If you are seeing black and red bugs scurrying about near trees and buildings, they may be boxelder bugs. Boxelder bugs (Boisea rubrolineata) feed on the flowers, leaves and seedpods of female boxelder trees (Acer negundo) and occasionally are found on maple and ash, and sometimes on certain stone fruits and grapes.
Boxelder bugs are often confused with other insects that look similar such as red-shouldered bugs, squash bugs, the bordered plant bug, and leaffooted bugs.
This insect doesn't usually cause significant damage to landscape plants, but when their numbers are high during fall, they can build up on outside walls or sometimes enter houses and may be considered a nuisance.
If you have a...
It's now spring, which means the appearance of all kinds of insects, including those large, leggy insects sometimes called “mosquito eaters” or “mosquito hawks”, which fly awkwardly in or around your house.
These insects are actually called crane flies, and sorry-- they don't eat mosquitoes.
They also don't bite or sting but can be a nuisance pest for some. In reality, crane fly larvae are a pest of turfgrass.
The best way to deal with crane flies is prevention. Learn how to prevent crane flies in your home and landscape by reading the blogpost ‘Mosquito Hawks' in Your House? Or by visiting the UC IPM Crane...
- Author: Stephanie Parreira
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), poisoning is the number one cause of injury-related death in the United States, and 1073 people in California were poisoned by pesticides in 2014 alone. Each year since 1962, National Poison Prevention Week has taken place during the third week of March, to raise awareness about avoiding these tragedies. No one wants their workers or family members to experience illness or death from pesticide exposure, so the UC IPM Pesticide Safety Education Program (PSEP) would like to bring...
Have you noticed small, rounded beetles that resemble miniature lady beetles crawling your home lately? If so, you may have carpet beetles.
Carpet beetles can be pests in homes, museums, and warehouses, where they feed on food such as fabric, wool carpet and rugs, stored food, and natural animal products including furs, feathers, bone, silk, and preserved specimens.
Adult carpet beetles don't feed on fabrics but instead feed on the pollen and nectar of outdoor plants. However, once they find their way indoors-- which could be through an open door or on cut flowers brought inside-- adults lay their eggs on a food source and within two weeks, their eggs hatch and begin to feed. Larvae feed in dark, secluded places and as...
News Release - March 16, 2017
The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) released a revised proposal for regulating the use of agricultural pesticides near school sites and licensed child day care facilities. The department is inviting the public to comment on the revisions during a 15-day period.
The revised draft regulation reflects extensive public input received during the most recent round of public review, which included three formal hearings and ended in December. The original proposal was issued in September 2016, after the department held a series of public workshops in five locations around the state.
The proposed regulation would provide an extra...