. Each course features honeys from around the globe." The luncheon, open......
]]> Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:32:06 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9731&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9731 His talk should draw a good crowd. Claudio Gratton, associate professor in the Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, will speak on “Sustainable Bioenergy Landscapes: Can We Balance Our Need for Production and Biodiversity?” at a UC Davis Department of Entomology seminar on Wednesday, April 10. His seminar will take place from 12:05 to 1 p.m. in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Addition, corner of Hutchison and Kleiber Hall drives. Katharina Ullmann of the Neal Williams......
]]> Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:30:33 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9726&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9726 Aphids – First in the “Pest Parade”By Lee Oliphant Master Gardener The first garden pests to make their appearance in the spring are often the group known as “sucking” insects. First in the parade of “sap suckers”are aphids. Attracted to tender new growth, these pear-shaped, soft-bodied insects are about 1/8” in length. Adults are generally wingless, but produce wings at the end of the growing season, or when populations are high.The......
]]> Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:13:54 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9725&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Noni Todd http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9725 Don't ever underestimate the threat of dengue. The mosquito-borne viral disease known as “breakbone fever,” is three times more prevalent than originally thought, according to a research paper published today in Nature and co-authored by dengue expert Thomas Scott of UC Davis. In their research paper, titled “The Global Distribution and Burden of Dengue,” Scott and the 17 other team members estimated that 350 million people are infected each year--more than triple the......
]]> Mon, 08 Apr 2013 21:38:26 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9724&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9724 Most people have never seen the walnut twig beetle, a tiny insect that spreads a fungal pathogen that kills walnut trees. No wonder. The insect, measuring about 1.5 millimeters long, is much smaller than a grain of rice. Now, however, they can see a teddy-bear-sized version, thanks to a University of California, Davis entomology major Kristina Tatiossian, a member of the Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology. Through the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, Tatiossian, a junior,......
]]> Fri, 05 Apr 2013 21:18:14 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9720&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9720 Having Fun Growing Veggies with Kids! by Steve McDermott Master Gardener Q: I like vegetable gardening and I want to get my children involved with me. Do you have any ideas for helping me? A: You are already on your way since you like gardening and young kids naturally model their parent’s behavior. But you can get them really excited by making gardening fun! What do young kids naturally think is fun to do outside? Play in soil, play with water, and show off their......
]]> Fri, 05 Apr 2013 10:49:10 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9703&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Noni Todd http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9703 It's exciting to see a promising career unfold. We first met UC Davis graduate student Alex Van Dam in 2010 when he received a $12,000 award from the University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States (UC MEXUS), an academic research institute dedicated to encouraging, securing, and contributing to binational and Latino research and collaborative academic programs and exchanges. Then later in 2010 he received a Robert and Peggy van den Bosch Memorial Scholarship for his......
]]> Thu, 04 Apr 2013 22:23:09 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9699&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9699 At the World Ag Expo in February, nine states had booths designed to recruit California dairy operators out of the Golden State, reported the Los Angeles Times. South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard himself made a personal appeal for the state, where ag officials estimate that a single dairy cow creates $15,000 in economic activity each year. In recent years, an average of 100 California dairies have closed annually, said Leslie "Bees" Butler, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the......
]]> Thu, 04 Apr 2013 10:06:45 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9686&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9686 We applaud the groundbreaking news this week from the Bruce Hammock laboratory at the University of California, Davis. In research led by postdoctoral researcher Zuodong Zhang, a team of 16 scientists discovered a key mechanism by which dietary omega-3 fatty acids (fish oils) could reduce the tumor growth and spread of cancer, a disease that kills some 580,000 Americans a year. The research is published today (April 3) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). They......
]]> Wed, 03 Apr 2013 21:41:06 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9684&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9684 The aphids know how to plan a family reunion. Grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, mom and pop, brothers and sisters, cousins and more cousins--they're all gathering to feed on the lush growth of the spring roses, the juicy shoots, the tender buds. And they multiply. You think rabbits multiply fast? Try aphids. A telltale sign of their presence: Crumpled white carcasses and leaves coated with sticky honeydew. A strong blast of water and the aphids are gone. Well, at least some of them. We......
]]> Tue, 02 Apr 2013 22:22:04 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9674&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9674 UC Cooperative Extension in Humboldt County is asking local artists to submit their work for its "Art and Agriculture" show and auction, an event that is part of the 100th anniversary of the organization, said an article published in the Times-Standard. Humboldt County was the location of California's first UCCE office, opened in 1913. The program later spread across the state with the passage of the Smith-Lever Act in 1914. According to the article, the Humboldt Centennial is “a......
