Ongoing research

Thanks for the rains that leach the soils of accumulated salts and bring on new fresh growth. Or maybe not. When we apply irrigation water with salts which with few exceptions we do in irrigated agriculture, salts accumulate in the soil.

So you want to become a beekeeper... You want to do your part to help the declining bee population. You want to learn about the honey bees that pollinate the food you eat, including fruits, vegetables and nuts (especially almonds!). You'd love some honey for your table and some wax to make candles.

I recently visited a bean field in the southern part of the county with a PCA. From a distance, the beans in certain areas of the field appeared to be drying up and dying. A closer look showed that the leaf margins were drying up first before the whole plants declined.

So here's this newly eclosed male monarch trying to sip a little nectar from a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). A female longhorned bee, probably Melissodes agilis, seeks to claim it. There's no such thing as sharing, especially when nectar is at stake and it's first-come, first-served.

First Annual Registration begins: 8:00-8:30 AM Program: 8:30 AM-4:15 PM The day will begin with an interactive tour of the Weed Science research plots at Hamilton Road. Participants will also spend time learning about weed identification for important rice weeds both at emergence and at heading.

The 1st Annual Rice Weed Course will take place: Friday, September 16, 2016 from 8:30AM to 4:15PM (Registration begins at 8:00AM) at the Hamilton Road Field (on West Hamilton Rd. between Hwy. 99 & Riceton Hwy.

If you're a beekeeper or plan to become a beekeeper, you need to read the UC Davis Apiculture Newsletter, the work of Extension apiculturist Elina Nio and her associates at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, aka the UC Davis Bee Biology Facility.

TOPICS IN THIS ISSUE: We Shall Defend our Citrus, We Shall Fight in Backyards and Community Gardens, We Shall Fight in Organic and Conventional Citrus Orchards; We Shall Never Surrender.

A variety of arthropod pests attack strawberries in California and farmers primarily use chemical pesticides for pest management (CDPR, 2014 and Zalom et al. 2014).

If you engage in a mini-monarch conservation project, you know the joy of watching the egg-caterpillar-chrysalis-adult transformation. It's one of Nature's miracles.