Pest Management & Plant Health

While we continue to spend more time than usual indoors, you may have noticed a few unexpected (and perhaps unwanted) co-occupants like ants, cockroaches, or mice.

Agricultural Extension specialist Ian Grettenberger, coordinator of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's seminars, has announced the list of the virtual seminars for the winter quarter. All seminars will be held on Wednesdays at 4:10 PM (PST).

Invasive pests threaten California's natural environments, agricultural production, structures, landscapes and gardens, causing billions of dollars of damage to our agricultural systems and natural areas each year.

It's a cold winter's day here in the Central Valley. But instead of curling up in a cozy chair with a cup of tea, I'm out in my garden, planning and prepping for my spring planting. For me, this is the fun part, walking the gardens, looking at the raised beds, empty pots, and bare earth.

It's good to see the University of California's Office of the President award a three-year $900,000 grant to four UC Davis campuses to establish a network of bee researchers and engineers to strengthen honey bee health and crop pollination.

By Natasha Gilbert 12.07.2020 Around 10 years ago, in the fierce heat of the Kansas summer, many of the noxious kochia weeds invading Phillip Stahlman's research fields simply wouldn't budge when sprayed with a mixture of two widely used herbicides, glyphosate and dicamba.

The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology is sharing a $900,000 grant from the University of California's Office of the President to establish a four-campus network of bee researchers and engineers to strengthen honey bee health and crop pollination.

Elizabeth Mosqueda is an Assistant Professor at the California State University, Monterey Bay. Richard Smith is a Vegetable Crop Production and Weed Science Farm Advisor with UC Cooperative Extension. Steve Fennimore is a Cooperative Extension Weed Specialist at UC Davis.

If you have roses blooming in your yard in the winter--or trying to bloom--check to see if there's a lady beetle, aka ladybug prowling around. Any aphids? A lady beetle can eat as many as 5000 aphids in its lifetime, so they're the good guys and gals in the garden.

Peach leaf curl is a disease that affects peach and nectarine trees. Although you may not see symptoms right now in the dormant season in California, it's time to think about treatment, especially if your tree had the disease last year.