- (Focus Area) Pest Management
- Author: Lauren Fordyce
Are you noticing an abundance of cobwebs outside, on plants, fences, homes, or outdoor furniture?
While many people fear spiders or dislike their cobwebs, most spiders are beneficial to have around– even in the home! Spiders are predators of many insect pests and rarely cause harm to people. The only medically significant spiders in California are brown and black widows. While these spiders have the potential to cause harm, it is rare that they will bite, even in areas where they are very common. Like most spiders, they prefer to stay hidden and avoid people.
Some common web-spinning spiders you might encounter outdoors...
- Author: Daniel K Macon
Folks new to the world of working livestock guardian dogs (LGDs), whether they are producers or dog aficionados, often ask, “What's the best breed?” or “What breed is your dog?” I usually begin my answer with a joke: “He's a North American BWD – Big White Dog!” I then go on to explain that all of my successful dogs have usually been a mix of breeds, and that I put more emphasis on the working abilities of my dogs' parents and on desirable phenological traits (like a short coat) than I do on selecting specific breeds. My most recent dogs have all been mixes – Maremma-Anatolian, or Pyrnees-Akbash, for example. And I suspect that most...
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
- Author: Mike Hsu
- Author: Saoimanu Sope
From Siskiyou County through Riverside County, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources has hired UC Cooperative Extension experts to help Californians address challenging issues.
The eight recently hired UC Cooperative Extension specialists, advisors and coordinators bring expertise in urban pest management, healthy families, regenerative agriculture, plant science, small farms and food safety to their communities.
Since 1914, UC Cooperative Extension researchers have been working directly with community members to improve their lives and livelihoods.
To see a list of UC Cooperative Extension experts who have joined in the past few months, visit
- Author: Sarah Marsh
- Editor: Taiyu Guan
- Editor: Consuelo B Baez Vega
We have had some interesting calls lately concerning issues we do not usually see in the fields. We have received calls about small circular areas with “snipped” rice in fields west of I-5.
As we stood at the edge of the field, a quiet rustle alerted us. We spotted a small, brown rodent slipping into the field, likely a Norway rat based on the length of the hairless tail, which was shorter than...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
As we gather to celebrate moths during National Moth Week (traditionally held the last full week in July and to be observed areawide on Saturday night, July 20 at the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis), folks single out their favorites and non-favorites.
For the beekeepers that's easy. They dislike the pests known as "wax moths" and their larvae.
The female wax moths hang around the hives at night and when the opportunity arises, slip in to lay their eggs. If the colony is weak, this pest can take over.
The honey bee bible, The...