]]> Tue, 02 Apr 2013 09:35:50 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9667&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9667 In February--the afternoon of Feb. 8 to be exact--Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology told us that California almond growers may not have enough honey bees to pollinate this year’s crop of 800,000 acres. He attributed the difficulty to winter losses and less populous hives. He sounded the alarm. “We need 1.6 million colonies, or two colonies per acre, and California has only about 500,000 colonies that can be used for that purpose,”......
]]> Mon, 01 Apr 2013 22:06:51 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9665&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9665 Insects outnumber us on this earth. And they always will. By the millions. Penny Gullan and and Peter Cranston, emeritus professors of entomology at the University of California, Davis, wrote in their textbook, The Insects (Wiley Blackwell) that "Although there are millions of kinds of insects, we do not know exactly (or even approximately) how many. This ignorance of how many organisms we share our planet with is remarkable considering that astronomers have listed, mapped and uniquely......
]]> Fri, 29 Mar 2013 22:17:08 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9652&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9652 Honey bees favor assorted plants, including lavenders, mints, salvias, asters, borage, wild roses, echiums, clover, fireweed, goldenrod and phacelia, but have you ever seen them on a Japanese maple? Our Japanese maple is flowering in our backyard, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by the honey bees. The colorful tree, (Acer palmatum), coveted for its colorful red leaves, stretches over our fish pond, providing a little shade for the goldfish. I took this photo in the late afternoon with a......
]]> Thu, 28 Mar 2013 22:29:40 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9650&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9650 Please join the Statewide Master Gardener Program and the California Center for Urban Horticulture for a day of Citrus and Avocados. We'll be in Davis on April 13th, in Los Angeles on May 17th and in Riverside on May 18th. Registration is only $20 (includes lunch)! Learn more and register here: http://ccuh.ucdavis.edu/events/citrus/citrus. Workshop includes information about grafting, pruning, varieties, and pest management. See you there!...
]]> Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:28:38 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9646&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed acrump@ucdavis.edu(Amanda Crump) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9646 What are some garden tasks that I should take care of in April? Laura H By Christina Muller, Master Gardener Spring has truly arrived on the Central Coast in April. This is a month of abundant bloom; annuals planted last fall are bursting with flowers and many perennials are starting to bloom as well. The weather and soil are warming up and it’s an ideal time to be out in the garden. You can plant vegetables now. Fast growers such as radishes and lettuce can be......
]]> Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:20:40 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9644&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Noni Todd http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9644 It's apple blossom time. Whether you wait for it, or the bees wait for it, it's here. Albert Von Tilzer and Neville Fleeson wrote the popular song, "(I'll Be With You) in Apple Blossom Time" back in 1920 and then everyone from Artie Shaw to Harry James to the Andrews Sisters to Nat King Cole owned it. But if you take a look at the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, you know who owns the blossoms--the bees. Along the haven's Orchard Alley, the almonds and plums......
]]> Wed, 27 Mar 2013 21:59:11 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9635&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9635 Rising demand for Asian vegetables in urban areas of California is creating an improved market for produce grown by the San Joaquin Valley's Asian farmers, reported Yu Wei in the San Francisco-based China Daily. Richard Molinar, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Fresno County, told the reporter that demand is driving increased cultivation of Asian vegetables in Fresno County. "We have around 50 to 75 Chinese farmers here in Fresno County and over 2,000 acres of Chinese crops selling locally......
]]> Wed, 27 Mar 2013 10:17:52 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9628&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9628 It promises to be a lively discussion. UC Davis entomologist Bruce Hammock, distinguished professor of entomology, will speak on “From Butterflies to Blood Pressure and Beyond: Is It Possible to Get a Drug to the Clinic with a University’s Help?” at a Science Café session set Wednesday, April 3 at 5:30 p.m. in Crepeville, 330 3rd St., Davis. The session, open to the public and billed as “a conversation with Professor Bruce Hammock,” will be hosted by the......
]]> Tue, 26 Mar 2013 21:04:48 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9627&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9627 One of TV's popular programs is "Dancing with Stars." The reality show pairs celebrities with professional ballroom dancers in a competition to win the mirror-ball trophy. But have you ever seen honey bees working the Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas)? The bees seem to be dancing the Flamenco, partnering with the purple spiked blossoms. We took these photos last weekend at the Loch Lomond Marina in San Rafael. The flowers swayed in the gentle breeze as the bees went about their work.......
