Ongoing research

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Yellowjackets are attracted to this plastic container. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Not What You Want in Your Drink

August 14, 2013
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
On an outing last Saturday to a Marin County restaurant, we spotted half-filled glasses lining a railing near the picnic tables. As the guests dined on seafood, yellowjackets dined on bits of protein left behind.
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University of Nebraska's Suat Irmak, facing camera, explains how a high-technology weather station in Nebraska continuously monitors crop evapotraspiration and crop coefficients during the growing season. Irmak presents the keynote address to California farmers Sept. 12.
Conservation Agriculture: Article

Annual sustainable agriculture event expanded to include farm tours

August 14, 2013
By Jeannette Warnert
Sustainable agricultural systems involving precision irrigation and conservation tillage will be featured at the University of California Cooperative Extensions annual Twilight Field Day and a new farm tour, together running from 1 to 8 p.m. Sept. 12.
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UC Weed Science (weed control, management, ecology, and minutia): Article

More on stinkwort

August 14, 2013
By Gale Perez
At this weeks Monday Afternoon Weeders (MAW) meeting, Brad Hanson shared the following article from the Sacramento Bee: Stinkwort's fast growth could threaten California's wine growers CBS picked up the story: Wine Country Growers Worried about Stinky Invasive Weed Then theres Jeannette Warnerts blo...
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UC Weed Science (weed control, management, ecology, and minutia): Article

Unwelcome weed 'stinkwort' spreading quickly in California

August 14, 2013
By Gale Perez
UC Cooperative Extension experts are advocating for aggressive control of invasive stinkwort to prevent it from becoming an established California weed, reported the Sacramento Bee.
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Copy of avocado irrigation

Avocado rootstocks

August 14, 2013
By Ben A Faber
I got a call yesterday about yellowing avocados. They are on Dusa rootstock which is very tough when it comes to root rot, but cannot handle wet feet. It turns out that this area is one where the grower cannot order water on demand, but must take it when the water company will deliver.
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Tiny Gulf Fritillary butterfly egg at end of a tendril on a passionflower vine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It All Begins with an Egg

August 13, 2013
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's no surprise that students as young as kindergarteners are eager to learn about the life cycle of a butterfly--from an egg, to a caterpillar to a chrysalis to an adult. Complete metamorphosis. Complete awe.
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UC Rice Blog: Article

Rice Field Day 2013

August 13, 2013
By Luis Espino
RICE FIELD DAY Wednesday, August 28, 2013 Rice Experiment Station, Biggs, CA The annual Rice Field Day will be Wednesday, August 28, 2013, at the Rice Experiment Station (RES), Biggs, California.
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Female Gulf Fritillary butterfly dries her wings after emerging from her chrysalis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It's a Girl!

August 12, 2013
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
At last! From an egg to a caterpillar to a chrysalis to a butterfly. And it's a girl! For several days we've been protecting a Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) chryalis on our passionflower vine (Passiflora) from predators.
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