- Author: Cheryl Reynolds
Are you looking for continuing education units (CEUs) to complete your renewal application this year for the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR)? The UC Statewide IPM Program has several online courses available that can help you get those last few needed credits.
DPR license and certificate holders with last names beginning with M – Z renew this year. Renewal packets must be submitted to DPR before November 19th to ensure that licenses are renewed by January 1, 2016. After that, applications may take up to 45 calendar days to process.
The online courses available from UC IPM that offer units for DPR license renewal include:
- Providing Integrated Pest Management Services in Schools and Child Care Settings (1 unit Laws and Regulations and 1 unit Other)
- Pesticide Resistance (2 units Other)
- Pesticide Application Equipment and Calibration (1.5 units Other)
- IPM – A Solution for Reducing Pesticides/Water Quality: Pesticide Properties (1 unit Other)
- The Impact of Pesticides on Water Quality/Mitigating Urban Pesticide Runoff (1 unit Other)
- Water Quality and Mitigation: Bifenthrin and Fipronil (1 unit Other)
- Herbicides and Water Quality (1 unit Other)
CEUs from the Structural Pest Control Board are also available for most of these courses.
For a list of other approved online or in-person courses, visit the DPR website. UC IPM plans to add additional online courses for 2016, including those available for Laws and Regulations units. For more information about the courses UC IPM offers as well as additional training opportunities and pest management information, see the UC IPM web site.
- Author: Cheryl Reynolds
Spider mites, fruit moth and twig borer larvae, aphids, and bark cankers are just a few pests that can wreak havoc on stone fruit trees. With spring well underway and trees in full bloom and beginning to develop fruit, it's time to monitor and take action before these pests get out of hand.
UC IPM teamed up with UC farm advisors to develop a series of how-to videos that can help growers and pest control advisers monitor for pests and damage and determine if and when treatment is needed.
In one video, Sacramento Area IPM Advisor Emily Symmes gives a brief overview of how to monitor for webspinning spider mites. Spider mites build up in stone fruit trees as the weather warms up. Late spring through summer is the ideal time to monitor for mites and their damage, which includes leaf stippling and webbing. If mites build up too much, leaves can drop, fruit may not fully develop, and branches and fruit can be exposed to sunburn.
Shoot strikes, or dead drooping leaf tips, are often seen on young peach and nectarine trees. In a second video, UC Sutter and Yuba County Farm Advisor Janine Hasey explains how to monitor for shoot strikes and how to distinguish the culprits, oriental fruit moth and peach twig borer. Although Oriental fruit moth and peach twig borer can bore into both foliage and fruit, they cause the most devastating damage by feeding on fruit. Early season monitoring and treatment can prevent future fruit loss.
In plum and prune orchards, leaf curl aphids and mealy plum aphids cause leaves to curl and become distorted. Aphids produce honeydew, which can lead to the development of sooty mold, causing fruit to crack and blacken. Aphids are often present when leaves start to grow. In his video, Rick Buchner, UC farm advisor for Tehama County, discusses how to monitor for aphids and explains how to decide when treatment is warranted.
In a final video, UC Sacramento County Farm Advisor Chuck Ingels teaches how to distinguish Phytophthora root and crown rot from bacterial canker. The two diseases are often confused because they both cause bark cankers. Phytophthora root and crown rot is confined to the lower trunk, but when a bacterial canker infection occurs in the tree trunk, the diseases can often be confused. Bacterial canker can be confirmed by cutting away the outer bark and looking for characteristic red flecks on the inner bark. Correct identification of these diseases will help in choosing a management strategy.
You can find all of these how-to videos on the UC IPM video library page. For specific information about managing pests in stone fruits or other crops, see the Pest Management Guidelines.
- Author: Jodi Azulai
Summer is upon us, and nothing quite says summer more than eating freshly picked blueberries or using them in delicious desserts. California blueberry growers can find an additional treat – the newly published UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines for blueberry on the UC IPM web site. California is quickly becoming a top producer of blueberries, and the new guidelines can help with management information on blueberry pests such as thrips, light brown apple moth, and spotted wing drosophila with additional information on pesticides and resistance.
It may be hard to believe but as of 1996, blueberry production was limited to colder states like Washington, Michigan, New Jersey, and Oregon, where naturally acidic soils and winter climates suit the traditional highbush varieties. As recently as 1997, California blueberries were only growing on less than 200 acres across the state. According to the latest CDFA statistics, 2012 continued to show what has been an increasing trend for California blueberries, with more than 40 million pounds harvested, $133 million sold, and plantings in more than 4,700 acres spanning San Joaquin, Tulare, Kern, Ventura, and Fresno counties.
