- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
In the human world, we recognize Mother's Day as a special day to celebrate all mothers. It's a day that Anna Jarvis of Grafton, West Va., established on May 10, 1909 with a worship service at St. Andrew's Methodist Church, Grafton.
Lady beetles, aka ladybugs, are mothers, too. The female lays a batch of eggs, from 10 to 50, at one time, and can lay about 1000 eggs in her lifetime, scientists say.
Beneficial insects! Yes, but in their larval form they eat even more.
Mature lady beetles will feed on 20 to 25 aphids per day, but their late-stage larvae will consume 10 times that number, making them far more effective predators, according to Whitney Cranshaw, a professor and Extension entomologist with Colorado State University (now emeritus), in a July 2018 article in Phys.Org.
A salute to lady beetles and their larvae on Mother's Day!
Nutrition Policy Institute, in collaboration with the Dolores Huerta Foundation, Cultiva La Salud, and Stanford Pediatrics, released three infographics with information on school meal programs. The cartoon-style one-pagers were developed after a PhotoVoice project suggested the need for culturally and linguistically relevant materials about school nutrition programs for Spanish-speaking families in California's San Joaquin Valley. The infographics emphasize federal nutrition requirements for school meals, factors influencing school meal offerings, and the role families and youth can play in advocating for changes.
- “What's on the menu?” promotes the benefits to student health and learning from school meals, including an overview of their nutritional components. It is available in Spanish, “¿Qué hay en el Menú de la?”, and complementary English and Spanish videos.
- “What goes into making school meals?” highlights the logistics and other factors that influence how schools provide meals. It is available in Spanish, “¿Qué se Necesita para Preparar las Comidas Escolares?” and complementary English and Spanish videos.
- “Make Your Voice Heard!” highlights avenues for parent and community involvement in advocating for policies and practices related to school meals at local, state, and federal levels. It is available in Spanish, “¡Alza tu Voz!
Parents, youth, school district officials, food service directors in the San Joaquin Valley, and other partners helped to co-create the infographics with designers at Tremendousness. The project partnership includes NPI's senior policy advisor Christina Hecht and policy director Ken Hecht. Initial investigation and infographic content development were funded by the Stanford University Office of Community Engagement, with video development and extended dissemination funded by the Thompson Family Foundation.
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
UCCE advisors will present webinars on May 21 and 28
Late spring rains have delayed California's fire season this year, which provides farmers and ranchers an opportunity to improve their wildfire preparedness. Barns, wood fencing, hay and other property commonly found on farms have inherent vulnerabilities to wildfire.
Fortunately, buildings and infrastructure can be hardened and maintained to reduce their vulnerability to fire and fire-related damage to agricultural resources. Having a plan in place to keep livestock safe and healthy is essential to maintaining animal health and resume operations as quickly as possible post-wildfire. Join the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network team to learn about wildfire preparedness strategies for farms and ranches.
The two-part webinar series will cover hardening structures and managing livestock during wildfire.
Part 1: Ranch Hardening and Wildfire Preparedness Strategies for Agricultural Structures
- May 21 at 6-7 p.m.
- Join UC Cooperative Extension fire advisor Luca Carmignani and UCCE forest advisor Yana Valachovic to discuss best practices for incorporating principles of structure hardening and defensible space into agricultural structures and operations.
- Register by May 20 at https://bit.ly/3y1MbuP. Link to webinar will be emailed to registrants.
Part 2: The Realities of Managing Livestock Health During Wildfire
- May 28 at 6-7:30 p.m.
- Join UCCE livestock and natural resource advisors and our partners for a set of presentations about managing livestock health during wildfire events and what to do if you find yourself trapped by an approaching wildfire.
- Register by May 20 at https://bit.ly/3y1MbuP. Link to webinar will be emailed to registrants.
- Prepared by: Terry Lewis
Tasks
- Water and mow lawn. Set mower higher to shade out weeds and keep roots cool.
- Be cautious when applying sulfur to grapevines for mildew control. Damage occurs above 100°F.
- Trap, hand-pick or bait snails, slugs and earwigs. (See UC IPM pest note on snail and slug management.)
