- Author: Sherry Blunk
When offered the opportunity as a Master Gardener to be trained and unleashed on CA to ID and log sighting of the Tree of Heaven (TOH) (Ailanthus altissima), I jumped at the chance. TOH is an invasive, wildly hearty, rapidly growing deciduous tree native to China and Taiwan. Additionally, TOH is the preferred host plant of the dreaded Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) (Lycorma delicatula), a large planthopper (adult ~1” long) that can successfully feed on over 100 different plant species, including grapes, stone fruits, and hardwoods. Like aphids, the SLF has a hypodermic needle-like mouth which punctures the plant's soft tissue to feed; while their bodies excrete a sticky, sugar-rich fluid (honeydew) that promotes sooty mold and other plant diseases. Currently, the Spotted Lanternfly has been identified in 18 states on the East Coast and has the potential to spread rapidly and cause severe damage to many different crops.
Agricultural and Wildlife organizations have been studying and following the progression of the SLF since it was first introduced to the US a decade ago. Research-based maps now show nearly continuous pathways of Tree of Heaven collections existing from the East to the West Coast. These could provide the SLF a natural migration “road” to CA, where previous SLF introduction was expected to be limited to imported goods, which are heavily screened- You may recall that earlier this year, CA inspectors found viable SLF eggs on an art piece that was being transported to a Sonoma County gallery from the East coast. In preparation for the inevitable SLF arrival in CA, efforts are being made to ID and map the Tree of Heaven collections on public lands- to determine where to concentrate TOH removal efforts and best disrupt and contain the SLF movements within the State.
I foolishly envisioned traversing off-beaten paths to score my first TOH worthy sighting, but I barely had to step off the sidewalk to inspect the 30+ sapling strong grove thriving in the middle of a cultivated and mulched area of a public park! Yep, once you start looking, TOH can be found almost everywhere- roadsides, levees/ bike paths, among mixed species tree groves, and even within well-maintained city parks.
- Author: Lanie Keystone
Traveling is always an eye-opening experience; we learn so much and gather so many new and inspiring ideas. Our summer in British Columbia continues to be filled with such eye-opening surprises.
We are staying in a lovely area of Surrey, BC called Ocean Park/Crescent Beach. The city of Surrey is the fastest growing city in BC, outpacing its neighbor, Vancouver, and now reaching over 500,000 people. But it still feels like a quiet, much smaller town. My hunch is—it's the trees! And more importantly, it's the urban forests.
Many cities boast beautiful tree-lined streets or parks with lovely trees. Many cities and towns have laws or organizations that either protect existing trees, require permits for taking down trees and replacing them with new ones, or mandate that new developments have a certain minimum number of trees planted per each new home. That law is true for the whole state of California.
But Surrey, Vancouver, Toronto and many other Canadian cities go an amazing leap further…they provide for actual forests within the city! The town of Surrey has over 20 urban forests—including one that is just 15 steps out of our front door. It's a bountiful 128-acre resource for all to use. Picture Central Park in NYC. Now fill that space with mature, second growth trees and endless winding trails, ponds and meadows carved right in the middle of an area of homes, businesses and busy streets—and you have an urban forest.
These forests have multiple entries off of numerous streets and are created within a variety of neighborhoods and mix of socio-economic strata. Here, dogs are walked, school kids explore, elders stroll and thousands take advantage of this amazing resource filled with trees, ferns, ground cover, downed moss-covered logs, birds, and forest critters—all in a natural setting with a dizzying array of winding trails.
Urban Forestry has become such an important part of the Canadian culture and environment, that the University of British Columbia has an entire major and department designed to encourage future generations to research and develop new ways of using the natural environment for the greater good. And that includes creating more urban forests.
As Master Gardeners, we know the importance of such spaces—for the health of the planet, for the health of our communities and for our own health. Each time we take one of our daily walks into one of the vast urban forests, we feel renewed, refreshed and re-created. It's as if we are walking into a fairyland or onto sacred ground. Both, I believe, are true.
![20240527 170711 (1) 20240527 170711 (1)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/108060.jpg)
- Author: Ben A Faber
This is a website designed for wildlands weed control, but the practices fit right into those of orchard crop grower, as well
Methods for Managing Weeds in Wildlands
Weed Control User Tool (WeedCUT) -
https://weedcut.ipm.ucanr.edu/#gsc.tab=0
This decision support tool provides land managers with guidance on a range of methods for managing invasive plants in wildlands using non-chemical approaches exclusively, for situations when use of herbicides is restricted or not desired. The tool is intended to be developed further to include management practices including herbicides in the future. Explore all management practices below or enter the characteristics of your weed and your site to filter for the most effective practices. A manual containing all listed management techniques is available for free download. Biological control is currently not an outcome for the filtering tool but can be accessed directly through the thumbnail grid below. An Executive Summary provides summary information about using non-chemical methods at a programmatic level.
Filter by plant and site characteristics
View management practices by select plant species
The Manual from CAL -IPC (California Invasive Plant Council), has many more details. This manual provides comprehensive descriptions of 21 commonly used non-chemical weed control techniques and of biological control agents for 18 weed species/species groups that will help you as a practitioner treat weeds more effectively.
