Pests in the Urban Landscape

You might be surprised to learn that a few of your favorite ornamental plants are invasive to California and can “escape” your yard causing big problems in the wild. When plants escape landscape and garden boundaries, it is often due to seed distribution or aggressive roots. An invasive plant species can…

Winter rains and damp conditions in many parts of California may have brought a surprise visitor to your lawn: mushrooms! A few mushrooms sprouting in your lawn can be a good sign: it means there's plenty of organic matter in the soil. But if patches of mushrooms are sprinkled across your lawn, something…

Forget Spotify Wrapped – can you guess which pests received the most hits on UC IPM’s Pests Notes page this year? Here are the top ten pests that made your year: (1) Carpet Beetles  For several years, carpet beetles have been in the top 5 on our playlist. Immature carpet beetles feed on…

From the UC IPM Urban and Community team, we’d like to wish you a happy holiday season! As we reflect on this past year, we’d like to express our gratitude to all of you for joining us to learn about pest management around the home and garden.  This year, we’ve connected with you in various ways:…

Winter is peak citrus season, and a time when many people gift their home-grown fruit to friends and loved ones. This holiday season, we would like to remind everyone that harmful invasive pests can move to new areas on citrus fruit. There are several active quarantines in California aimed at slowing the…