Finding freshly dug mounds of soil in the garden, lawn, or landscape might be a sign of gophers or moles. Their mounds look similar and are frequently confused for each other.
Figure 1 shows a mole mound, which usually is volano-shaped with a circular margin. Figure 2 illustrates a gopher mound and the characteristic crescent shape and plugged opening. Actual mounds may look slightly different from these pictures, but the descriptions are typical of the two vertebrates.
The burrowing activity of both moles and gophers can damage plant roots by dislodging and drying them out. Mounds themselves can be an aesthetic problem in turf and landscapes, but they can also be tripping hazards. Both species eat plant material, and in...
- Author: Niamh Quinn
![Learning to inspect for signs of rodent activity. [N. M. Quinn]](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/UCIPMurbanpests/blogfiles/44079small.jpg)
[From the May 2017 issue of the UC IPM Green Bulletin]
The West Coast Rodent Academy (WCRA) is a three-day intensive educational workshop hosted by University of California Cooperative Extension in association with the Pest Control Operators of California, Target Specialty Products and Univar. The event was recently held at the University of California's Agricultural and Natural Resources South Coast Research and Extension Center (SCREC) in Irvine, CA.
Managing rodents in urban environments can often be very challenging. The WCRA was created...
![Performing a drench test in a square of lawn. [J.K.Clark]](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/UCIPMurbanpests/blogfiles/35401small.jpg)
Spring is a good time to begin monitoring for any lawn insect pests. Pest examples include various root, crown and leaf-feeding caterpillars, grubs like masked chafers, billbugs and chinch bugs.
Although insects can be serious pests of lawns, lawn damage is more frequently due to lack of proper cultural care and/or improper grass species selection for your area. An unhealthy lawn is more easily attacked by insects, weeds and diseases.
Insects are sometimes are blamed for lawn damage when the culprit may actually be disease-causing pathogens, dog urine, or abiotic causes such as leaving an item on the lawn for some time and inappropriate use of garden chemicals such as fertilizers and herbicides.
It's important to...
- Author: Andrew Mason Sutherland
[From the December 2015 issue of the UC IPM Green Bulletin]
Survey of professional bed bug management in multi-unit housing
Bed bug management is especially challenging in multi-unit housing (MUH) situations such as public and low-income apartment buildings. In these environments, high resident turnover, lack of resources, ease of bed bug dispersal, and communication barriers may all contribute to chronic infestations.
Researchers and policymakers recognize the need to address this challenging...
![Figure 1. Bed bug adults (bottom, darker red) and nymphs. All life stages and both sexes of bed bugs preferentially feed on human blood. [Photo courtesy of Dong-Hwan Choe, UC Riverside.]](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/UCIPMurbanpests/blogfiles/25055small.jpg)
[From the December 2012 issue of the UC IPM Retail Nursery & Garden Center News]
After decades of relative obscurity, bed bugs (Figure 1) are exhibiting a global resurgence. In the United States, the Northeast and Midwest regions have been considered bed bug hot spots, with the highest reported incidence, but California has recently experienced a multitude of bed bug reports, with Sacramento experiencing the largest increase in requests for bed bug management services in the country in 2013. Causes for this resurgence may include increased global traffic and commerce, insecticide...
