Test PB Collection: FTE

Many growers don't hear about the amount of research and extension activity that is going on surrounding the Shot Hole Borers and Fusarium Dieback. This pest/disease complex affects not only avocados, but many other tree species, including many California natives.

Talk about a butterfly ballet... A large Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, with a wingspan of about four inches, flutters into the Vacaville, Calif. pollinator garden and lands on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia).

Have you ever seen a snakefly? Not a snake. Not a fly. A snakefly! They're predators but rarely seen. They eat insects such as aphids and mites. They have a long neck, or technically, an elongated prothorax, their most distinguishing characteristic.

Photo: Sun Blotch Branch Sun-blotch, a viroid disease affecting the avocado, was observed as early as 1914 in Southern California. Sun-blotch is widespread in California, and likely to be found in all districts where avocados are being grown.

A little haggard, a little worn, a little ragged, a little torn. But there she was on Monday, Aug. 1, the first monarch of the season to lay eggs in our little pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif.

Do you have yellow starthistle, Italian thistle, Himalaya blackberry, white top, or other common Central Coast rangeland weeds on your ranch?

Do you have yellow starthistle, Italian thistle, Himalaya blackberry, white top, or other common Central Coast rangeland weeds on your ranch?

What's the buzz behind the bee? The Western Apicultural Society, headed by president Eric Mussen of UC Davis, Extension apiculturist emeritus, wanted a unique bee T-shirt design for its 40th anniversary conference, set Sept. 5-8 at UC Davis.

Attached is a report of evaluations of fumigants dominus and TRX058 in flowers and strawberry. Neither product is registered today, but California DPR is considering the registration of dominus.

The UC cooperative extension weed science community learned last week that Dr. Arthur (Art) Lange passed away on June 27, 2017 in Reedley.