Pests in the Urban Landscape

Easter often brings to mind colorful eggs hiding in the landscape for children to find. At UC IPM, we thought you'd want to know about eggs already hiding in your yard: insect and spider eggs! Many insects and spiders have strangely shaped and colorful eggs that you may have never noticed.

[From the Spring issue of the UC IPM Retail Nursery & Garden Center News] Most disorders impacting landscape trees result from abiotic (non-living) disorders rather than attacks from biotic (living) pests like plant pathogens, insects, and vertebrates.

In mid-March, many people use clover-themed decorations in preparation for St. Patrick's Day. Many gardens and landscaped areas are decorated with clovers too, especially with recent rains and mild temperatures in much of California.

Online marketplace Amazon.com was recently fined $1.2 million by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) for selling and distributing pesticides not registered for sale in the U.S. The EPA discovered nearly 4,000 violations dating back to 2013.

Finding freshly dug mounds of soil in the garden, lawn, or landscape might be a sign of gophers or moles. Their mounds look similar and are frequently confused for each other. Figure 1 shows a mole mound, which usually is volano-shaped with a circular margin.