Archive Nut, Prune and Olive Programs

Tomato producers interested in cutting costs, reducing inputs and improving their soil, received a strong jump start to planning their 2011 seasons by participating in a recently-held how to get started with conservation tillage and cover crop systems discussion held at Sano Farms in Firebaugh.

A number of common points came through loud and clear by each of the farmers who hosted visitors during a recent field tour. Advance planning prior to the strip-till or no-till corn season is necessary. Laying out appropriately-spaced, shallow irrigation berms is desirable.

Tom Barcellos of Barcellos Farms in Tipton, California, has been in the no-till and strip-till business perhaps longer and more consistently than just about any other dairy silage producer in the entire SJV.

Ezequiel Correia Jr. and Sr. of Correia Family Dairy just north of Santa Nella, California, began strip-tilling their silage corn in 2009.

Michael and Adam Crowell of Bar-Vee Dairy in Turlock, Calif., have been no-tilling their winter small grain, twin-row corn and sorghum sudan for five years.

If the praying mantis were six feet tall, what an incredible space alien it would make. It's a well-equipped predator, with keen eyesight, a rotating head, and two spiked forelegs that grab and grasp unsuspecting prey. It's not about "who's coming to dinner"; it's "what's coming to dinner.

Timber Cove in Sonoma County has scores of insects, including honey bees, bumble bees and spotted cucumber beetles. But last week, for the first time, we spotted a male Acmon Blue, Plebejus acmon, as identified by noted butterfly expert Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis.

It's often called a "pond damselfly" or a "narrow-winged damselfly." We spotted this brilliant blue damselfly on a Great Valley gum plant (Grindelia camporum) near the Sciences Laboratory Building at the University of California, Davis.

A malaria-proof mosquito? Research news coming out of the University of California, Davis and the University of Arizona labs recently drew international attention; the scientists have genetically engineered mosquitoes that are resistant to malaria parasites.

If you've seen a lot of buckeye butterflies this season, you're not alone. It's a big year for buckeyes, says noted butterfly expert Arthur Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis. He counts between "30 and 85 a day" in West Sacramento and North Sacramento.