- Author: Lauren Fordyce
Follow these general tips for the month of March to prevent pests in the garden and landscape. To view more tips specific to your region, visit the Seasonal Landscape IPM Checklist on the UC IPM website.
- Look for aphids and their natural enemies such as predaceous bugs, lacewings, lady beetles, and syrphid flies. On small plants, spray a strong stream of water or apply insecticidal oils or insecticidal soaps to kill them.
- Fertilize caneberries, citrus, deciduous fruit trees, palms, and heavily-flowering shrubs with slow-release products.
- Monitor for the crawler stage of scale insects and apply horticultural oil if scales are abundant.
- Remove weeds as soon as they pop up in the garden or landscape.
- Apply organic mulches where thin or soil is bare under trees and shrubs to prevent weeds and regulate soil moisture and temperature. Keep mulch back from trunks and at a depth of 2 to 4 inches, depending on the mulch type.
- Prevent mosquitoes by eliminating standing water in gutters, drain pipes, flowerpots, etc. Place Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis in birdbaths and ponds to selectively kill mosquito larvae.
- If olive psyllid was a problem in past years, use an appropriate insecticide when the first generation of psyllids appear.
- Whitewash tree trunks to deter borers and prevent sunburn. Apply to young trees or older bark on susceptible trees newly exposed to sunlight.
- Keep an eye out for codling moth adults on apple and pear. Bag fruit and promptly remove infested or dropped fruit.
- Apply blossom sprays to prevent new fire blight infections. Look for oozing and dead limbs on pome plants such as apple, crabapple, pear, and pyracantha as soon as spring growth begins.
- Check for signs of powdery mildew on apple, crape myrtle, grape, rose, and stone fruits. Take preventative measures, like pruning, to provide better air circulation between plants.
Don't see your county on the checklist or want to provide feedback? Let us know!
Follow these general tips for the month of February to prevent pest in the garden and landscape. To view more tips specific to your region, visit the Seasonal Landscape IPM Checkliston the UC IPM website.
- Protect sensitive plants from freezing and frost damage.
- Check grapes for pests like powdery mildew, Eutypa dieback, Phomopsis cane and leaf spot, and others.
- Paint or varnish and seal wood to deter carpenter bees. If intolerable, treat tunnels during early spring.
- Prevent mosquitoes by eliminating standing water in gutters, drain pipes, flowerpots, etc. Place Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis in birdbaths and ponds to selectively kill mosquito larvae.
- Apply a preventive spray for peach leaf curl once or more during late fall through bud break in spring if leaf curl has been a problem on nectarine or peach.
- Prune evergreen, summer-flowering shrubs.
- Manage weeds using nonchemical methods such as cultivation, handweeding, or mowing. Control young weeds as soon as they pop up.
- Whitewash tree trunks to deter borers and prevent sunburn. Apply to young trees or older bark on susceptible trees newly exposed to sunlight.
- Apply organic mulches where thin or soil is bare under trees and shrubs to prevent weeds and regulate soil moisture and temperature. Keep mulch back from trunks and at a depth of 2 to 4 inches, depending on the mulch type.
Don't see your county on the checklist or want to provide feedback? Let us know!
- Author: Lauren Fordyce
Did you know that UC IPM has an online tool that provides month-by-month pest prevention and management tips? It's called the Seasonal Landscape IPM Checklist! You can select your region of California to view activities to do in the landscape each month. You can also subscribe to receive an email at the beginning of each month for your designated region.
Follow these general tips for the month of January. To view more tips specific to your region, visit the checklist on the UC IPM website.
- Monitor for damage and pests such as brown rot, snails, and Asian citrus psyllid on citrus plants.
- Clean up mummies and old fruit and nuts around trees to avoid harboring pests. Remove fallen leaves from beneath deciduous fruit trees and roses.
- Protect sensitive plants from freezing and frost damage.
- Adjust irrigation schedules according to the weather and plants' changing need for water. Reduce irrigation frequency or turn off systems if rainfall is adequate. Irrigate deeply but infrequently if the winter is dry.
- Prevent mosquitoes by eliminating standing water in gutters, drain pipes, flowerpots, etc. Place Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis in birdbaths and ponds to selectively kill mosquito larvae.
- Apply a preventive spray for peach leaf curl once or more during late fall through bud break in spring if leaf curl has been a problem on nectarine or peach.
- Prune deciduous trees and shrubs such as apple, crape myrtle, pear, rose, spirea, and stone fruits. Make cuts properly to encourage good form and structure. Remove dead, diseased, and borer-infested wood. Certain pests (e.g. shothole borer) and host plants such as apricot and cherry warrant summer pruning.
- Manage weeds using nonchemical methods such as cultivation and handweeding, or mowing. Control young weeds as soon as they pop up.
Don't see your county on the checklist or want to provide feedback? Let us know!
- Author: Lauren Fordyce
Lately you may have seen some large, leggy insects bumbling around on your home, bouncing off walls and ceilings. What are these?
While many people call them “mosquito eaters” or “mosquito hawks,” they are actually crane flies. And unfortunately, they do not eat mosquitoes. Many reports claim that they bite or sting, and this is also false. The adults are harmless and many species don't even have mouthparts to feed at all! However, their larvae can be pests of lawns and turfgrass.
Larvae are to 1-1/2 inches long, brown, and wormlike with very tough skin. They may resemble white grubs, but crane fly larvae do not have legs. The majority of lawn damage from crane flies is seen along the Pacific Northwest coast. In California, damage has been found mostly in Humboldt and Del Norte counties, rarely in warmer, dryer inland areas of the state. Although, wet springs and waterlogged soils are usually associated with a higher populations of crane flies.
You can prevent crane flies in your lawn by properly irrigating and fertilizing. Adjust irrigation systems during rainy periods to avoid overwatering. Remove excess thatch and aerate you lawn to improve drainage. Reduce shady areas by pruning back tree branches to allow more light to reach the grass during the early morning and late afternoon.
Find out more about crane flies by reading the UC IPM Pest Notes: Lawn Insects.
Learn how to control mosquitoes around your home by visiting the UC IPM Pest Notes: Mosquitoes.
In honor of Lyme Disease Awareness Month and in response to some misinformation about ticks on social media recently, we'd like to share some tick and Lyme disease facts.
- Ticks can spread several diseases to humans and pets, but Lyme disease is the most common. In California, Lyme disease is carried by the western blacklegged tick which occurs throughout the state.
- Lyme disease has been reported in most California counties, but some areas pose higher risks than others.
- You can protect yourself from ticks and the diseases they transmit by wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirts outdoors, using an EPA registered repellent with 20-30% DEET, or applying permethrin to clothing.
- Check yourself often after being outside in areas that are prone to ticks (forests, woodlands, and grasslands).
- Shower within 2 hours of exposure to ticks and place clothing in a hot dryer for an hour to kill any ticks that may be on them.
- Safely remove ticks with tweezers by grabbing the tick as close to the skin as possible and slowly pulling it out.
- The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) says to control ticks around your home, remove leaf and grass litter from your yard and create a 3-foot barrier of mulch or gravel between your lawn and unmanaged or forested areas.
For more information, see the UC IPM Pest Notes: Lyme Disease in California or visit the California Department of Public Health's website to learn more about: