- Author: Belinda Messenger-Sikes
After years of drought, we welcome rain in California. But we also recognize that rain can help spread a number of plant diseases. Rain and wind can splash bacteria and fungi from infected leaves, branches, and blossoms to uninfected parts of the tree. The fungal diseases anthracnose, peach leaf curl, scab, shot hole blight, and the bacterial disease fire blight can all be spread by rain splash. This ability to spread by water makes these diseases more common after a wet spring. With 2023 bringing quite a bit of rainfall and 2024 looking similarly wet, we want to focus on some common rain-dispersed diseases.
Anthracnose
Anthracnose affects many trees including almond, citrus, Chinese elm, and...
/h2>- Author: Dong Hwan Choe
- Author: Chow-Yang Lee
- Author: Michael K Rust
Ants are one of the major seasonal pests around structures in California's urban environments. Pest management companies throughout the state report that ants are responsible for a significant proportion of their pest control services. In urban residential areas of California, the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, is the most common nuisance ant species treated by pest management professionals (PMPs) as well as the public themselves (Figure 1).
While contact insecticides are frequently used to control Argentine ants, they also contribute to environmental contamination via drift and runoff. However, insecticide applications following California's recent regulatory changes and label updates may fail to control...
- Author: Niamh M Quinn
- Author: Roger A Baldwin
- Author: Carolyn Whitesell
Pocket gophers can cause significant damage to valuable turf, girdle trees, and chew irrigation lines. Their mounds can create tripping hazards and lead to erosion concerns when found on slopes. Luckily there are multiple successful management options to choose from when it comes to managing pocket gophers.
Do I have a pocket gopher?
Pocket gophers are small burrowing rodents that are often identified from the damage they cause rather than a sighting of the animal itself. Pocket gophers spend most of their time below the surface and while it is possible to see them above the ground, or peeping out of a burrow (Figure 1), the easiest way to determine the presence of pocket gophers is by the...
/h2>- Author: Lauren Fordyce
It's time for UC IPM's annual insect Easter egg hunt! Can you guess which insects laid the eggs pictured below? Some may be pests, while others may be beneficial. Leave a comment on this blog post with your guesses, or on our Facebook and Instagram posts.
Answers will be posted on Monday, April...
- Author: Lauren Fordyce
Spring is just around the corner and many types of fruit trees are starting to develop their leaves. If you are growing peaches or nectarines and are now seeing symptoms of peach leaf curl on new leaves, unfortunately it's too late to manage the disease.
According to University of California research, peach leaf curl can only be effectively managed during the fall and winter, after leaves have dropped but before buds swell in spring. After bud break (when new buds begin to open), you may notice symptoms on new leaves but at this point, there are no effective controls. Pesticides used against peach leaf curl prevent the disease as opposed to curing it. Currently there are no verified curative methods for controlling...