Test PB Collection: FTE

Transpiration is essentially a function of the amount of leaves present. With no leaves, there is no transpiration and no water use. The extreme case is tree removal. If canopies are pruned there is reduced water use. The more canopy reduction, the more transpiration reduction.

Oleander aphids, those cartoonish-looking yellow insects with black legs and cornicles, are commonly found on oleanders. Hence their name. But they also are partial to milkweeds, the host plant of the monarch butterfly. It's a daily challenge to rid those Draculalike pests from our milkweed plants.

Twospotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch is a major pest of strawberries in California. Spider mite damage reduces plant vigor and contributes to yield loss. Twospotted spider mites are typically found on the lower side of the leaf and form webbing at higher population levels.

If you plant it, they will come. Western tiger swallowtails (Papilio rutulus) can't get enough of our butterfly bush. For the first time ever, we saw two of them and managed to get both in the same image.

Water moves in a wetting front. When irrigation water hits the soil it moves down with the pull of gravity and to the side according to the pull of soil particles (more lateral with more clay).

San Joaquin Valley farmers, Scott Schmidt of Five Points, Darrell Cordova of Denair, and Michael Crowell of Turlock, along with UCCE Stanislaus County Advisor, Marsha Campbell-Mathews hosted Eric Kueneman and Dirk Lange, both formerly international agriculture development workers with the United Nat...

Many studies of invasive exotic/alien plants have suggested that a "lag" time is a common feature in their population dynamics.

Some folks dislike photos of praying mantids snagging, killing and eating their prey. Well, often the "eating" part comes before the "killing" part. Still, they have to kill to live. We all do. Or someone does it for us.

Growers are still calling in about avocados with thinning canopies, fruit drop and sunburn and leaf death. Coastal avocados are always difficult to irrigate. Mild weather followed by dry windy conditions means growers have to scramble to get water on.

We humans brush our teeth, and we sometimes brush our tongues. But have you ever seen a honey bee cleaning her tongue? Bay Nature contributing editor Alison Hawks recently asked two of our UC Davis bee experts why bees clean themselves.