Test PB Collection: FTE

In late August, I was requested by a crop consultant to visit an alfalfa field in the Delta that was exhibiting symptoms like those in the picture. The leaves had little white spots near the margins, and generally, the plants had not grown well after the previous cutting.

Greetings! I started this blog as a component of my Extension program for field crops growers and allied industry in San Joaquin County and the greater Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region.

The UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) put together a 26-page card set in English and Spanish on understanding pesticide labels.

Broken Wing belongs here. And that's a good thing, because he won't live long. A male monarch that we've nicknamed Broken Wing due to a predator mark, hangs out on our milkweed, butterfly bush and Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). He's probably looking for a meal and a mate.

The University of California, Davis, prides itself on teaching, research and public service. A few faculty members excel at all three (they're called triple threats) and distinguished professor James R. Carey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology is one of them.

The UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) put together a 26-page card set in English and Spanish on understanding pesticide labels.

The UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) put together a 26-page card set in English and Spanish on understanding pesticide labels.

Have you ever seen a monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) lay an egg on her host plant, the milkweed? Have you ever seen a close-up of the egg? The larva or caterpillar? The chrysalis? The eclosure (when the adult emerges from the chrysalis)? It's a fascinating sight. Not all eggs will make it.

Been addicted to the ESRI fire feed for its integration of numerous data sources. Here is the Valley Fire currently, and the rain that just hit us has moved north. For more: http://www.esri.

For more than two weeks now, we've been watching a banded garden spider (Argiope trifasciata) trap and wrap its unfortunate prey (fortunate if you're a spider, unfortunate if you're the prey) snared in its web.