- Author: Ben Faber
UC IPM online courses:
New Fuller rose beetle course and early-bird pricing
—Cheryl Reynolds, UC Statewide IPM Program
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/.
- Author: Ben Faber
UC Ag Expert talks about
Fuller rose
beetle (weevil)
Date: January 23, 2019
Time: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Contact: Petr Kosina pkosina@ucanr.edu
Sponsor: UC Ag Experts Talk
Location: Webinar
Event Details
Register in advance for webinar at:
https://ucanr.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RIYGPBgkTo6o_hPooWlfmg
Participants of this webinar will receive 1 hour of 'Other' CE units
Note: This webinar has no fee.
Dr. Beth Grafton-Cardwell, citrus IPM specialist and research entomologist, will discuss the lifecycle, damage to citrus, monitoring, methods of control and export issues associated with Fuller rose beetle. Participants can use the chat function of the webinar to ask questions.
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/r107300311.html
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/beetles/fuller_rose_beetle.htm
Event Reminder
- Author: Ben Faber
Date growers in the California deserts have many insects to worry about such as carob moth, hibiscus mealybug, and giant palm borer. Now the industry is under threat from another potential pest, the highly damaging and invasive South American palm weevil (SAPW) (Rhynchophorus palmarum). It was first identified by county and state agriculture officials in 2011 in San Ysidro in San Diego. They made the discovery while looking for a closely related palm weevil, R. vulneratus (originally mis-identified as the notorious red palm weevil, R. ferrugineus), which was found in Laguna Beach and declared eradicated in Jan. 2015.SAPW has been reported on at least 35 plant species in 12 families and is especially economically important on plantation crops such as oil and ornamental palms of which date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, is a recorded host (CABI 2016; Dean 1979; Esser and Meredith 1987). SAPW has killed hundreds of Canary Island date palms (P. canariensis) in Tijuana and parts of San Diego County. These large urban infestations pose a significant risk to the multi-million dollar date palm industries (edible fruit and ornamentals) in the Coachella Valley. Losses of ornamental Canary Island date palms in San Diego County, are probably significant and likely now reaching millions of dollars in killed palms, reduced aesthetics, and increase removal costs.
SAPW has a long rostrum (this is the beetle's snout) and is large often up to 1 ½ inches to 2 inches in length (CDFA 2018). SAPW is now California's biggest weevil species! Inside the palm crown, weevil larvae feed on the meristematic tissue and it is this feeding that kills the palm crown which results in palm death. Larvae pupate inside 3-inch cocoons made of palm fibers. The pupal stage typically lasts two to three weeks. Adult weevils emerge from these protective cocoons, mate, and they are capable of flying significant distances, perhaps as far as 15 miles in a single day, to find new palm hosts. Female weevils use their snout to chew holes in the apical regions of the palm and they lay eggs in these holes. Larvae that hatch from eggs burrow into the palm crown and feed turning the meristem tissue in a fermenting “mash”. Feeding wounds that result in fermenting damage in association with aggregation pheromone released by male weevils create a highly attractive airborne cocktail of odors that weevils fly too. Adult weevils can live for at least 40 days, often longer (CDFA, 2018).
A single infected palm can result in the production of hundreds of weevils and detection of weevil infested palms at the early stages of attack can be difficult to identify because larvae live inside their host trees. The first obvious symptom of attack is a crown that is starting to collapse. Unless palms are treated within systemic insecticides at the early stages of attack, infested palms will ultimately die in as little as 2-3 months once visual symptoms become apparent.
In addition to direct physical damage SAPW inflict via feeding, it is a primary vector of the nematode that causes red ring disease (RRD), a fatal wilt disease of palms. Fortunately, RRD has not yet been detected in SAPWs or palms attacked in San Diego (Hoddle et. al. 2016). Removal of infected trees is necessary not only to remove breeding weevil populations from the environment, but also to minimize risk of harm to people, pets, and property from crown and frond drop.
More information on the SAPW invasion and to report suspect palms please visit this website: http://cisr.ucr.edu/palmarum.html