]]> Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:19:08 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9610&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9610 Pheromone traps put out at the end of February help determine when the male California red scales begin to fly. Each orchard is slightly different, depending on orientation, density of trees and location in the valley (Kern is quite a bit warmer than Madera). We trap for scales in Tulare County, and call around for biofixes in the other counties. Our web page shows county-wide biofixes of March 18 for Kern, March 25 for Tulare, and likely April 1 for Fresno and Madera.......
]]> Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:43:09 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9605&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed eegraftoncardwell@ucanr.edu(Elizabeth Grafton-Cardwell) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9605 The 80-member San Joaquin Valley Quality Cotton Growers Association has leased the 80-acre Shafter research station from Kern County, recruited University of California researchers and initiated talks with the Kern Community College District and a number of private groups to bring cotton research back to the historic facility, reported John Cox in the Bakersfield Californian. In addition, ag companies are expressing interest in using some of the station's vacant greenhouses, labs, storage......
]]> Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:23:54 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9599&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9599 ]]> Mon, 25 Mar 2013 09:45:34 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9601&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed acrump@ucdavis.edu(Amanda Crump) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9601 From a trickle to a flood. But why? Professor James R. Carey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology will tell you why. He will discuss the invasion of tropical fruit flies in California at his seminar from 12:05 to 1 p.m., Wednesday, April 3 in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Addition, corner of Hutchison and Kleiber Hall drives. Carey's seminar, titled "From Trickle to Flood: The Large-Scale, Cryptic Invasion of California by Tropical Fruit Flies," is the first in the department's......
]]> Fri, 22 Mar 2013 21:11:52 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9596&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9596 Construction is scheduled to begin April 1 on the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources new home in Davis, reported Jeff Hudson in the Davis Enterprise. The facility is a former indoor sports center. Following retrofit construction to ensure the interior is LEED-certified, ANR is slated to move in before the end of this year, the article said. “ANR is a statewide program, with programmatic staff in 57 of California’s counties. But the bulk of our (administrative) operations have......
]]> Fri, 22 Mar 2013 09:46:34 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9592&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9592 What's red and black with yellow all over? Ladybugs, aka lady beetles or ladybird beetles, laying their yellow eggs. It's a sure sign of spring when aphids emerge, and ladybugs feast on them. One ladybug can reportedly eat 5000 aphids in its lifetime. That's a lot of aphids! Meanwhile, the aphids in the fava beans at the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly garden on Bee Biology Road, University of California, Davis, are doing their part. The garden, located next to......
]]> Thu, 21 Mar 2013 22:27:03 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9588&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9588 ]]> Thu, 21 Mar 2013 10:56:50 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9576&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed mmurrietta@co.slo.ca.us(Maria Murrietta) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9576 From toe biters to flame skimmers... That's what visitors will see on "Aquatic Insect Day" on Sunday, March 24 at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis. Toe biters (giant water bugs) and flame skimmers (dragonflies) are just some some of the aquatic insects to be featured at the open house from 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 1124 Academic Surge, Crocker Lane. The event is free and open to the public. The toe biters belong to the Belostomatidae family of insects in the order......
]]> Wed, 20 Mar 2013 22:03:55 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9572&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9572 Q. I’ve heard about the Asian Citrus Psyllid. What is it and how can I prevent it? By Andrea Peck Master Gardener A. The Asian citrus psyllid is a tiny pest that packs a wallop. Generally classified as a minor nuisance because of its predilection for eating the new leaves and stems of citrus trees, the Asian citrus psyllid has gained a devastating reputation because of its susceptibility to Huanglongbing (HLB) disease. HLB causes leaves to yellow and fruit to become......
]]> Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:15:12 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9566&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Noni Todd http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9566 That should be easy to do. There's so much to say. One hour. Entomologist/artist Diane Ullman, associate dean for undergraduate academic programs in the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and professor of entomology, will be interviewed for an hour-long program on the Insect News Network, a Davis-based radio station, on Wednesday, March 20. Emmett Brady, founder of the Insect News Network, KDRT 95.7 FM, and host of the “Wednesday Science Doubleplay,”......
]]> Tue, 19 Mar 2013 21:20:46 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9562&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9562 Scientists need more information about how farmers use nitrogen fertilizers before the state imposes new regulations, reported Tim Hearden in Capital Press. Hearden's story was based on a study published in California Agriculture journal. Nearly 600,000 tons of nitrogen fertilizer is sold in California each year, but sales figures are not an accurate indicator of how it is used. Imposing regulations without supporting data could fail to address the problem while damaging agriculture, said Tom......
