Pest Management & Plant Health

With recent rains in many parts of California and the weather warming up, it's time once again to think about mosquito prevention and control.

Re-posted with permission from the UC ANR Alfalfa & Forage News: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" holds true in entomology as well! The activity of natural enemies of pests (beneficial insects) is a key component of Integrated Pest Management in alfalfa to prevent pest resurgence and secondary p...

Re-posted with permission from the UC ANR Alfalfa & Forage News: I'll be back! And, they are, with a vengeance! Just like the Terminator, those pesky blue alfalfa aphids are once again wreaking havoc in alfalfa fields, including those just breaking dormancy in colder climates.

For the last two years, UC IPM has shared an Easter egg photo quiz with insect and spider eggs and egg cases. In case you want to play again, this post is from our 2018 egg hunt and this post is our 2019 egg hunt.

Sure our area is hot and dry for much of the year, but the silver lining is that we have very few fungal diseases to deal with in the garden. I swear in Arkansas you cold hear fungi growing on tomatoes from the heat and humidity. (And on roses, too, but that's a different topic.

On Wednesday, April 8, UC Ag Experts Talk will be hosting a webinar titled From Integrated Pest Management to Integrated Pest and Pollinator Management: An Update on Current Research on Pollinator Health. This is a 2.5 hrs in-person meeting converted into a webinar.

Sometimes you just have to display your sense of humor. Take the case of a huge praying mantis sculpture that anchors the Davis, Calif., front yard of entomologists Robert and Lynn Kimsey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

As I've written numerous times, research into the efficacy of livestock protection tools, including livestock guardian dogs, is difficult (if not impossible).

As of February 20, fiddleneck (Amsinckia spp.) was flowering in Fresno County. Zero rain fell in the city of Fresno during the month of February. By February 27, a date when the temperature reached 79F in Fresno, the U.S.

Several years ago, the UC Weed Science group produced a series of training videos. In the next few days, I'm going to share links to the videos. The first topic is principles of weed control. The videos are broken up into smaller parts, so they are easier to view.