- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert

Dozens of foreign insects and plant diseases slipped undetected into the United States in the years after 9/11, when authorities were so focused on preventing another attack they overlooked a pest explosion that threatened the quality of the nation's food supply, the Associated Press reported today. The article was picked up by Politico.com, CBS News and other national publications.
"Whether they know it or not, every person in the country is affected by this, whether by the quality or cost of their food, the pesticide residue on food or not being able to enjoy the outdoors...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert

The Sacramento Bee recently warned readers of certain plants that might at first appear to be lovely, delicate greenery, but in time can become the vegetative equivalent of a street gang viciously expanding its turf. The story was picked up yesterday by Scripps News Service.
The most notorious garden thugs, the story said, are bamboo and mint.
Ellen Zagory, the horticulture director for the UC Davis Arboretum, told reporter Debbie Arrington that she has neighbors with running bamboo, which means she has...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert

Another pest has been added to the list of exotic insects that dishearten California farmers. The brown marmorated stink bug, a destructive native of Asia, has been seen this spring in 33 states, including California, Oregon and Washington, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
"All that we do know for certain is that a tremendously large population went into overwintering in fall 2010. So, if they survived, there could be a very large population emerging in the spring," the story quoted Tracy Leskey, a research entomologist at the U.S. Agriculture Department's Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville,...