- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert

UC Cooperative Extension developed an online interactive map that allows Californians to see how close they live to citrus trees infected with huanglongbing disease, reported Jeanette Marantos in the Los Angeles Times. This information is critical for the more than 60% of Californians who are growing their own backyard orange, grapefruit, mandarin, lime and other citrus trees.
Huanglongbing is an exotic citrus disease that kills every tree it infects. An exotic insect, the Asian citrus psyllid, spreads the disease from tree to tree. If the disease makes its way into California's commercial citrus...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert

The California Department of Food and Agriculture has awarded more than $1 million to fund three UC Agriculture and Natural Resources integrated pest management projects to research insects that have the potential to become pests in California agriculture. Each of the three-year projects received strong support from commodities which could be affected by invasive pests.
The projects that were awarded the funds are:
Proactive management of avocado seed and stem feeding weevils, led by UC Cooperative Extension specialist
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert

The invasive beetle, goldspotted oak borer (GSOB), has been found in the mountain community of Sugarloaf near Big Bear in San Bernardino County, reported the Chino Champion. The detection causes concern for other nearby communities where oak trees are prized.
All stages of the insect - larval, pupal and adult - were found underneath bark in dying black oak trees on private property. GSOB is a native of Guatemala, southern Mexico and southeastern Arizona. It was first collected in San Diego County in 2004. To limit the pest's spread, officials ask Californians not to transport firewood from one location to...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice

CDFA awards grant for Proactive IPM program
(Morning Ag Clips) April 30
The California Department of Food and Agriculture has awarded funding for one project in the initial funding cycle for the Proactive Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Solutions grant program. The project, titled “Proactive Biological Control of Spotted Lantern Fly, Lycorma delicatula (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae)” was awarded $543,936.
The three-year project will develop biological control agents for spotted lantern fly, an invasive pest that has not yet arrived in California but is spreading rapidly across the eastern US. This pest has the potential to affect many high-value California crops including grapes, walnuts,...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert

South American palm weevils that have made their way north from Mexico are having a destructive impact on palm trees in the San Diego region, reported Abbie Alford on CBS News 8 TV in San Diego.
UC Cooperative Extension specialist Mark Hoddle, the director of the Center for Invasive Species Research at UC Riverside, toured the reporter through the hard-hit Sweetwater Reserve in Bonita, where 10 percent of the palms die every three months.
“We are going to see hundreds, thousands...