- Author: Elizabeth E Grafton-Cardwell
[This post has been modified from the article originally published in the Fall 2018 issue of the Retail Nursery and Garden Center IPM News.]
Citrus trees remain a popular choice for home gardeners in California, largely due to their ease of care, beauty, and functionality for food and shade. However, backyard citrus can also be plagued by pests such as psyllids, leafminers, cottony cushion scale, and mealybugs.
Longtime readers of this blog will know that we have covered the
/span>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...
- Author: Cheryl A. Wilen
[From the UC Weed Science blog]
In what has been dubbed “dandelion-gate,” members of the Washington State legislature spent 20 minutes complaining about weeds on the capital's lawn. “In all the years I've been here I've never seen so many dandelions all over,” Sen. Mike Padden (R) said. “Is it your policy not to treat dandelions?” The department responsible for landscaping responded that the legislature cut its budget and now it only has 15 people covering the nearly 500 acre campus.
More and...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
From the UCANR Green Blog
Scientists are rearing tiny Asian wasps in quarantine and evaluating whether they can be released in California to battle brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), an invasive pest that poses a serious threat to the state's $54 billion agricultural industry, they reported in the current issue of California Agriculture journal.
The wasp, Trissolcus japonicus, has scientists feeling hopeful, said Chuck Ingels, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Sacramento...
Biological control is the beneficial action of predators, parasites, pathogens, and competitors in controlling pests and their damage. Biological control provided by these living organisms (collectively called "natural enemies") is especially important for reducing the numbers of pest insects and mites, but natural enemies can also contribute to the control of weed, pathogen, nematode or vertebrate pests.
In the recently revised Pest Note Biological Control and Natural Enemies of Invertebrates, authored by Steve Dreistadt of the UC Statewide IPM Program, you can learn more about how natural enemies are an important component of any...