Topics in Subtropics

Salts and Soil pH are two of the great management problems we have with subtropical crops like avocado, citrus, passionfruit, coffee and even evergreen blueberries when grown in California. In the western Cascades there are also soils dominated by carbonates and waters by bicarbonates.

Argentine Ant is the great protector of many pests found on plants. Without the Argentine, many pests would not be so much of a problem. In many crops, like cherimoya and passionfruit, mealy bug can become so severe that fruit will stop growing and fall off the tree.

It might seem like common sense that a starving animal is more likely to take dangerous risks to obtain food than one with a full belly.

Protecting Avocados from Frost and Then What The long-range forecast is for no or little rain in Southern California. A dry winter often means a cold winter.

Life in an ant colony is a symphony of subtle interactions between insects acting in concert, more like cells in tissue than independent organisms bunking in a colony.