- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Officials looking for ways to eradicate light brown apple moth from California's Bay Area and North Coast seem to face skepticism of their every move. Aerial spraying of pheromones has been abandoned after opposition from residents in the infested areas. A story this week in the Contra Costa Times sheds doubt on a planned alternative program, releasing sterile moths to control the pest.
According to the article, UC Berkeley entomologist Andrew Guitierrez says the female light brown apple moth can mate several times in the one- to two-week period before laying eggs.
"Within a few days, 100 percent of them have mated,...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The New York Times today ran a story that mixed irony with admiration for California's ubiquitous agricultural fairs. The irony was in descriptions of festivals in areas where the featured crop -- for example apricots in Patterson and garlic in Gilroy -- is celebrated, but no longer widely grown.
"In Gilroy . . . (garlic) is now grown on only about 500 acres. Half of the garlic sold in the United States now comes from China; most California garlic comes from the Central Valley, near Fresno," the story says.
The story reported that ag festivals still have an educational component, noting that UC Cooperative...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
As 323 active fires in California threaten more than 10,000 homes, commercial buildings and other structures, the Sacramento Bee today offered a small consolation. Even though air quality is poor and the state has already spent more than $100 million fighting blazes, the situation isn't really anything abnormal.
The Bee story, citing research by UC Berkeley environmental scientists that was led by Scott Stephens, said the amount of land burning pales compared to acreage consumed historically, before Europeans settled in California.
"The scientists estimated that an average 4.4 million acres burned annually in California before 1800,...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that trees killed by Sudden Oak Death are making the fire raging near Big Sur burn hotter, spread faster and loom more periously over firefighters. The story says hundreds of thousands of oak trees in the area have succombed to the disease caused by the fungus-like organism Phytophthora ramorum.
For the article, Times reporter Deborah Schoch spoke to UC Davis plant pathologist David Rizzo. He said SOD has "reached its apex" in Big Sur.
"You look in some of these canyons, and you'll see 70 percent, 80 percent of tanoaks are dead," Rizzo was quoted. "The...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The July-September 2008 issue of California Agriculture journal includes a science brief and a research article documenting increasing resistance to the common weed killer glyphosate in California weeds. The most common brand name for the herbicide is RoundUp.
In 2005, UC weed researchers Anil Shrestha and Kurt Hembree notified the media that they had confirmed glyphosate resistance in horseweed. In 2007, a news release by Stephanie Klunk of the UC Integrated Pest Management program reported on glyphosate resistance in hairy...
