- Author: Karey Windbiel-Rojas
If you've noticed some odd-looking bugs in your garden or landscape recently, you might be seeing leaffooted bugs. These medium to large sized insects feed on tomatoes, pomegrantes, and certain nuts and ornamental plants.
Adult females can lay over 200 eggs during a two-month period during spring. The eggs hatch and the nymphs emerge and can be found together with the adults. During spring and summer, there can be two to three generations of leaffooted bugs in your landscape!
In spring, leaffooted plant bugs often feed on thistles and other weeds. When fruits start to ripen, adults migrate into gardens and landscapes and can be found feeding on tomatoes, pomegranates, and citrus as well as ornamental shrubs.
In...
- Author: Karey Windbiel-Rojas
If you are like me, you try to park your car under a tree in parking lots and on the street for some shade, especially with the hot weather we've had lately. Maybe you choose to park under a big hackberry tree, but when you return to your car, you notice droplets on your windshield and sticky stuff on the sidewalk, other cars, and the parking lot. What is this?
The sticky substance is called honeydew. The honeydew is excreted by a number of sap-sucking insects such as aphids, whiteflies, mealybugs, certain scale insects, and few others. On hackberry trees (widely planted in some cities), an insect called the woolly hackberry aphid produces a large amount of honeydew which drips from the leaves onto surfaces below.
If you...
September 5, 2017
SOLANO COUNTY – The Solano County Agricultural Commissioner, in cooperation with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), have found an adult Mediterranean Fruit Fly (Medfly) near the Tolinas area late last week, triggering an extensive survey in the area, including the placement of additional Medfly traps.
The fly was captured in an insect trap baited with lures designed to attract the Medfly. Scientists at the CDFA have verified that the fly has DNA that matches it to populations known to originate from Hawaii and is a mature female with well-developed eggs inside, however, the fly was unmated. As part of the coordinated...
- Author: Karey Windbiel-Rojas
- Author: Anne Schellman
Record-breaking heat continues to scald California, leading many of us to water our landscapes and gardens more. While the water is good for plants and helps us cool down, even the smallest amount of standing water mixed with high temperatures create an ideal climate for mosquito breeding. Use the following tips to help reduce mosquito habitats and protect yourself from bites avoid being bitten.
Tip #1: Mosquitoes need water for the larval stage of their life cycle. Eliminate breeding sites in your yard by:
- Draining any containers that hold standing water; even something as small as a flower pot saucer can harbor mosquitoes.
- Emptying out bird baths once per week.
- Protecting ponds by using...
- Author: Karey Windbiel-Rojas
Welcome to my blog! I am Karey Windbiel-Rojas, Area Urban Integrated Pest Management Advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension serving Sacramento, Yolo, and Solano counties.
I intend to use this blog to inform readers about local pest issues, pesticide safety information, as well as statewide pest-related topics that have local significance.
For information on various home, garden, turf, and landscape pests, please visit the UC Statewide IPM Program web site to find specific science-based pest management information.
Please visit my web page for local contact information and other...