- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
![A light brown apple moth worm.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/anrnews/blogfiles/500small.jpg)
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 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
![A GWSS poses on a leaf.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/anrnews/blogfiles/441small.jpg)
Glassy-winged sharpshooters made a tremendous spash in the California media back in the 90s when they were first introduced into California and began spreading Pierce's disease in grapes. They were never far from the minds of grape researchers and farmers, but the stories in the press almost completely disappeared. Until yesterday.
The Riverside Press Enterprise ran a 500-word story about renewed concerns of a Pierce's disease outbreak in Temecula wine country. According to the article, a grower and a UC Riverside scientist are warning that not enough wineries are applying a pesticide that kills the glassy-winged...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
![A tree suffering from Sudden Oak Death.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/anrnews/blogfiles/371small.jpg)
A meeting of the California Oak Mortality Task Force in Marin is generating a spike in news coverage of Sudden Oak Death. Today, the main theme is where the disease took hold in California. UC Berkeley researcher Matteo Garbelotto reported on genetic testing of Phytophthora ramorum, the pathogen that is killing California oaks.
According to a story in the Marin Independent Journal, Garbelotto found the pathogen's forebears at a site on Bolinas Ridge within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, five kilometers from the Kentfield site where the disease was first observed in...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The Bay Area TV segment "CBS 5 Investigates" looked into the Light Brown Apple Moth controversy for a story posted to their Web site today and found contrary opinions to publicize.
The story opens . . . "The government claims it's an emergency. They say they have to conduct aerial spraying over the Bay Area immediately to eradicate the light brown apple moth. But a CBS 5 Investigation has found there may not be an emergency at all."
California secretary of agriculture A.G. Kawamura made the case for spraying.