Pests & Diseases

Please join us for the 2025 Lettuce Fusarium Wilt Trial Field Day in Soledad - August 26, 2025 10 am - 12 pm. Trials include variety evaluations, steam treatment evaluations, and fungicide evaluations. Pre-registration is strongly suggested. Please see full article for additional info and directions.

While bringing firewood from home for your weekend camping trip may seem harmless, many invasive pests can hide in firewood and cause serious harm to California’s forests and urban landscapes. You can help limit the spread of these unwanted hitchhikers by collecting or buying firewood close to where you plan…

General outlook & thrips populationAs planting wraps up, temperatures remain similar to long-term averages. Thrips population predictions are similar to last week’s update. Generation 2 adults peaked a couple weeks ago; generation three adults are predicted to peak 6/8.  The 3rd and 4th…

When you spot a plant in your garden that doesn’t look healthy, how do you figure out what’s wrong with it? Plant problems can be caused by insects, mites, vertebrates, environmental conditions, and diseases, but it can sometimes be hard to tell which is causing the problem. UC IPM's Plant Problem…

Bermuda buttercup (Oxalis pes-caprae), also called buttercup oxalis or sourgrass, might be a familiar sight in winter and spring, particularly to those who live in coastal regions or the Sacramento Valley. Some people enjoy seeing this plant’s cheerful yellow flowers pop up in their spring gardens, but for…

General situationThe oldest tomatoes have been in ground for more than a month, and planting is progressing rapidly. The warm weather in the past two weeks has pushed thrips population projections forward by a few days compared to the last report. Thrips populationFirst-generation adults are still…