- Author: Ben Faber
La Fundación para la Investigación de la Agricultura Orgánica (OFRF por sus siglas en inglés) se complace en anunciar un nuevo curso asíncrono en línea que cubre la importancia de la salud del suelo para la producción agrícola. En este curso entraremos en el mundo del suelo y explicaremos cómo puedes promover la salud del suelo como parte de un ecosistema saludable. Los suelos saludables permiten aumentar la producción con menores costos, y hace que su negocio agrícola sea más productivo económicamente, a la vez que favorece la salud del medio ambiente, los animales, y los seres humanos. Analizaremos prácticas como el cultivo de cobertura, aplicación de enmiendas, la labranza y la rotación de cultivos, y proporcionaremos herramientas para ayudarle a decidir qué prácticas de gestión se adaptan mejor.
https://ofrf.org/online-courses/los-fundamentos-de-la-salud-del-suelo/
Y más
Los Recursos en Español:
https://ofrf.org/resources/espanol/
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en Españ
- Author: Ben Faber
By Jules Bernstein | Photo by Stan Lim, UCR News
There is a curious buzz in Mark Hoddle's office. It is a figurative buzz, because of Hoddle's enthusiasm for controlling damaging pests with their natural insect enemies. But the buzz, at least today, is also literal. The sound is coming from long-nosed black palm weevils, flying in circles while tethered to an insect merry-go-round of sorts. The contraption is designed to test how far weevils can fly before they get tired.
“They are remarkably strong fliers,” Hoddle said. “On average, they can go about 25 miles in a day — 90 miles if they're feeling frisky.”
Given how far and how fast they can travel, there are fears they'll attack and kill the iconic palm trees throughout Southern California and wreck date crops in the Coachella Valley. So far, they've been mostly confined to San Diego County, where they've already destroyed tens of thousands of palms. In his role as director of UC Riverside's Center for Invasive Species Research, Hoddle is one of the people best qualified to keep the weevil threat at bay.
Working with insects is something Hoddle has always wanted to do. Growing up in New Zealand, he'd design houses out of toilet paper rolls for giant flightless grasshoppers called weta, and delight in figuring out their favorite foods. Then in college, he read about a lake in Papua New Guinea choking with an invasive water weed. By introducing a weevil that feasts on the weed, scientists eliminated the plant hazard.
“Their work made it so people could use the lake again safely, and it reduced people's exposure to mosquito-borne diseases. That was mind blowing! And it was a turning point for me,” Hoddle said.
During his undergraduate studies, Hoddle spent five years training in the New Zealand Army Reserves as an engineer. There he learned practical skills, like how to use chainsaws, lay explosives, clear booby traps and mines, lay lines for freshwater supplies, and build floating pontoon bridges.
“These are the skills that now help me trap insects in remote locations around the world,” Hoddle said. “I got used to pushing my way through prickly plants, having to be up to my waist in water, lying in cold mud when it was pouring with rain, tramping around all day digging holes, and looking for stuff with all my gear on. Doing this when looking for bugs isn't as big a deal for me because of the training I had.”
The hunt for Hoddle's holy grail — a solution to weevil invasions — has taken him and his entomologist wife Christina to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Mexico. Previously, the pair traveled to Pakistan, working for up to three months at a time searching for an enemy of the Asian citrus psyllid, a citrus killer. Psyllid numbers have since been reduced by more than 70% in California because of a highly effective natural enemy they found.
Hoddle's Ph.D. pedigree and affinity for adventures in rough, foreign terrain have garnered him frequent comparisons to famed, fictional archaeology professor Indiana Jones. The incredible collection of artifacts from a wide variety of cultures in his office at UCR — carved wooden ceremonial masks, insect artwork, an ornate sake bottle — only enhances the sense you're in an adventurer's temple.
