Ongoing research

A few weeks ago I was on the phone with a grower worried that he had put too much nitrogen on his rice for the cool year we were having. Then, the weather turned and got really hot.

First the lantana, and then the passion flower vine. The Gulf Fritillary butterflies (Agraulis vanillae) flutter daily around our backyard. They stop for a little nectar from lantana (family Verbenaceae), and then head over to the passion flower vines (genus Passiflora) to breed or lay their eggs.

You've probably seen a blue moon, which happens every two to three years. That's when a second full moon occurs in a single calendar month. You've also probably seen blueprints, blue books and blue-plate specials. You've sung the blues and you've been blue.

Greenhouse whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum) is the predominant species of whiteflies on strawberries in the Central Coast. What used to be a pest causing yield loss through direct damage has now emerged as a vector of a devastating viral disease called pallidosis-related decline of strawberries.

You can tell it's summer along Yolo County roads by the acres and acres of sunflower fields. Looking like real-life Van Gogh paintings (Van Gogh painted them in vases, Mother Nature paints them in rows), the sunflower fields are nothing short of spectacular.

Joe DiTomaso and I are supposed to monitor the effectiveness of a hydrilla treatment in a pond near Marysville. I usually work on rangeland, where things stay put - the plants don't float away, and the equipment doesn't sink out of sight.

Chemical treatment of water for microirrigation systems is required when the water may cause chemical precipitate or biological clogging of the microirrigation drippers or microsprinklers. The chemical treatment varies depending on the clogging source.

A reminder to all who registered already that the 57th Annual UC Davis Weed Day is this Thursday (July 11th). I've attached the agenda for the morning field tour and the afternoon presentation schedule at the end of this post.

A link today to an article in the newest issue of the California Weed Science Society (CWSS) Research Update and News. (June 2013, Vol 9, Number 2) edited by UC Farm Advisor Steve Orloff.

The California Gold Rush (1848-1855) has nothing on honey bees. Sometimes foraging honey bees are covered with their own kind of gold--pollen--or protein for their colonies.