Want to learn something new on your lunch break? Join the Urban and Community IPM Webinar Series hosted by UC IPM every third Thursday of the month from 12:00 to 1:00pm. Webinars cover pest identification, prevention, and management around the home, garden, and landscape.
This series is free and open to the public but advance registration is required. We encourage you to share these webinars with anyone who may be interested. Leading up to the live webinar, UC IPM will make a post on Facebook and Instagram that you may use to share the webinar with others. Follow us on social media...
With Thanksgiving approaching, turkeys are on many of our minds. But for those that live in a neighborhood with frequent turkey visitors, you might think of them more often.
Like most creatures, turkeys are not always considered a pest, and some people may even enjoy seeing them. But turkeys can certainly become pests when they dig in landscape beds, create traffic hazards, chase people, and poop on sidewalks, driveways, and in vegetable gardens.
Wild turkeys can quickly become accustomed to people and our urban environments, especially when they are fed (which is illegal). Their management and removal are difficult and often not feasible, so it's best to learn how to live with them.
If turkeys are...
While you may not notice symptoms of peach leaf curl until the spring, you should manage it in the fall and winter.
Peach leaf curl is a fungal disease that primarily affects peach and nectarine trees. Fungal spores overwinter on twigs and flower buds and germinate in the spring causing distorted, reddened leaves. Unfortunately, this disease cannot be effectively managed once the symptoms appear in the spring, so experts recommend pesticide treatments before bud break (when new flower buds begin to open).
Timing of the first treatment in the dormant season should be made after leaves have dropped in the fall and winter. This is often in late November or early December. Treat affected trees with a fungicide...
A line of pushed up grass. A volcano sized mound. Yep, it's probably a mole! While you may never actually see the mole itself, the signs of their presence are pretty clear.
Moles are small burrowing mammals (not rodents) that live almost entirely underground in extensive tunnel networks. Since they prefer worms, they don't typically eat plants, but their burrowing can damage plant roots and leave unsightly ridges in lawns. You'll usually only find one mole per tunnel so if you start your control actions as soon as you spot their burrowing, you can more easily manage them.
Fortunately, UC IPM has a newly updated resource to help in your mole management efforts! This revised fact sheet,
- Author: Cindy Kron
On March 27th, 2024, a flatbed truck carrying a metal art structure originating in New York and headed to Petaluma, California was stopped at the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Agricultural Inspection Station in Truckee, California due to live spotted lanternfly (SLF) egg masses being present on the structure (Fig. 1).
Entry of the structure was denied, and the truck reported to the Nevada Department of Agriculture for inspection and treatment for SLF eggs on April 2, 2024. Approximately 30 egg masses were removed and destroyed (Fig. 2). The structure was power washed with soap and water and cleared to enter California with instructions to not offload the structure at the destination until...
