We've trained puppies to "come," "sit" and "heel." We've trained an African grey parrot to say "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty! Meow!" We've trained the kitty to ignore the parrot. But how do you train a praying mantis? You don't.
It's no secret that honey bees like the sugar/water mixture in hummingbird feeders. If there's no bee guard on the feeder or if the feeder isn't bee-proofed, bees will sip the mixture. They also will lick the spills. A sudden gust that sways or upends the feeder is "bee happy time.
Joe DiTomaso & Josh Davy (UCCE) and Kirk Davies & Brenda Smith (Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center) are also authors on this masterpiece. It's available through the Weed-RIC website, or go directly to it at http://wric.ucdavis.edu/publications/MedusaheadManagementGuide_pub_2014.
Last week I got two calls regarding unusual symptoms starting to appear on ripening rice plants. In both cases, the symptoms were described as medium sized round patches turning reddish or orange. Close inspection of plants showed typical symptoms of K deficiency.
The 2014 National Allium Research Conference will be held in conjunction with the National Onion Association annual meeting at Scottsdale, Arizona during December 3 5, followed by the W2008 Regional Research and Extension Committee meeting on December 6.
It was a good day to be a praying mantis. It was not a good day to be a honey bee. Just before noon today, we watched a green praying mantis lurking in the African blue basil, like a camouflaged soldier ready to ambush the enemy.
What's this? A lady beetle, aka ladybug, sharing stories with Gulf Fritillary caterpillars? Well, not likely. The lady beetle (family Coccinellidae) preys mainly on aphids--it can eat about 50 aphids a day or some 5000 aphids in its lifetime.
