Test PB Collection: FTE

Was happy to hear a Cap Public Radio story this morning about poison hemlock (Conium maculatum). I had some thoughts on the report. 1) Poison hemlock is not native to Nevada, as the story suggested... it's a European weed (think Socrates). Maybe the writers heard "naturalized".

The world's most dangerous animal isn't the shark, wolf, lion, elephant, hippo, crocodile, tsetse fly, tapeworm, assassin bug (kissing bug), freshwater snail, dog, snake or human. No, it's the mosquito.

Avocado growers have been ecstatic at fruit prices and are walking their groves more avidly, checking things out and seeing lots of things they don't normally see. A recent grower find has been a blob of Fulgio septica - Dog Vomit' or Dog Fungus'.

Entomopathogens are microorganisms that are pathogenic to arthropods such as insects, mites, and ticks. Several species of naturally occurring bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and viruses infect a variety of arthropod pests and play an important role in their management.

Have you seen me? Can you identify me? No, you're a skipper, but which one are you? The colorful brown skipper butterfly that touched down on our Jupiter's Beard in Vacaville, Calif., on May 17 puzzled us.

Every year growers get together to learn what is being done in the citrus research world that could affect their operations. This June, University of California and the Citrus Research Board are bringing some good talks to three different growing areas.

providing some advantage to the farmer. Frequently, these are new fertilizer mixes presented as proprietary cocktails promoted and dispensed with promises of a multitude of profitable (yet improbable) benefits to the buyer.

Yes, bears raid honey bee colonies. But it's primarily for the bee brood, not the honey. The brood provides the protein, and the honey, the carbohydrates. For beekeepers and commercial queen bee breeders, this can wreak havoc. Financial havoc.

A FIFRA Section 2(ee) Recommendation has been issued for control of tadpole shrimp (TPS) using Dimilin 2L. The recommendation states to use Dimilin two to 10 days after the field is flooded; it also states that Dimilin does not appear to control adult TPS. Dimilin is an insect growth regulator.

So there we were, on Mother's Day, looking at the yet-to-bloom English lavender in our yard. And there it was, something golden staring back at us. It was showing a face that "only a mother could love"--or an entomologist or an insect enthusiast. Scathophaga stercoraria, the golden dung fly.