- Author: Tunyalee A. Martin
- Author: Cheryl A. Wilen
Sometimes an invasive pest takes a while to become invasive. The Invasive Species Council of California defines an invasive species as “non-native organisms which cause economic or environmental harm.” So, until a species not originally from the area actually causes harm, it doesn't get the title of invasive.
Take the Italian white snail, also known as the white garden snail. In San Diego, it caused extensive damage to agricultural plants in the early 1900s but was considered eradicated after a massive control program in the 1920s. However, it was found again in San Diego County in the 1980s but it did not damage agricultural crops or gardens. Instead the snails lived off of weeds in neglected fields. Now it appears to be moving slowly from these fields to fruit tree orchards and avocado groves as well as landscapes. The Italian white snail feeds on decaying organic matter and living plants, damaging leaves, flowers, and fruit. Another fear is it being found in cut flower growing areas or in nurseries where it could become an export issue.
White or light tan, the Italian white snail is about the size of a dime or nickel when fully grown. It may or may not have brown markings on the outside of the shell. The inside shell color near the opening is light colored (compared to the milk snail, which looks similar but has a dark inside shell). Italian white snails are most noticeable during the day and when it is hot, because the snails climb up on fence posts, walls, weeds and other vegetation and congregate in large numbers.
In California, the Italian white snail is only officially found in San Diego County. However, it could easily move to new areas because of its small size, which makes it hard to detect, and tendency to attach to many kinds of surfaces such as truck beds. Also, because land snails are hermaphroditic—each snail has both male and female reproductive organs—it only takes any two snails to reproduce!
Californians can help in the fight against invasive species by learning and participating during California Invasive Species Action Week, June 2–10.
- Author: Tunyalee A. Martin
Citrus plants can be hosts for invasive pests. Knowing what pests are invasive and how to avoid them is an important part of nursery production. If you work in a citrus nursery, you play an important role in looking for invasive pests and protecting the nursery—and ultimately California's citrus industry—from invasion.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to prevent invasive pests and their harmful impact to agriculture. When pests or diseases are new to an area, we call them invasive. Many of the laws that are in place for citrus are to prevent new pests and diseases from establishing.
Citrus nurseries that become infested with new pests may be quarantined until the infestation is gone, preventing the plants from being moved or sold. Sometimes it requires the plants to be destroyed. Sometimes it results in the loss of a business.
You might have heard of some these invasive pests in California citrus—diaprepes root weevil, light brown apple moth, and red imported fire ant. Some invasive pests are diseases carried by an insect such as citrus variegated chlorosis spread by glassy winged sharpshooter, brown citrus aphid in Florida and Mexico making citrus tristeza even more problematic, and huanglongbing spread by Asian citrus psyllid.
Learn more about these invasive pests and how to stop their invasion by viewing an online training for workers of citrus growing in protective structures by UC Cooperative Extension Specialist Beth Grafton-Cardwell. Citrus Nursery Protective Structure Worker Training provides information on growing healthy citrus plants in structures and protecting them from common insect pests and diseases, including invasive ones in Chapter 3. You can also find on UC IPM's online training webpage, training about Asian citrus psyllid and huanglongbing for retail nursery personnel and for UC Master Gardeners.
When pests first arrive in California, an effort is made to detect them by searching the plants and by trapping them. It is important for you to be a detective and help in this effort:
- Watch for anything unusual and report anything new.
- Keep yourself and anything you work with in the protected structure clean, disinfected and free of pests.
- Keep the protective structure sound by fixing holes in screens, gaps in the structure, and unprotected vents.
- Use good practices in the nursery such as planning your day to start indoors and finish outdoors so that you don't bring outdoor pests inside.
- Don't bring in pests from other areas in budwood or fruit.
Californians can help in the fight against invasive species by learning and participating during California Invasive Species Action Week, June 2–10.
During the week, spend your lunch with us learning the latest about invasive tree killing pests, aquatic nasties like quagga mussels and nutria, and how the invasive weed/wildfire cycle is altering our ecosystems! http://ucanr.edu/sites/invasivelunch/
- Author: Tunyalee A. Martin
A sugar volcano is one symptom that shows your avocado tree might be infected with Fusarium dieback, a fungi spread by a beetle called the shothole borer. But what you might see if your tree is being attacked by shothole borer, varies among the different kinds of tree hosts. The symptoms — staining, sugary exudate, gumming and beetle frass — are often noticed before the tiny beetles (1.5–2.5 mm) are found.
As its name suggests, these beetles bore into trees. Near or beneath the symptoms, you might notice the beetle's entry and exit holes into the tree. The female tunnels into trees forming galleries, where she lays her eggs. Once grown, the sibling beetles mate with each other so that females leaving the tree to start their own galleries are already pregnant. Males do not fly and stay in the host tree.
Shothole borers have a special structure in their mouth where they carry two or three kinds of their own novel symbiotic fungi. Shothole borers grow these fungi in their tree galleries. It's these fungi that cause Fusarium dieback disease, which interrupts the transportation of water and nutrients in the host tree. Advanced fungal infections will eventually lead to branch dieback.
Early detection of infestations and removal of the infested branches will help reduce beetle numbers and therefore, also reduce the spread of the fungus.
- Chip infested wood onsite to a size of one inch or smaller. If the branch is too large to chip, solarize them under a clear tarp for several months
- Avoid movement of infested firewood and chipping material out of infested area
Avocado is one tree host. Shothole borers successfully lay eggs and grow fungi in many tree hosts, with some of these trees susceptible to the Fusarium dieback disease. For more information about tree host species, where the shothole borer is in California, and what symptoms look like in other tree hosts, visit the UC Riverside Eskalen Lab website or the Invasive Shot Hole Borers website.
