This article was written for the UC IPM Retail Nursery and Garden Center News, a publication directed at retail nursery store employees. With the recent confirmed human West Nile virus deaths in California, it's important to understand how mosquitoes reproduce and what you can do to prevent them around your home or other areas.  

------

You've likely heard about ways to get rid of mosquito breeding sites around your home and landscape, as well as how to protect yourself from being bitten. But what should you do if you own or work at a...

The UC Statewide IPM Program is hiring a Pesticide Safety Writer to provide technical and administrative support to two programs: the Office of Pesticide Information and Coordination (OPIC) and the Pesticide Safety Education Program (PSEP).

The deadline to apply is September 19, so get your application in soon!

---

Pesticide Safety Writer
Location: UC ANR-Davis (Yolo County)

This position reviews pesticide recommendations in UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) pest management-related manuscripts, and analyzes conformity with state and federal law and the UC ANR Policy on Pesticides and Related Chemicals....

Praying mantids are well-known predators we often see lurking around gardens, landscapes, and sometimes near porch lights, waiting for a tasty meal to arrive.

Praying mantid adults are 2 to 4 inches (5-10 cm) long and are usually yellowish, green, or brown. Mantids (often referred to as praying mantis) go through incomplete metamorphosis (egg, nymph, adult) and have one generation per year. Overwintering eggs are laid in groups in hard, grayish egg cases which are glued to wood, bark, or other plant material. Adults and immatures (nymphs) have an elongated thorax and grasping forelegs, which they have the...

You may see leafhoppers in your garden or landscape this time of year as they hop about feeding on a variety of plants. You can distinguish these small, wedge-shaped insects from other pests by their tendency to quickly jump or crawl rapidly sideways when disturbed.

Leafhoppers are sucking insects that insert their mouthparts into plants and suck out plant juices and cell contents. Damage occurs during feeding, which typically results in leaves looking stippled (little white dots), bleached, pale, or brown, and plant shoots may curl and die. You may notice a sticky residue on the plants called honeydew, a waste product from when some species of leafhoppers feed. A fungus called sooty mold may grow on the honeydew, which can be...