Ongoing research

Most of you have already planted your warm season garden (and if you haven't, now is the time!). And since you want to reap the rewards of your hard work you need to keep the bad bugs from eating all those tender young shoots.

The red imported fire ant, or RIFA for short, is no ordinary red ant. This invasive pest lives up to its name, delivering a sting that causes a burning sensation when its venom is injected into the skin. People sometimes confuse RIFA with the native southern fire ant.

"Protecting American Coffee, Wine and Baseball Bats Through Areawide Integrated Pest Management (AIPM)" Those catchy words headlined a recent notice of a congressional briefing.

Sometimes an invasive pest takes a while to become invasive. The Invasive Species Council of California defines an invasive species as non-native organisms which cause economic or environmental harm.

Sometimes an invasive pest takes a while to become invasive. The Invasive Species Council of California defines an invasive species as non-native organisms which cause economic or environmental harm.

Two years ago, overwhelmed by carpets of wormy, windfall apples I resorted to tossing them into a large plastic stock tank that had numerous holes in its sides, remnants of its original purpose - a crawdad washing device.

Earlier this week (the first full week of June 2018), we had several small wildfires near Auburn. Our informal rancher telegraph system was activated - many of us started texting or calling one another to find out where the fires were burning and whether anyone needed help.

Integrated pest management (IPM) specialist Frank Zalom, a distinguished professor with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and a past president of the Entomological Society of America (ESA), played a key role in a U.S.

A new UC Cooperative Extension podcast that focuses on growing orchard crops in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys is now available free at http://growingthevalleypodcast.com, Apple iTunes and Google Play Music.

I looked at the USDA planting progress for rice in 2018. What the data show is that 50% of the crop was planted by May 14. That is 5 days earlier than last year and a couple days later than average. The delay was due to significant rains in early and mid-April which delayed groundwork.