Archive Nut, Prune and Olive Programs

SNAMP field trip: photo from Shufei LeiFull press release: http://ucanr.

If you've ever tried to rear monarch butterflies, you may have encountered a caterpillar parasitized by a tachinid fly, which oviposits or injects its eggs into it. The fly's life cycle continues, but the host dies. The tachinid fly is a parasitoid.

I get a call. He: My trees not doing well. Me: What's the problem? He: It's yellow? Me: Have you looked at the roots? Are there roots? He: NO Me: I'll be out next week, but in the meantime, look at the root system.

All the media are full of stories about the impending El Nino effects and possible flooding rains in California. As I write this, it is the day before our first significant storm (Jan. 4) with a 100% chance of rain throughout Ventura county for tomorrow.

What's the status of the "Beer for a Butterfly" Contest? Do we have a winner? Well, there's good news and there's bad news. The good news: Art Shapiro found and collected a cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae) on Jan.

We hear about the decline in honeybees (non-native, from Europe and the most commonly managed bees), but native bees are declining too and in many instances these are the pollinators of California avocado. The loss of any pollinators is a loss for agriculture as well as the environment.

If you haven't already seen it, you need to watch it. "Pollination and Protecting Pollinators" is a 51-minute documentary by Washington State University (WSU) Cooperative Extension that explores how valuable honey bees are, why they're crucial, and what we need to do to protect them.

Did you feel the buzz in 2015? The honey bees, bumble bees, sunflower bees, sweat bees...what a year it was! It's time to walk down memory lane--or stray from the garden path--and post a few bee images from 2015. It wasn't all flowers and sunshine.

No matter how many we see or how often we see them, we can't get enough of the Gulf Frits. That would be the Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae), a brightly colored orangish-reddish butterfly with silver-spangled underwings.

Is your 2016 calendar up on the wall yet? Or are you calendaring everything on your smart phone? No matter how you keep track of your "things to do," how about setting aside Saturday, Feb. 13? The University of California, Davis has scheduled its fifth annual Biodiversity Museum Day from 9 a.m.