- Author: Ben Faber
This is a common expression to describe the larval stage of Lepidoptera. But they are only "worms" in the sense of their Proto Indo-European word origin meaning to "to twist" of "turn", snake or dragon like. Anyway, they aren't earthworms and they don't even taste like earthworms.
Anyway, with the changing weather, there have been more reports of Lepidopteran larvae than I normally hear about. Different weather, a bit warmer, wetter, more green growth out there. New leaf flush coming on. Keep your eyes open for some of these insects feeding on leaves and possibly turning to feed on fruit at some point. Where you see avocado fruit clusters, it's quite likely that this stage will like to hide there to eat and pupate, so look for the webbing.
Last year was definitely a spider year.
They were swinging from the trees and entangling visitors in their webbing that crossed alleyways and somehow scrambled on to car mirrors and other zones where they might trap food. They were feeding on something, and some of that was our night flying moths. This year might see another spider year, if we start building a population of leps this spring.
So keep your eyes peeled for Lepidopteran larvae (plural, larva is singular). Here's some help identifying them. Along with the images here, there are some links to IPM websites that have more information on the biology and care of these "worms".
https://ipm.ucanr.edu/agriculture/citrus/ , https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/FRUIT/PESTS/leafroller.html
https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/C008/m008bpcaterpillars.html
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- Author: Sandipa Gautam
California red scale season has started in the SJV
Sandipa Gautam - Citrus IPM Advisor
Based on traps placed at LREC citrus blocks, California red scale season began with Biofix on March 10. Pest Control Advisors in Kern, Tulare, and Fresno County reported that they have seen activity in the week of March 10.
Figure 1. California red scale male. Note: feathery antennae and brown band through the waist.
What is CRS Biofix?
CRS Biofix is the start of California red scale activity for this season. As weather warms up and heat units are accumulated above the lower developmental threshold of this insects, overwintering females start producing crawlers which develop. Males' complete development and fly to find third instar females to mate. Mated females then produce crawlers which is the First Generation of Crawlers, observed 550-degree days after the biofix.
What do males on the trap cards mean for management?
Pest control advisors have long used pheromone cards to monitor males and degree days to predict successive life event (crawler emergence) for timely management of CRS. Trap numbers may be different depending on the management choice.
Figure 2. Trap with pheromone placed within an arm's length inside the tree canopy. For assessment, count number of males within square box and multiply by 5.
- IGRs and Mating Disruption – few male scales may be on the cards as these two options affect males more than it does females. You may have lower males on card but have high CRS populations.
- Aphytis and Movento – Aphytis targets third instar females, thus affecting females more than it does males. Also, Movento controls CRS on twigs but not on wood. If Aphytis or Movento or both are used, you may see higher male numbers. If Movento was used, check the inner canopy branches, top of the tree for CRS patches.
Citrus entomology group will monitor degree days for four counties and update it biweekly on ucanr website https://lrec.ucanr.edu/Citrus_IPM/Degree_Days/.
Management is targeted at 1st and 2nd generations as the crawlers are emerging. Based on previous years, first generation crawler emergence occurs around 2nd/3rd week of May. As the degree day accumulation is temperature dependent, monitoring is critical to predict accurately.
Stay tuned for updates.
- Author: Ben Faber
Microirrigation for Crop Production: Design, Operation, and Management, Second Edition is the latest release in this go-to foundational resource for the basics of engineering and the science of the design and operation of micoirrigation systems. This new edition includes novel methods for measurement and estimation of evapotranspiration, resource-efficient microirrigation design and operation, advanced irrigation scheduling methods and tools, novel methods and technology of microirrigation automation, monitoring and control, updates in crop salinity tolerance and leaching practices, variable rate irrigation, updates on the use of biological effluents and chemicals and pesticides to include safety and regulatory concerns.The revised book provides an understanding on the basic science needed to comprehend systems design, operation, management, maintenance, monitoring and performance evaluation.
Editors: James E. Ayars, Daniele Zaccaria, Khaled M. Bali