Californians can help in the fight against invasive species by learning and participating during California Invasive Species Action Week, June 2–10.
During the week, spend your lunch with us learning the latest about invasive tree killing pests, aquatic nasties like quagga mussels and nutria, and how the invasive weed/wildfire cycle is altering our ecosystems! http://ucanr.edu/sites/invasivelunch/
Content in this post taken from the UC IPM Avocado Pest Management Guidelines. Faber BA, Willen CA, Eskalen A, Morse JG, Hanson B, Hoddle MS. Revised continuously. UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines Avocado. UC ANR Publication 3436. Oakland, CA.
- Author: Cheryl Reynolds
Spring is in full swing and summer is right around the corner. If you work in agricultural, turf, landscape, or structural settings, you are probably at your busiest. If you handle pesticides as part of your work, you most likely wear some sort of personal protective equipment (PPE). However, do you know if you are wearing the right type for the job that you do? Wearing the appropriate PPE, taking it off the right way, and correctly cleaning it prevents unnecessary pesticide exposure to yourself and others. Learn the steps so you don't expose your family members or those around you to pesticide residues by viewing a brand new online course on Proper Selection, Use, and Removal of Personal Protective Equipment from the UC Statewide IPM Program (UC IPM).
The course is approved by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) for 1.5 hours in the Laws and Regulations category. This course is designed for all pesticide handlers with the goal to provide them with information on pesticide labels and the California Code of Regulations (CCR) to help them select, wear, remove, and dispose of or store PPE.
In California, all pesticide handlers (applicators, mixers, loaders, those who transport pesticides, or those who fix application equipment) are legally required to wear PPE. However, in order to get the most protection from PPE, it must be used correctly. Violations involving the incorrect use of PPE were the second most commonly reported type of agricultural-use violation in 2017 as reported by DPR (PDF).
The new PPE online course opens with a scenario describing a real example of an accident reported to DPR that led to an incident of pesticide exposure because the correct eye protection was not worn. The content that follows is divided into six instructional modules, highlighting types of PPE, how to select it, and when certain items should be worn. Answer short questions about the different types of PPE. Open pesticide labels to learn how to select the right PPE and learn when certain items should be worn. Short how-to videos and animated sequences demonstrate the proper way to put on or remove items such as gloves, coveralls, respirators, and eyewear. You must pass a final test with 70% or higher to receive your certificate of completion and continuing education hours.
If this is the year to renew your license with DPR, get a jumpstart on it. Take this new course and all the other UC IPM online courses to refresh your knowledge and get the CEUs you need. There is a $30 fee for taking Proper Selection, Use, and Removal of Personal Protective Equipment. You are welcome to view the content for free on YouTube, but without the activities, final exam, and continuing education credit. For more information about license renewal, visit DPR.
- Author: Stephanie Parreira
Help the environment this Earth Day, which falls on Sunday April 22 this year, by installing insectary plants! These plants attract natural enemies such as lady beetles, lacewings, and parasitic wasps. Natural enemies provide biological pest control and can reduce the need for insecticides. Visit the new UC IPM Insectary Plants webpage to learn how to use these plants to your advantage.
The buzz about insectary plants
Biological control, or the use of natural enemies to reduce pests, is an important component of integrated pest management. Fields and orchards may miss out on this control if they do not offer sufficient habitat for natural enemies to thrive. Insectary plants (or insectaries) can change that—they feed and shelter these important insects and make the environment more favorable to them. For instance, sweet alyssum planted near lettuce fields encourages syrphid flies to lay their eggs on crops. More syrphid eggs means more syrphid larvae eating aphids, and perhaps a reduced need for insecticides. Similarly, planting cover crops like buckwheat within vineyards can attract predatory insects, spiders, and parasitic wasps, ultimately keeping leafhoppers and thrips under control.
Flowering insectaries also provide food for bees and other pollinators. There are both greater numbers and more kinds of native bees in fields with an insectary consisting of a row of native shrubs planted along the field edge (called a hedgerow). Native bees also stay in fields with these shrubs longer than they do in fields without them. Therefore, not only do insectaries attract natural enemies, but they can also boost crop pollination and help keep bees healthy.
Insectary plants may attract more pests to your crops, but the benefit is greater than the risk
The possibility of creating more pest problems has been a concern when it comes to installing insectaries. Current research shows that mature hedgerows, in particular, bring more benefits than risks. Hedgerows attract far more natural enemies than insect pests. And despite the fact that birds, rabbits, and mice find refuge in hedgerows, the presence of hedgerows neither increases animal pest problems in the field, nor crop contamination by animal-vectored pathogens. Hedgerow insectaries both benefit wildlife and help to control pests.
How can I install insectary plants?
Visit the Insectary Plants webpage to learn how to establish and manage insectary plants, and determine which types of insectaries may suit your needs and situation. If you need financial assistance to establish insectaries on your farm, consider applying for Conservation Action Plan funds from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) offered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Sources:
- Flower flies (Syrphidae) and other biological control agents for aphids in vegetable crops. (PDF)
- Good news for hedgerows: no effects on food safety in the field.
- Hedgerow benefits align with food production and sustainability goals.
- Habitat restoration promotes pollinator persistence and colonization in intensively managed agriculture. (PDF)
- Reducing the abundance of leafhoppers and thrips in a northern California organic vineyard through maintenance of full season floral diversity with summer cover crops.