- Deeply water fruit and nut trees. Ideally, mature fruit trees should be irrigated to a depth of 3 feet.
Pruning
- Remove any unwanted sprouts on trunks of trees.
- Thin fruit trees allowing 4 to 6 inches between fruit.
- Deadhead roses to encourage repeat blooming.
- Remove dead branches from shrubs and trees.
Fertilizing
- Feed bedding plants with all-purpose fertilizer high in phosphorus.
- Feed vegetables and lawns with all-purpose fertilizer.
Planting
- Spring planting season is over. Anything planted this month will need careful watering.
- Fill in bare spots from earlier plantings of perennials and annuals.
- This is the last opportunity to transplant young plants.
Enjoy now
- Annuals and perennials: California poppy (Eschscholzia), Lantana.
- Bulbs, corms, tubers: squill (Seilla), Iris, amaryllis (Hippeastrum).
- Trees, shrubs, vines: oleander (Nerium), violet trump vine (Clytostoma).
- Fruits and vegetables: melon, asparagus, cucumber.
Things to ponder
- A garden of native flowering plants requires less water, fertilizer and energy than a traditional landscape.
- Weed seeds may survive for many years; many common weed seeds will germinate after 20 years.
- Author: Ben Faber
You see them here, you see them there, you see those brown garden snails everywhere in the avocado trees this year. A wet year. What do you expect? Lush, beautiful tree growth, yeah. And when you come to harvest the fruit, the leaves and fruit are covered with snails. They are in your hand as soon as you go to pick the fruit.
It's especially noticeable on trees with a tight canopy with poor air circulation and canopy skirts down to the ground. Young GEM trees with their tight canopies and fruit low down and even in the leaf mulch, are especially prone in a wet year like this. We don't normally expect to see snails in avocados. They seem to go for citrus whether it's a wet or a dry year and growers are aware of the need for snail monitoring and control. But avocado growers can get caught off guard.
Snail feeding on fruit
Snails love the closed canopy which is more humid with direct contact to access from soil
So what do you do?
- Inspect young and topworked trees regularly for damage, especially during and after wet conditions. Be sure to distinguish the cause of damage. Caterpillars, earwigs, Fuller rose beetle, grasshoppers, and June beetles also chew tree foliage.
- Inspect surfaces for slimy or dry silvery trails characteristic of snails and slugs. Look for snails hidden under trunk wraps or other shelters near trunks.
- Modify cultural practices, encourage biological control, and exclude snails from canopies to provide good control.
- Prune the skirts up so that they are not touching the ground, but not so high that leaf mulch is blown away.
- Control weeds in young groves and groves where tree canopies are sparse as low vegetation favors snails.
- Retain dropped leaves and apply coarse organic mulch near trunks to retard snail numbers and to suppress root rot and weeds. Frequent microsprinkler irrigation encourages snail problems.
- Increase the interval between irrigations to the extent compatible with good tree growth. Trim branches that touch soil to restrict snail access to canopies and expose the soil surface to drying.
Birds and other small vertebrates, parasitic flies, and several types of predatory beetles commonly prey on snails. The predatory decollate snail (Rumina decollata, family Subulinidae) is widely distributed in southern California. Decollate snail is commercially available and legal for introduction only in certain San Joaquin Valley and southern California counties (Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Madera, Orange, Riverside, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, San Diego, Ventura, and Tulare counties). Decollate introductions are not recommended in avocado. Establishment of significant decollate numbers usually requires several years after introduction, and brown garden snail primarily is a pest when avocado trees are young.
Snails and slugs are repelled by copper. Commercially available bands of copper foil wrapped around trunks exclude snails. Another alternative is to add Bordeaux mixture to whitewash and paint 1 to 2 inch strip around the trunks of trees. Certain snail baits are available for spot applications. Molluscicides also kill predatory decollate snails. Pesticides are rarely warranted for mollusk control in avocado.
Read more at UC IPM
https://ipm.ucanr.edu/agriculture/avocado/brown-garden-snail/#gsc.tab=0