If you're not around the University of California, Davis, on Sunday morning, Sept. 29, you should be. You'll want to join the Butterfly Ecology Talk and Tour presented by naturalist Steve Daubert.
Here's information on the Medusahead and Barb Goat Grass Forum that will be held on November 5, 2013, at the UC Sierra Foothill Research & Extension Center (SFREC) in Browns Valley, CA. THIS IS A FREE EVENT to discuss the research and management strategies of medusahead and barb goatgrass.
Oh, what serious webs they weave. Perfect concentric circles. Perfect for snagging prey. Perfect for capturing a few photographic images. Orb weavers take on the classic shape popularized by Charlotte the spider in E.B. White's children's book, Charlotte's Web.
This just in from the UC Rice blog (http://ucanr.org/blogs/riceblog/). The author is Luis Espino, UC Cooperative Extension Rice Farm Advisor in Colusa-Glenn-Yolo Counties. Japanese Millet August 26, 2013 Japanese millet is not a weed of rice in our area.
With apologies to Deborah Rabinowitz. (Seven Forms of Rarity, 1981) There are many different ways of being a pest. Some of the easiest ways are to use large bulldozers next to an office building, or have a computer virus send spam to every person on earth with an email address.
Japanese millet is not a weed of rice in our area. However, a PCA recently noticed it in an organic rice field. Japanese millet is in the same genus as our common watergrasses, and looks similar, but is much more robust. It seems to grow well under flooded and dry conditions.