Agriculture

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mike Shore
Topics in Subtropics: Article

Mike Shore Passes - Thanks For His Help

July 8, 2021
By Ben A Faber
People rise to the occasion all the time. Mike Shore was a good farmer who helped other farmers. If you had cherimoyas or sapotes or Meyer lemons from a small farm and didnt know how to pack and market them, he would jump in and do the work.
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overhead irrigation 2
Topics in Subtropics: Article

Why and How to Cool Avocado Trees

July 7, 2021
By Ben A Faber
If you missed the recent UC/CAS/CAC grower meeting on cooling avocado trees or just want to review the enormous amount of information or just want to wander other grower's orchards, Here is the video of the presentations: Speaker & Topic: Giulia Marino, UC Davis Tree Physiologist - How Heat Affects...
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leaf roller avocado
Topics in Subtropics: Article

No Longer a New Pest

July 2, 2021
By Ben A Faber
This article was first posted in July of 2020 when it wasn't clear what this leaf roller/leaf miner was going to do. In the last couple of weeks I have heard from two PCAs from Ventura saying that they are having to spray for it. So, it is back and it is probabl6y going to hang around for a while.
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A female sunflower bee, Svastra obliqua expurgata, forages on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Life Is Not Always Sunny for the Sunflower Bee

July 1, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Life is not always sunny for the sunflower bee, Svastra obliqua, a native longhorned bee. The gals have trouble foraging when a male longhorned bee, Melissodes agilis, targets them. The male M. agilis are very territorial--and their kamikaze-like maneuvers are spectacular.
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