Test PB Collection: FTE

Hello, My name is Mariano Galla and I am the new agronomy/weed science farm advisor serving Glenn, Butte and Tehama counties.

Are western monarch butterflies heading for extinction? A Sept.

In the past two years, I have received several reports of fields suffering yield loses due to stem rot. Last year I saw several affected fields. This year, I am starting to get reports of fields being affected. I visited one such field last week.

Gopher Snakes (Pituophis catenifer), known as a constrictor snake, are one of the most commonly seen snakes in California. Mainly active during the day, they are active after sundown on hot days.

Attention agricultural employers! Give your front-line supervisors the training and skills they need! As a business owner, you know the importance of a skilled, reliable and well-managed work force.

We have bright faces in our Vacaville, Calif., pollinator garden. The bright faces are usually that of assorted bees and butterflies nectaring on members of the sunflower family: Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) and blanketflowers (Gaillardia).

Leafminer, sometimes Leaf Miner. It's that time of year. Those little moths come out in the late afternoon and flit about. They lay their eggs and when they hatch the larvae start burrowing through the leaf. The recent heat and also the generally warm summer have set them off. And it is obvious now.

Just as all lady bugs aren't ladies, all widow skimmer dragonflies aren't female.

Dr. Jeff Stott, UC Cooperative Extension Professor of Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology at UC Davis, recently gave a talk on foothill abortion at a producer meeting in San Luis Obispo County. Click this link to see his PowerPoint presentation: http://cesanluisobispo.ucanr.edu/files/267719.pdf.

If you want to learn about insects, join entomologists Joel Hernandez and Melissa Cruz for their talk and tour of the UC Arboretum and Public Garden from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 10.