Pests

St. Patrick’s Day makes us think about shamrocks and all things green. With recent warm weather following winter rains, your lawn or garden might be dressing up for Saint Patrick’s Day and Spring with clovers and other weeds.  Clovers begin to germinate in the fall and continue throughout winter…

Have you seen white powdery-looking patches appearing on the leaves of your roses or sycamore trees? While home gardeners may be familiar with this sign of the plant disease powdery mildew on their veggies, ornamental plants and landscape trees can also be infected. In addition to those powdery spots, the…

This week (February 23-27, 2026) is National Invasive Species Awareness Week (NISAW), an event dedicated to raising awareness about invasive species, the threats they pose, and how we can slow their spread. When it comes to invasive species, your actions can have a big impact! What Can You Do? Take…

Winter rains and damp conditions in many parts of California may have brought a surprise visitor to your lawn: mushrooms! A few mushrooms sprouting in your lawn can be a good sign: it means there's plenty of organic matter in the soil. But if patches of mushrooms are sprinkled across your lawn, something…

From the UC IPM Urban and Community team, we’d like to wish you a happy holiday season! As we reflect on this past year, we’d like to express our gratitude to all of you for joining us to learn about pest management around the home and garden.  This year, we’ve connected with you in various ways:…

The black stuff on your leaves is likely sooty moldThe black stuff on your leaves is probably sooty mold, a fungal disease growing on plants and other surfaces, and it is often seen in the spring and summer. The leaves or stems have a black coating that looks like soot. If you look closely, it is growing…

This week, we shared information about important invasive species, what to do if you find them, and how you can help prevent their spread. To wrap up California Invasive Species Action Week, we’d like to highlight a few key takeaways: Don’t pack or plant a pest Whether you’re traveling or gardening…