]]> Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:19:19 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9555&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9555 It was a perfect St. Patrick's Day--not just for the wearing of the green, but for the wearing of the orange. The Gulf Fritillary butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) arrived in our yard Sunday afternoon, March 16 and deposited an egg, just like E. Bunny will do soon. The Gulf Frit's host plant is the Passiflora or passion flower vine. Last winter Jack Frost nipped at the leaves and nearly killed one of our two plants but they're both springing back. The butterfly first touched down on an Amaryllis......
]]> Mon, 18 Mar 2013 21:52:08 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9553&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9553 Drought, population growth and salty soils are problems that may cause worldwide food shortages in the coming decades, reported Edward Ortiz in the Sacramento Bee. These are problems that will be addressed by scientists and policymakers at the Climate-Smart Agriculture Global Science Conference at UC Davis this week. For the story, Ortiz interviewed Eduardo Blumwald, professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, one of the conference speakers. Blumwald believes many of the......
]]> Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:58:22 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9547&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9547 UC Cooperative Extension's nutrition education programs were the feature of freelance writer Don Curlee's "Ag At Large" column last week. The column appears in a variety of publications, including the Hanford Sentinel, the Stockton Record, the (Sutter-Yuba) Appeal Democrat and Capital Press. Curlee's article noted that UCCE has, "Knowledgeable, trained advisors ... on hand locally ... to help with meal planning, wise shopping, individual diet planning and overall nutritional health." The......
]]> Mon, 18 Mar 2013 09:24:58 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9540&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9540 It's a sure sign of spring when we see "the teddy bear bee." Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, calls the male Valley carpenter bee (Xylocopa varipuncta) "the teddy bear bee." An apt description, to be sure. It's gold with green eyes and is often mistaken for "a golden bumble bee." It isn't. It's a carpenter bee. The female of the species is solid black. Yes, they're pollinators. Thorp netted one of the teddy......
]]> Fri, 15 Mar 2013 21:50:35 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9534&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9534 It's truly amazing how the study of insect biology can lead to research that may benefit humankind. Take entomologist Bruce Hammock, distinguished professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis. Forty years ago, while studying insect development, he discovered a group of anti-inflammatory compounds called sEH (soluble epoxide hydrolases) inhibitors. In 2005 he began collaborating with cardiologist and cell biologist Nipavan Chiamvimonvat of the School of Medicine’s......
]]> Thu, 14 Mar 2013 21:23:55 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9526&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9526 The Statewide Master Gardener Program has once again partnered with the California Center for Urban Horticulture, this time to bring you Advanced Citrus and Avocado training! The Your Sustainable Backyard: Citrus and Avocoado Series will be hosted in three locations in the upcoming weeks and will explore citrus and avocado varieties for the home garden, maintenance and upkeep, and special information on the pests that wreak havoc on citrus and avocados. Special focus will be given to invasive......
]]> Thu, 14 Mar 2013 09:52:43 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9519&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Ambray@ucdavis.edu(Aubrey Bray) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9519 Ever watched an in-flight honey bee packing her load of pollen? A foraging bee carries her ball-like load of pollen on her hind legs and continually moistens it with a little nectar. The size and shape changes as she works. Sometimes you'll see BB-sized loads and at other times the pellets seem as large as beach balls. The color varies, depending on the color of the pollen she collects. In the UC Agricultural and Natural Resources (UC ANR) publication, Beekeeping in California, (now out of......
]]> Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:14:31 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9514&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9514 It was a gorgeous day to be out in an almond orchard. Staff research associate Billy Synk of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, University of California, Davis was out tending the research bees earlier placed in two Dixon almond orchards. Volunteer Randall Cass, who is seeking his master’s degree in international agricultural development at UC Davis, accompanied Synk on his rounds. Cass has previous experience working with beekeepers in Chile. And the Laidlaw bees?......
]]> Tue, 12 Mar 2013 21:44:03 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9501&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9501 Sahara mustard, a resilient weed native to North Africa and the Mediterranean, is invading desert landscapes in the American Southwest, squeezing out beautiful wildflower displays that attract tourists and maintain the local ecology, reported the San Diego Union Tribune. UC Cooperative Extension is testing methods of removing Sahara mustard, including hand weeding, hoes and herbicide. But these are only stopgap measures meant to keep the plant at bay in select spots. “I don’t......
]]> Tue, 12 Mar 2013 13:01:53 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9492&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucanr.edu(Jeannette Warnert) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9492