Pest Management & Plant Health

We don't often find flies such a popular topic of conversation, but given recent events, we'd like to seize the moment to share some science-based information about their status as both pests and beneficial insects. Flies can be nuisance insects both indoors and outdoors.

Sooty mold is a black fungal growth that looks like a layer of soot covering the leaves of a plant or a sidewalk. The aptly named disease is common in gardens and landscapes, appearing wherever a large infestation of plant-sucking insects are found.

Technology plays a crucial role in the development of insect science--and entomologists, their students and society must embrace it, says Christian Nansen, an associate professor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology, who keynoted a presentation at the virtual meeting of the 47th Congress o...

by Cindy Watter Having a rat invasion is a bit like having salmonella at the potluck someone must be blamed.

For the first butterfly, it was the right place at the right time. An alfalfa or sulfur butterfly (Colias eurytheme) fluttered into our pollinator garden in Vacaville to sip some nectar from a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia). It lingered for several minutes.

UC Cooperative Extension specialist Ian Grettenberger, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is coordinating the department's fall seminars, held virtually on Wednesdays at 4:10 p.m. Zoom links will be accessible via the Google form link. The schedule: Oct.

Most of us have experienced itchy skin from a biting insect at least once in our lives. Insects and spiders such as mosquitoes, ticks, mites, bed bugs, fleas, and head lice can and do bite people.

Ladybugs--actually "lady beetles" as these insects are beetles--know exactly where to lay their cluster of eggs--where the aphids and other prey are. Thoughtful of the moms, isn't it? Moms are like that. Look on or under your rosebush leaves. Look under your milkweed leaves.

While you are home working, learning, or relaxing, you may have noticed a few other critters sharing space with you.

There's a new weed science publication: Pest Notes: Pokeweed Author: Scott Oneto, UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor American pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) is a robust, non-woody shrub that is spreading in parts of California.