Pest Management & Plant Health

The Bohart Museum of Entomology's first-ever virtual open house, to focus on wasps, is set for 11 a.m., Friday, May 22 on FacebookLive. Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will answer questions from 11 a.m.

Strikingly beautiful with a striped yellow abdomen and ruby red and black polka dot wings, the spotted lanternfly's esthetic appeal belies its destructive nature.

What an incredible work! And timely, too! While many folks are panicking about the first detected (and destroyed) colony of Asian giant hornets, aka murder hornets, in North America, three entomologists have just published research on this and the 21 other known species of hornets in the genus Vespa...

Richard Smith is the Vegetable Crops and Weed Science Farm Advisor in Monterey County, California. Impatiens Necrotic Spot Virus (INSV) in the Salinas Valley is a tospovirus that is spread primarily by western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis).

Warmer weather means many pests are flying and joining you indoors while you shelter-in-place or outdoors while you are getting some exercise or keeping connected yet socially distant from the neighbors. Lately you may have seen some large, leggy insects bumbling around on your walls and windows.

by Cindy Watter The Napa UC Master Gardeners hosted a delightful speaker for a seminar a while back. Pam Pierce is the author of "Wildly Successful Plants For the Bay Area," as well as a horticulture instructor at City College of San Francisco.

Editor's note: Master Gardeners are keeping busy in their own gardens during Napa County's Shelter in Place directive.

Take a look at the The New York Times article by Margaret Roach The Dirty Secret About Weeding.

While we are staying home during the pandemic, insects are most definitely not! In fact, you may have seen different types of insects swarming over the last few weeks.

Editor's note: Master Gardeners are keeping busy in their own gardens during Napa County's Shelter in Place directive.