Topics in Subtropics

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Topics in Subtropics Blog
You can subscribe to this  blog with multiple entries per week reflecting what's happening with subtropical crops and upcoming educational events.  Just click on the "Subscribe" button just to the right of this paragraph.  There's also our seasonal quarterly Topics in Subtropics newsletter found at our Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Riverside, San Diego, Tulare and Kern Counties Cooperative Extension websites.
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HLB Symptoms

HLB Area Expands

July 25, 2025
By Ben A Faber
Federal and state agriculture officials recently expanded the areas quarantined for citrus greening disease in California. They expanded the quarantined area in the Coto de Caza area of Orange County by 11 square miles, the Rancho Santa Margarita area of Orange County by 93 square miles, the Perris area of…
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Brown Marmorated Stink Bug on Avocado

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Again

July 21, 2025
By Ben A Faber
Brown Marmorated Stink Bug showed up in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties about 12 years ago. It had been roaming around LA and Orange Counties before that.  There was a small outbreak on avocados at the time, but it was mainly seen on a lot of other plant species, like tomatoes.  We have not seen…
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Waterfall

Understanding Water in California

July 14, 2025
By Ben A Faber
We are excited to announce the launch of the California Water Course (register here), a bilingual (English/Español) program designed for entry level water professionals (or refresher), community and advocates, or any person interested in addressing California’s water challenges and solutions.This…
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Argebtine ant and hydrogel

Argentine Ant News

July 10, 2025
By Ben A Faber
Native to South America, Argentine ants were introduced to California in 1905. Today, 90% of Southern California and coastal orchards are infested with ants. Some trees experience up to 1 million ant visits per day.Ivan Milosavljević, Citrus Research Board (CRB) entomologist, presented that information in a…
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AvocaTwins

Avocado Information

July 3, 2025
By Ben A Faber
New to AvocadoSource is Dr. Robert McNeil's United States Avocado Production (Hass Avocado) He is Horticulture Emeritus from Cal Poly SLO and has compiled his years of experience with avocado here.  Also check out all the other selections of books available at the website:https://www.avocadosource…
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