- Author: Alejandro Del Pozo-Valdivia
Diamondback moth adults have been actively flying across the Salinas Valley these winter months, based on our area-wide monitoring program. There were a couple of locations where we recorded 'zero' captures during January. It looks like low temperatures in the Valley just slowed down this moth development. At this point, it will be difficult to propose that there was an overwintering generation this past winter. Specially in the Castroville area, where there has never been a 'zero' capture from our two traps. Having an overwintering generation would have represented 'zero' captures from all or most of our pheromone traps across the Valley.
We continue the effort to validate automated pheromone traps. In partnership with AgCeleration and TrapView, we are testing in the field a new prototype (Fig. 1). So far, there is no significant difference on the weekly captures between this new automated trap when compared to a typical cardboard pheromone trap. These automated traps provide real-time information on the number of diamondback moth males captured in a daily based. This type of information could ultimately help to understand the trends of the adults moving across the farmscape, strengthening an IPM program in cole crops.
Daily captures of diamondback moth male adults indicate that the highest populations are currently located in the Castroville area. On average, we have captured 12 males per day since February 11th (Fig. 2.). Most of the fluctuation on number of captured adults might have been mediated by air temperatures. The current trend shows that adult captures are going down. It is likely that large populations of this pest were able to go through a generation in the Castroville area using crop, weed host plants, and crop residues. It is important to recognize that:
1) Castroville area continues to be a hot spot with the largest diamondback moth population across the Salinas Valley.
2) Promptly scouting of blocks with cole crops will help to early detect the presence of economically relevant numbers of caterpillars.
3) Manage weeds, specially at the surrounding areas of established blocks, will reduce the overall population.
4) Promptly elimination of cole crop residues from previous plantings will reduce the overall population.
5) Rotate the use of insecticides will reduce the possibility to develop insecticide resistance.
6) Use of adjuvants/stickers will reduce the possibility of washing away any insecticide spray onto waxy cole crop leaves.
If you would like to learn more about the current status of diamondback moth in the Salinas Valley, please contact Alejandro Del-Pozo at adelpozo@ucanr.edu or call 831-759-7359.
- Author: Alejandro Del Pozo-Valdivia
- Author: Alejandro Del Pozo-Valdivia
On Wednesday October 9th, a Brussels sprout plant sample was submitted to our Entomology laboratory for insect identification.
At the naked eye, we observed some webbing and specks on the leaf (See Fig. 1).
Fig. 1. Leaf of Brussels sprout showing some webbing and 'specks'. Affected areas are highlighted with the yellow circles.
Under magnification, we were able to see eggs, nymphs and adults of the two spotted spider mite (TSSM), Tetranychus urticae (See Fig. 2). Adults of these specimens have the two black spots on the lateral sides of the anterior end of the podosoma, the area located below their mouth parts.
Fig. 2. Eggs, nymphs and adults of two spotted spider mites on the leaf of Brussels sprout.
TSSM is one of the most polyphagous mites, having several host plants around the world. Females disperse by putting silk strands right after mating and before producing eggs. Dispersing females climb to the top of the plant and specimens are carried out by the wind. This phenomenon called ballooning, aids mites to float through the air and disperse longer distances to reach favorable host plants.
It is highly advised that Brussels sprout growers and PCAs walking this crop, pay close attention to leaves within the canopy to potentially identify the presence of TSSW in this crop.
If you believe you may have TSSM in your Brussels sprouts, please send us a plant sample at 1432 Abbott St. in Salinas for confirming identification (free service), or call us at 831-759-7359 to obtain additional information on this pest.
- Author: Alejandro Del Pozo-Valdivia
Last year, this pest was present in large numbers during August and September. The idea is to have additional data from the pheromone traps to inform the IPM decision making process. Below is a table showing the number of moths per day and per trap since February.
Table 1. Male diamondback moth captures by pheromone traps across the Salinas Valley. There are two type of traps deployed in the fields. We have the cardboard traps labeled as 'Regular' and also the automated traps labeled as 'Automated' and shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Automated trap (provided by AgCeleration and manufactured by TrapView) in a broccoli field. This type of trap has four cameras on top of the sticky liner. Cameras will take daily pictures. Pictures are analyzed to recognize the adult of diamondback moth. This trap uses a cellular connection to transmit the pictures daily to a centralized computer. The computer will use machine learning to recognize and count new moths getting stuck onto the liner.
To put these captures on a time perspective, the below time series graph shows the fluctuation of the diamondback moth captures since we set up the traps. The below graph does not include the data from the automated traps. Capture data is broken into a series labeled 'Castroville' (dotted line) indicating the moth captures from that specific location, and a second series labeled 'Other' (solid line) where the average captures among the other locations are presented.
If you are interested in learning more about this monitoring program, please contact Alejandro Del-Pozo at adelpozo@ucanr.edu or 831-759-7359.
- Author: Cheryl Reynolds
Summer is here, and we're halfway through 2019 already! Why not get jump on finishing up your continuing education units by taking online courses from the UC Statewide IPM Program (UC IPM). If you are a license or certificate holder from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), and your last name begins with the letters M through Z, you should be receiving your renewal packet in August.
We're excited to announce some changes.
- In January, we switched all of our online courses to a new learning system located at https://campus.extension.org/. This new system has extensive technical support, is easier to navigate, and is more stable than the old one. Note that the extension platform offers courses from all across the country, including several providers from California. Look for the UC IPM logo to be sure you are taking one of our courses.
- We are pleased to announce that a brand-new online course on the Fuller rose beetle was added to our citrus integrated pest management IPM series. Dr. Beth Grafton-Cardwell, a citrus IPM specialist and research entomologist, and Dr. Joseph Morse, emeritus professor of entomology, developed the course. The course describes the life cycle, natural enemies, and management of Fuller rose beetle and explains why it is important for countries that export citrus. Fuller Rose Beetle has been approved by (DPR) for 1 hour of credit in the Other category and by Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) for 0.5 hour of IPM credit.
- Many of our courses are now credited not only by DPR for continuing education hours, but also by the California Structural Pest Control Board (SPCB), Certified Crop Advisor (CCA), Western Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture (WCISA), and also by Arizona Department of Agriculture.
DPR encourages license and certificate holders to avoid the end-of-the-year rush and submit renewal applications by November 1 to ensure license renewal by January 1, 2020. Submitting your renewal early avoids late fees and gives you time to address any issues that may arise such as not having enough hours to successfully renew.
Another incentive to get a jump on completing your needed continuing education units (CEUs) with UC IPM's online courses is that we are offering an early-bird price for four of our most wanted courses until November 1st.
- Proper Pesticide Use to Avoid Illegal Residues (2 hours Laws and Regulations; early bird price $40, full price $80)
- Proper Selection, Use, and Removal of Personal Protective Equipment (1.5 hours Laws and Regulations; early bird price $30, full price $60)
- Pesticide Resistance (2 hours Other; early bird price $20, full price $40)
- Pesticide Application Equipment and Calibration (1.5 hours Other; early bird price $15, full price $30)
You can find all of our twenty-one courses listed on the UC IPM website at http://ipm.ucanr.edu/training/.