In 1995 the University of California Small Farms Program and cooperating farmers started evaluating low-chill southern highbush varieties in San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties. They found that “low-chill” southern highbush varieties offered the most promise for extended season production on the central coast. By 1997, Kearney Agricultural Center trials found that southern highbush cultivars were also well adapted to the semiarid climate of the San Joaquin Valley. Further evaluations identified the best yielding and flavorful cultivars. Initial and ongoing UC Small Farms studies have escalated California blueberry production swiftly up the learning curve, providing California farmers of small to moderate operations a niche in a very competitive market.
Today, California blueberries are harvested from May through July in the San Joaquin Valley and January through May on the central coast. While consumer demands are on the rise and profits can be excellent, producing and harvesting blueberries in California is expensive. It can run over $10,000 per acre to prepare a field because successful cultivation in many areas necessitates soil and irrigation water acidification and adding tons of mulch per acre. Specialized equipment, labor-intensive pruning, and pests like light brown apple moth, thrips, and spotted wing drosophila can add substantially to cost. Therefore, getting the right information and planning is imperative. While the UC Small Farms Program continues to develop field and market research for blueberry production in California, growers can also turn to the newly published Pest Management Guidelines for blueberries.
- Author: Laura J. Van der Staay
- Contributor: Peter B Goodell
Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center has provided a strong research presence to meet the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources strategic vision of helping ensure that California has healthy food systems, healthy environments, healthy communities and healthy Californians.
As part of that continued commitment, research and extension programs will be strengthened in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) through the appointment of Dr. Kris Tollerup. Dr. Tollerup was recruited to develop and deliver IPM strategies and practices to nut, fruit and vine growers and pest control advisers in the San Joaquin Valley and surrounding areas. This position, located at Kearney, will build on the excellent work of Bill Barnett and Walt Bentley and is dedicated to the 30 year mission of Statewide IPM Program (UC IPM) . Kris will start his new position at Kearney on October 15, 2013.
Dr.Tollerup earned a B.A. in Pomology, Tree and Vine Culture from California Polytechnic State University and an M.S. in Entomology, Integrated Pest Management and a PhD in Entomology, IPM and Insect Behavior from UC Riverside.
From 2010 until joining UCCE, Kris Tollerup worked as a postdoctoral fellow at UC Davis. Through October of 2012, Kris collaborated with Dr. Larry Godfrey, specialist in the Department of Entomology, Rob Wilson, Farm Advisor and Director of Intermountain Research and Extension Center, and Dr. Dan Marcum, Farm Advisor in Shasta County on a project to develop arthropod IPM programs for peppermint in California. From November 2012 to October 2013, Kris and this same group of collaborators continued working on peppermint to integrate the use of biopesticides into arthropod IPM programs. Prior to coming to UC Davis, Kris worked with Dr. Peter Shearer (currently at Oregon State University, Hood River Experiment Station) to develop effective mating disruption strategies to manage oriental fruit moth on peaches and apples in New Jersey. He served on an inter-agency committee that worked with chemical companies, researchers, growers, and the Interregional Research Project No. 4 (IR-4) to promote the development and registration of ant baits for use in California agriculture.
- Author: Laura J. Van der Staay
Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center has recently lost several academic positions due to retirements. A strong presence of diverse applied agriculture and natural resources research at Kearney is essential to the University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources strategic vision of helping ensure that California has healthy food systems, healthy environments, healthy communities and healthy Californians. UC ANR is presently developing new academic positions to replace retirees.
During the week of July 29, 2013, the University of California, Cooperative Extension is interviewing for an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Advisor, Entomology position. This position is designed to develop and deliver IPM strategies and practices to nut, fruit and vine growers and pest control advisers in the San Joaquin Valley. This position, located at Kearney, will continue the excellent work of Bill Barnett and Walt Bentley and is dedicated to the 30 year mission of UC IPM.
The public is invited to attend the 1 hour seminars being presented by candidates for this position. The presentations will be held in Kearney’s Nectarine Room. The schedule is:
- Tuesday, July 30, 2013 at 8:30 AM: : Improving binomial sampling for twospotted spider mite on peppermint in California.
- Tuesday, July 30, 2013 at 12:30 PM: Adventures in IPM: Whiteflies, navel orangeworms, and spotted wing drosophila. An overview of three IPM studies.
- Wednesday, July 31, 2013 at 8:30 AM: Great Grape News: An IPM Success Story in Washington State.
- Wednesday, July 31, 2013 at 12:30 PM: Developing an IPM program for vine mealybug in table grapes in the lower San Joaquin Valley.
- Thursday, August 1, 2013 at 8:30 AM: The whole-farm approach to pest management in orchards.