Pest Management & Plant Health

Oregon State University (OSU) posted an Assistant Extension Professor position. This position has a statewide assignment in integrated weed management for processed and fresh market vegetables and specialty seed industries.

It was a good day for a hike. So Joe Nazarius of Winters embarked on a Dec. 30th hike in the Knoxville Road area, west of Lake Berryessa, when the unexpected happened. "What is this bug buried in Joe's skin?" That's what his wife, Debra LoGuercio DeAngelo, messaged me. She attached a photo.

To catch a cabbage white butterfly... It was early October and a gravid praying mantis, almost ready to deposit her ootheca, was hungry. She crawled behind a cactus in our yard, waiting for prey. It did not take long.

This Christmas season isn't the same without University of California Cooperative Extension apiculturist emeritis Eric Mussen, who died June 3 of liver cancer at his home in Davis. Mussen (1944-2022) was an institution. He was a global authority of honey bees. He was family to everyone.

"Wasps are terrible. They come jam-packed full of pain and anger, and they love to sting us out of the blue while we're minding our own business. They eat our food at picnics and frighten our children. They even build nests in our gardens and homes, just to complicate our already-stressful lives.

Conventional processing tomato weed management in California often includes pre-plant herbicides (trifluralin and/or s-metolachlor), followed by cultivation, and hand hoeing. Rimsulfuron herbicide can also be used in conventional systems and can be applied either pre or post transplanting.

Check out UC IPM's new YouTube series IPM with Diego! These short videos are presented from the viewpoint of Diego, a teenager who is not an expert in pest management. However, he explains basic integrated pest management concepts using simple terms and examples that anyone can do.

The new year brings new webinars from the UC IPM Urban and Community Program! Mark your calendars and register now for these informative presentations, held every third Thursday from 12:00-1:00pm PST.

Peach leaf curl, a fungus disease of peach and nectarine trees, is very common in home gardens. Cool and rainy weather provide ideal conditions for the spread of the disease. Recognizing the disease is simple, since it occurs only on peaches and nectarines and has very definite symptoms.

Wild carrot, or Queen Anne's lace, is a widespread and difficult to control nuisance weed across most of western Oregon.