Talk about a good insurance policy. Researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) just published an article in the Journal of Applied Ecology that indicates that blueberry growers who invest in nearby wildflower habitat to attract and support wild bees can increase their crop yields.
From the Invasive Plants in Southern California blog You can't have too much information on how to control pests. The second edition of the UC IPM Forest and Right-of-way Pest Control compendium is now available from the UC ANR publications catalog.
When I first started my Ph.D. in Weed Science, I encountered a strange, new language that appeared to be composed, almost entirely, of acronyms. PRE. POST. PD. Layby. PPI. AI. Etc...
Former student and GIS expert Chippie Kislik alerted me to this video. She is working with others at NASA Ames on a Sierra Nevada DSS Ecological Forecasting Project. A video about the project is here.
"Bees are incredibly good at picking up what's in their environment." So said Senior Extension Associate Maryann Frazier of Penn State when she addressed the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's seminar last Wednesday, April 2 in Briggs Hall.
At a recent avocado meeting, Carol Lovatt of the Botany Department at UC Riverside pointed out that avocado fruit take up more potassium than nitrogen, almost twice as much, and that much of that uptake occurs later when the fruit is expanding.
The honey bees know it before we do. The tangerines are blooming. Today dozens of bees buzzed around our tangerine trees, doing their annual job of pollinating the crop. The tangerine, the common name of the mandarin orange, is native to southeast Asia.
In early 2012 UCCE conducted a survey of rice storage facilities (on and off-farm) to see what research and extension needs the rice industry had in this area.
