Topics in Subtropics

Bats provide natural insect pest control to California’s agriculture and urban areas. While multiple studies have been conducted on what bats eat in other parts of the United States there is lacking research on what time of the year bats provide the most pest control services. Additionally, of the research…

A recent study published in the Journal of Economic Entomology evaluated the use of insecticide-infused hydrogel baits for managing European earwig in California citrus orchards. The work, titled “Efficacy of insecticide-infused hydrogel baits in managing European earwig in citrus” , represents one of the…

Avocado branch canker disease (ABC) is an increasing concern in orchards across Southern California and in other avocado-growing regions worldwide. This fungal disease can reduce productivity in infected trees and, in severe cases, lead to branch dieback and even tree loss. The fungi involved belong to the…

More than half of all California farmland now runs on drip or micro irrigation. That transformation is a genuine water efficiency win. But growers, advisors, and policymakers mostly missed a side effect: farm electricity use has not fallen. In many cases it has risen, and electricity rates have roughly…

In 2012, avocado growers were presented with the news that a newly discovered invasive beetle, named the polyphagous shot hole borer (Euwallacea fornicatus), could play havoc with production in Californian groves. Native to southeast Asia, the new arrival was a species of ambrosia beetle, a small weevil that…