As you practice social distancing during COVID-19, you may find yourself spending more time in the garden. As we move into nice weather, we are sharing a few gardening tips for pest management.
Composting
Turn your compost piles and maintain proper moisture. Keep compost bins covered, especially during April showers to avoid sogginess. Covered compost bins can be especially important in urban areas to exclude rodents and other wildlife. Read more about composting on our website.
Stay tuned for more gardening tips!
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/h2>The sight of deer in the wild can be delightful but when these animals invade your garden, devouring everything in sight, people's ideas might change. The internet is full of advice for ridding your garden of deer, but beware, much of it is ineffective.
In the newly revised Pest Notes: Deer, author and retired Wildlife Specialist Robert Timm, shares detailed deer management methods proven by UC research to be effective. Pest management works best when you understand the pest's biology and behavior, so new information about the range of the different deer species is included as well as their food preferences.
Keep in mind that deer are game animals, regulated by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. For additional information on deer management, including whether frightening devices and repellents are effective or not, see the full text of recently updated Pest Notes: Deer on our website.
- Author: Ben Faber
At a recent meeting for current and prospective avocado growers near Visalia, Yosepha Shahak a retired researcher from Israel's Volcani Institute presented information on photo-selective netting. This netting was an outgrowth of netting that is used in the Mediterranean region to protect crops from frost damage and the unpredictable hail storms that can occur just as fruit might be coming to harvest. Netting is currently used in commercial orchards and vineyards throughout Europe. San Joaquin Valley growers like the idea of frost protection.
Netting over loquats (nespero) in Spain (Espana)
Netting over apples in Australia
Netting for light modification in Israel. Tractors can work here.
Photo-selective netting refers to covering crops by nets having the capacity to selectively filter the intercepted solar radiation, in addition to their protective function. The technology is based on plastic net products into which light dispersive and reflective elements are introduced during manufacturing. These nets are designed to screen various spectral bands of the solar radiation, and/or transform direct light into scattered light. The spectral manipulation intends to specifically promote desired physiological responses, which are light-regulated, while the scattering improves the penetration of the modified light into the inner plant canopy. So, depending on the crop, more and better fruit set, bigger fruit and some other desirable properties. The netting can also substantially reduce evaporative demand and wind damage. This can lead to not only lower water use, but also such water stress related diseases, such as blight caused by Botryosphaeria fungi. Lower evaporative demand and less water application can lead to less salt damage.
A recent additional aspect to the photo-selective nets refers to their effects on pest behavior. The photo-selective netting concept was developed and tested in Israel in ornamental, vegetable and fruit tree crops. It is gradually spreading all over the world, for implementation in different crops, climatic regions and cultivation methods. Applying it to avocado orchards is going to require pruning and keeping trees so that they can be picked and pollinated. And would probably lead to high density orchards.
And how we do pest management – more or less, and maybe not by helicopter?
This might also be the future for how citrus is grown in an HLB environment. 24 sprays a year to control ACP in Florida -Yikes.
A link to a Shahak talk that she gave to Washington state apple growers can be found at:
However, during their migration, these birds may cause problems for occupants in urban areas. The birds may nest in colonies on buildings and other structures and their activities can be a nuisance.
Laws that Protect Birds
If migratory bird activities are causing issues in your building, make sure you know the law before you take any action. Certain birds that nest on dwellings may be protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty and Endangered Species Act. To learn more about exclusion of birds from structures and about the laws which protect them, read the blog article “Excluding Migratory Birds from Buildings”.
/h2>- Author: Anne Schellman
This summer, the media frequently reported an increase in the density of pests in the home and landscape. The drought has been cited as the cause of these problems. Pest control companies quoted in articles confirm that the demand for their services is much higher this year than in years past.
Sutherland says that landscape drydown has occurred more rapidly in recent years, so there may have been a more dramatic shift from high moisture to low moisture, making the nuisance pests migrate earlier in the year and in a more concentrated manner.
“This is also the first year we've seen dramatic changes made by residents due to mandated water use restrictions. Areas with frequent irrigation and lush landscapes aren't available this year, so nuisance pests like outdoor cockroaches, ants and rodents are migrating from dry areas to seek moisture.”
“Oriental cockroaches are highly dependent on moisture and humidity and not normally found indoors. Outdoors if you have an irrigation control box, leaky hosebib or water meter box, or a French drain system, that's where you'll find them. But if this water supply has been reduced or shut off, this population you didn't even know of (that's existed for years, perhaps) may crawl under doors or into foundation cracks and move indoors in search of water.”
Sutherland advises against relying on perimeter pesticide sprays to treat for nuisance pests since these applications are only effective for a short time and therefore only represent temporary solutions. Instead, Sutherland recommends the using IPM methods, such as exclusion and habitat modification, which provide more long-lasting pest invasion prevention.