Authors of each chapter have compiled research and on-the-ground knowledge of subject experts on tools and methods of application, as well as on efficacy of techniques under various environmental conditions and across different classes of invasive plants. Environmental, cultural, and human safety risks are also highlighted to help support safe and effective use of techniques. This manual is designed to be a go-to resource for practitioners that are either complementing their weed control work with non-chemical techniques or are exclusively restricted to not using herbicides. Individual BMPs will be incorporated into an online decision support tool still in development.
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![Weed control bmps manual Weed control bmps manual](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/107935.png)
When: Saturday, August 24, 2024 9:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Cost: $10
Location: Stanislaus County Ag Center, Modesto
Sign Up Link: https://ucanr.edu/totally/tomatoes/2024
Questions? (209) 525-6862
UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Instructor: Heidi Aufdermaur
If you'd prefer to pay by cash or check, you can send or drop payment by the office. Please sign up and pay by August 15 to reserve your space!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Did you know that California has a state insect? It does.
Is it the honey bee? No.
Is it the lady beetle (ladybug)? No.
Bumble bee? No.
It's the California dogface butterfly (Zerene eurydice), an insect found only in California.
The state Legislature designated it as the state insect in 1972. The butterfly is nicknamed "dogface" in reference to the silhouette of what resembles a poodle head on the wings of the male. The female is mostly solid yellow except for a single black spot on its upper wings.
Most people have never seen it in the wild. But if you've visited the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis, home of a global collection of 8 million insect specimens, you know that its logo is the California dogface butterfly.
And on Thursday, Aug. 8 those attending the Vacaville Museum Guild's Annual Children's Party (sold out) will see specimens from the Bohart Museum, as well as macro images of the butterfly, the work of talented Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas of Davis.
Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart, has donated a drawer of the specimens for visitors to see. They can also pose in a cutout of the Bohart Museum's California dogface butterfly banner. And thumb through a 35-page children's book, "The Story of the Dogface Butterfly," written by UC Davis doctoral alumna Fran Keller, a professor at Folsom Lake College and a Bohart Museum research scientist. The book includes images by Kareofelas and Keller. Laine Bauer, then a UC Davis student, contributed the illustrations.
The book, published in 2013, tells the untold story of the California dogface butterfly, and how schoolchildren became involved in convincing the State Legislature to select the colorful butterfly as the state insect. Fourth grade students of Betty Harding and Shirley Klein, Dailey Elementary School, Fresno, advocated it as the state insect. The teachers and students enlisted the help of State Assemblyman Kenneth L. Maddy, who authored AB 1834. On July 28, 1972, Governor Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law, designating the California dogface butterfly the official "State Insect of California." (Read more on how the butterfly became the state insect under the Ronald Reagan administration.)
The most prevalent habitat of the California dogface butterfly is the 40-acre Shutamul Bear River Preserve near Auburn, on a Placer Land Trust conservation site; Kareofelas serves as a docent on the Placer Land Trust tours. (See virtual tour on YouTube). The butterfly is there because its larval host plant, false indigo (Amorpha californica), is there.
Are there dogface butterflies in Vacaville? Yes. The butterfly's breeding grounds include Gates Canyon. (See UC Davis emeritus professor Art Shapiro's website.)
As mentioned, few people see the butterfly in the wild. However, its image graces a first-class U.S. stamp and California driver licenses. It's also depicted on the California State Fair monorail.
Butterfly Poster and Book. The Vacaville Museum Guild's Children's Party (see what's on tap) also will spotlight a Bohart Museum poster by Kareofelas-Keller that depicts the male and female butterfly. (Both the poster and the book are available for sale in the Bohart gift shop; net proceeds benefit the insect museum's education, outreach and research programs.)
The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, also houses a petting zoo (featuring stick insects, Madagascar hissing cockroaches and tarantulas) and a insect-themed gift shop, stocked with books, posters, t-shirts, hoodies, jewelry and collecting equipment. Director of the insect museum is Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, Agricultural Sciences, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
The Bohart is open for walk-in visitors on Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 4:30 p.m. through Aug. 27. It will be closed to the public Sept. 1-22.
The next open house is set for 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 28. The theme is "Museum ABC's: Arthropods, Bohart and Collecting." All open houses are free and family friendly. Parking is also free. For more information, contact bmuseum@ucdavis.edu or access the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu.
Links:
- Golden Year for the California Dogface Butterfly (Bug Squad post, Feb. 4, 2022)
- Rob on the Road, KVIE, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (First aired July 7, 2017)
- Capital Public Radio Piece on Dogface Butterfly (featuring Greg Kareofelas)
- Pacific Land Trust website (PLT maintains a conservation site in Auburn that's the home of the California dogface butterfly)
![Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology, holds a drawer of California dogface butterfly specimens. The butterfly is California's state insect. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology, holds a drawer of California dogface butterfly specimens. The butterfly is California's state insect. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/108200.jpg)
![A 35-page children's book, A 35-page children's book,](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/108202.jpg)