Ongoing research

Be careful when you're harvesting an artichoke. You might find a European paper wasp (Polistes dominula) hunting for a little protein, such as ants, flies and tiny bees to carry back to its nest.

What the ?? Wheres this coming from and what does that have to do with weeds? A few years ago, I noticed that when I was wearing my cool polarized sunglasses it was like I had a superpower for spotting smooth crabgrass in turf.

Last year we had a bad blast year - several fields that had never experienced blast got the disease and some reported yield losses. This year growers and PCAs are paying more attention to try to prevent the disease from causing damage.

Ten tenants. That's how many tenants are occupying our wooden bee block, aka "bee condo." It's "home, sweet home" for leafcutting bees (Megachile spp.).

Well, I survived my first turn as the chairperson for the annual UC Davis Weed Day and I thought it went very well.

Oh, to go through life being called a "short fat fly." Such is the case with a specific tachinid fly (family Tachinidae, genus Gymnosoma), which we spotted on a coreopsis (aka tickseed) growing along a Fort Bragg cliff. It's an odd-looking fly. Its abdomen resembles a ladybug or lady beetle.

An article was posted a couple days ago on the Scientific American blog in which the author deconstructed what she saw as common myths about organic agriculture.

Every once in a while you see it. And it's a real treat--especially when it's a bee garden that's synonomous with treat. We tracked the black-faced bumble bee (Bombus californicus) in the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly demonstration garden at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.

For at least three days, he visited our yard. He swooped over our fish pond and swimming pool and returned each time to perch on a tomato stake in the vegetable garden. We nicknamed him "Big Red." Big Red? Actually, a flame skimmer dragonfly (Libellula saturata), native to western North America.

If you head over to the California State Fair, which opened July 14 and continues through July 31, be sure to check out the Insect Pavilion at "The Farm." It's a treasure house of not only insects, but spiders and assorted other critters.