Ongoing research

Evolutionary ecologist Leslie Saul-Gershenz goes places where many have been but few have ever really seen. Bees and blister beetles, yes.

Pomegranate (Punica granatum) is a specialty crop now grown on more than 10,000 acres in California. Pomegranate production has increased for both fresh market and juice in the last several years, and with this increase, random internally rotted fruit has become more noticed.

Friday the 13th is not an unlucky day--not when migratory monarchs make a pit stop at your home on their way to their overwintering sites. Today a male monarch fluttered into our pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif., and sipped nectar from a tropical milkweed.

You may have missed it, but today (Thursday, Oct. 12) is National Farmers' Day. The day originated back in the 1800s as a way to recognize and thank farmers for all the work they do to feed our nation--and the world. It's also time to thank a beekeeper.

A fig. A yellow fig. A most delicious 'Kadota' fig. A piece of fruit that falls apart easily and shows every nick, scrape and bump. And it doesn't take much to reduce a fig to something that is not very attractive to a consumer.

California produces about 90 percent of the nation's avocado crop. California avocado growers compete in both the domestic and international markets with countries with much lower costs of production and labor availability.

As those horrendous wild fires continue to rage throughout California, as Cal Fire helicopters roar over, as residents scramble from their homes, as smoke thickens the air, and as ashes flutter down like feathers, it's difficult to think about insects for a Bug Squad blog.

Ah, Rats! ? So You Want To Install Soil Moisture Meters? ? Notes on Applying Gibberellic Acid (GA) to Navels in the Southern San Joaquin Valley of California ? Fall Leaf Tissue Sampling ?

You always wanted to know what pollinated rambutan, litchi, blueberries and all those other plants dependent on insect pollen movement? O yes, and also what is pollinating avocado? Insect Pollination Of Cultivated Crop Plants by S.E.

The news is disturbing but not unexpected. Scientists are linking global climate change to one reason why the worldwide population of bumble bees is declining. An article published Sept.