Pest Management & Plant Health

Pistachio production has been expanding, particularly into marginal soils with high salts, boron, and even sodic conditions. One plant that is endemic to these conditions, alkaliweed, has been reported in these orchards.

A UC Davis research team has discovered that both a harmful plant bacterium and a parasitic worm can mimic a plant peptide hormone to enhance their ability to infect plants.

Brake On! is a preemergence herbicide registered in blueberry and other horticultural crops in Oregon and Washington but not in California. Fluridone, the active ingredient of Brake On! inhibits carotenoid biosynthesis in the phytoene desaturase enzyme step.

In the lottery of troublesome termite infestations, Roger, a Rancho Santa Fe homeowner, hit the jackpot (a pseudonym is used to protect his privacy).

Doctoral student Ching-Jung Lin of the laboratory of nematologist Shahid Siddique, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is the recipient of a two-year, $32,000 Ministry of Education Taiwan Government Scholarship to Study Abroad (GSSA).

Congrats to the University of California recipients of awards from the Association for Communication Excellence (ACE), an international association of communicators, educators and information technologists who focus on communicating research-based information.

The cool, wet spring that California has experienced this year comes with many benefits, but also some drawbacks. For the false chinch bug, a small insect commonly found in grassy or weedy areas, this year's weather may result in a population boom.

In the lottery of troublesome termite infestations, Roger, a Rancho Santa Fe homeowner, hit the jackpot (a pseudonym is used to protect his privacy).

The Formosan subterranean termite (FST), Coptotermes formosanus, is a very destructive pest first reported in California in 1992 in La Mesa, San Diego County. FST has since been found in Canyon Lake, Riverside County, Rancho Santa Fe (San Diego County) and Highland Park (Los Angeles County).

Please, please, forget to eat our forget-me-nots! But it's not going to happen. So here we are in our Vacaville pollinator garden, looking at the Chinese forget-me-nots. We see honey bees, leafcutter bees, syrphid flies, lady beetles, cabbage white butterflies, and other critters foraging.