- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Southern California's iconic palm trees are now threatened by another invasive species, the South American palm weevil, reported Mark Muckenfuss in the Riverside Press Enterprise.
Mark Hoddle, UC Cooperative Extension specialist based at UC Riverside, has been monitoring the pest south of the border and recently visited Tijuana to assess the infestation.
"We found about 130 dead Canary Island palms," Hoddle said. "It's been devastating in Tijuana."
On the way back to Riverside, he stopped in...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Newly appointed UC Cooperative Extension agricultural engineering advisor Alireza Pourreza has been awarded the 2016 Giuseppe Pellizzi Prize by the Club of Bologna, an honor presented every other year to the best doctoral dissertations focused on agricultural machinery and mechanization. The Club of Bologna is a world taskforce on strategies for the development of agricultural mechanization.
Pourreza, who earned his Ph.D. at the University of Florida in 2014, worked on early detection of huanglongbing disease of citrus. Huanglongbing, an incurable disease that is spread by Asian citrus psyllid, has seriously impacted citrus...
- Author: Niamh Quinn
[From the August 2016 issue of UC IPM's Retail Nursery & Garden Center IPM News]
In many cities across California, urban coyote conflicts appear to be rising. Recent analysis of coyote reports from several entities in southern California has shown that coyote conflicts are generally much higher during the pup-rearing (May–August) and dispersal seasons (September–December), compared with the breeding season (January–April). It is unclear whether this is due to territoriality issues, increased human conflict due to increased coyote activity, increases in energy demands on coyotes when...
May is Lyme Disease Awareness month, so what better time to tell you about the updated Pest Note: Lyme Disease in California.
This updated publication, by authors Robert S. Lane and Anne Kjemtrup, contains new information on incidents of Lyme disease in California.
You can read about the main carrier of Lyme disease, the western blacklegged tick, including the biology of the tick, specific habitats (dense woods and trails with leaf litter), places and times of the year where bites from disease-carrying ticks are...
It's Mosquito Awareness Week (April 17-23) in California. The Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California (MVCAC) is promoting this week to educate the public about how to control mosquitoes, as spring is when mosquito populations begin to multiply and can reach large numbers.
The MVCAC recommends the public practice the “D's” of mosquito prevention:
- DRAIN all standing water.
- DAWN and DUSK are times to avoid being outside.
- DRESS in long sleeves to avoid being bitten.
- DEFEND yourself from mosquitoes with an effective repellent.
- DOOR and window...