- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
This winter's eerily warm weather might soon get creepy, reported Darryl Fears in the Washington Post. The Orkin pest control company said its agents nationwide are getting a 30 percent increase in calls to treat ant infestations, compared with this time last year.
For farmers, pesticide costs might get expensive. Aphids and psyllids, also called place lice, are among the pests that plague farmers. Eric Natwick, a UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Imperial County, told the reporter that aphids are a big problem because, when feeding, they can transmit a pathogen that destroys vegetables. Natwick is an entomology expert.
Tomato psyllids — lightning fast and tremendous jumpers, for their size — are also showing up this year in California’s Imperial Valley. The psyllids tend to infest produce in California’s Coachella Valley, across a desert from the Imperial, but “when I see them here, it’s unusual,” he said.
![Tomato psyllid nymph showing flattened, scalelike appearance. Tomato psyllid nymph showing flattened, scalelike appearance.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/anrnews/blogfiles/10567.jpg)