Archive Nut, Prune and Olive Programs

Nymph of the Virginia creeper leafhopper (VCLH), Erythroneura ziczac. It is a new invasive pest on grapes. (Photo by Mike Poe, UC IPM) The influx of invasive species has been on the rise in the last decade.

Saline Waters - A Growing Problem Ben Faber Irrigated agriculture must always contend with salts, but two years without rain and a dry winter forecast, salt is an even more important issue. We rely on winter rainfall to leach the salts from root zones that have accumulated from previous irrigations.

Exciting research today out of the University of California, Davis.

The Avocado: Botany, Production and Uses, 2nd Edition By Bruce Shaffer, Nigel Wolstenholme and Anthony Whiley This brand new book summarizes avocado science and technology and reviews production practices on a worldwide scale.

The Spirit of the Hive: The Mechanisms of Social Evolution. That's the title of a newly published book written by Robert E. Page Jr., one of the world's foremost honey bee geneticists.

If you haven't made it over to the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, yet this year, you should. The trees that form "Orchard Alley" are blooming. You'll see almonds and plums flowering, and soon, apples. Really spectacular are the delicate plum blossoms.

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Costs of Orchard Establishment and Production Summary for Avocados in California: Based on 2011 studies: www.coststudies.ucdavis.edu Etaferahu Takele, UCCE Area Advisor, Ag.

People aren't the only ones favoring fava beans. Fava beans growing in a raised bed in the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, are attracting honey bees, European paper wasps, lacewings, ladybugs, aphids and carpenter bees.

A sure way to generate controversy among citrus growers is to initiate a discussion on navel orange tree pruning. Some growers maintain that yield and fruit size is best maintained by minimal pruning, while others believe that the number of large fruit is increased when trees are severely pruned.