Topics in Subtropics

newsletter
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.
Primary Image
interconnected root system

Removing Avocado Suckers with Glyphosate?

October 26, 2020
By Ben A Faber
Ben Faber and Brad Hanson This is not good. You find an avocado tree with sun blotch or it is time to thin the orchard and you remove the offending tree. You know that if you don't remove the sucker, you'll end up with some rootstock growth that just gets in the way of the other trees.
View Article
Primary Image
false chinch bug composite

False Chinch Bug in New Avocado Plantings

October 23, 2020
By Ben A Faber
The false chinch bug (FCB), Nysius raphanus (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae), is a pest of many plants. FCB is a generalist and has been found to be a problem in many cropping systems such as soybeans, quinoa, tobacco, cotton, broccoli and other Brassicaceae plants.
View Article
Primary Image
bacterial canker classic

It's not Disease, It's Lichen

October 21, 2020
By Ben A Faber
Not everything you see on a tree's bark is disease, although that's usually the first thought of a plant pathologist. Below are bacterial canker and black streak which are both significant problems in some California avocado orchards. Their cause is normally an issue of water/salt management.
View Article
Primary Image
heilipus weevil

Avocado Seed Weevil

October 19, 2020
By Ben A Faber
Proactive Management of the Avocado Seed Weevil, Heilipus lauri (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Mark S. Hoddle, Department of Entomology, University of California Riverside, CA 92521 mark.hoddle@ucr.
View Article