From the UC Blogosphere...

Vedalia Beetles Should Be Appearing

Its March and it is the time of year when the cottony cushion scales are maturing into large females on the trunks of the tree.  They especially like plantings of grapefruit and mandarins with dense canopies.  It is also the time of year when the vedalia beetles arrive and begin laying their bright red eggs on the cottony cushion scale females.  The eggs will hatch and the vedalia larvae will consume the eggs inside the cottony cushion scale egg sac.  The adult beetles are voracious predators and will eat all stages of the scales.  If you have a population of vedalia and are willing to share it, please let us know (Beth Grafton-Cardwell, 559-592-2408, Lindcove Research and Extension Center). It only takes a few beetles to get a population started in a new location and they control the cottony cushion scales better than pesticides.

vedalia beetle adult feeding on cottony cushion scale

vedalia beetle eggs on the egg sac of the scale

vedalia larva feeding on a cottony cushion scale egg

Temperature Fluctuations Affect Population Growth Rate of Dengue Mosquito

Exciting research today out of the University of California, Davis. The PLOS ONE journal...

Dengue mosquito, Aedes aegypti. (Photo courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Dengue mosquito, Aedes aegypti. Photo courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

The Spirit of the Hive

The Spirit of the Hive: The Mechanisms of Social Evolution. That's the title of a newly published book written by Robert E....

The queen and her court. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The queen and her court. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Queen cells. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Queen cells. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Fresh and local foods gaining traction in school cafeterias

Lunch trays filled with grayish green beans, mystery meat and a pasty scoop of mashed potatoes will be relegated to history if UC Cooperative Extension has anything to do with it. At the UCCE office in Stanislaus County yesterday, Jeri Ohmart of the UC Agriculture Sustainability Institute spoke to about 30 school food managers about how to get more fresh fruit, vegetables and other healthy fare into school cafeterias, reported John Holland in the Modesto Bee.

Ohmart also displayed a food waste composter and showed how the container, along with a large population of red worms, break the food waste down into rich, garden-ready compost.

The event featured Billy Reid, the director of nutrition services at Salida Union School District. The school is already providing students food delivered by San Joaquin Valley farmers.

"We have (employees) standing at the end of the lunch line, and all they do is cut fruit," Reid said. "The kids come through and grab whatever the fruit is."

Reid has been widely recognized for his work on school food, including a 2011 award presented by first lady Michelle Obama at the White House. To source high-quality food, Reid uses the online service Ag Link, which matches farmers with schools seeking local food.

One time, Reid bought cantaloupes for 50 cents apiece via Ag Link, Holland reported.

"The day before I served them, they were still in the field," he said. "This is amazing stuff."

Bee-utiful Blossoms

If you haven't made it over to the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, yet this year, you...

Honey bee foraging on plum blossoms. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey bee foraging on plum blossoms. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Pollen-packing honey bee heading home. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Pollen-packing honey bee heading home. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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