Posts Tagged: ant
Strategic Placement of Ant Baits
Ants are one of the major seasonal pests around structures in California's urban environments. Pest...
Argentine Ant Workshop
Ant Management Workshop
For Citrus, Avocado, Cherimoya, Passion fruit, Dragon fruit Growers
21 September 2023
8:30 – 3, Thursday
Cooperative Extension Ventura County Office
669 County Square Drive, California Room
Ventura, CA 93003-5401
Workshop Overview: Ants, especially the invasive Argentine ant and the native grey field ant, are serious agricultural pests because they protect sap sucking insects infesting citrus, cherimoyas, grapes, and other perennial tree and vine crops, from their natural enemies. In return for protection, hemipteran pests like Asian citrus psyllid, mealybugs, soft scales, aphids, and whiteflies reward ants with honeydew, a sticky sugar-rich waste product that ants drink and return to nests to feed nest mates. This is an example of a food-for-protection mutualism that is highly disruptive to biological control and IPM programs. This workshop will cover the latest developments in ant monitoring and management and will provide overviews on the benefits of ant control and how reductions in ant densities results in very high levels of biological control of important hemipteran pests.
4.5 "other" DPR CEUs have been applied for.
Workshop Agenda:
Time |
Presenter |
Topic |
8:30am |
|
Registration |
9:00am |
Mark Hoddle, UC Riverside |
Overview of the Asian citrus psyllid biological control program and the need to control pest ants |
9:30am |
Ivan Milosavljevi? CRB (or Mark Hoddle, UC Riverside) |
Use of biodegradable hydrogel beads and bait stations for controlling pest ants in citrus |
10:00am |
Mike Lewis, UC Riverside |
Infrared sensors and the Internet of Things to automate ant counts in orchards |
10:30am |
|
Coffee Break |
10:45am |
David Haviland, UCCE Farm Advisor, Kern County |
Ant management research and applications in the San Joaquin Valley |
11:15am |
Soon Il Kwon, UC Riverside |
Cultural control of ants in orchards |
11:45am |
Nicola Irvin, UC Riverside |
Flowering cover crops to promote natural enemy ecosystem services |
12:15pm |
|
Lunch |
1:00pm |
Hamutahl Cohen, Entomology Advisor, UCCE Ventura |
Overview on red scale and broad mite control in citrus |
1:30pm |
All presenters |
Table visits and posters to observe technologies that were discussed and to interact with presenters and ask questions |
2:00pm |
David Haviland/Hoddle Lab |
Field demonstration of hydrogel applications for ant control |
3:00m |
|
Workshop Ends |
Contacts: Ben Faber @ bafaber@ucanr.edu or Hamutahl Cohen @ hcohen@ucanr.edu
argentine ant and hydrogels
Argentine Ant Workshop - Time to Register
Ant Management Workshop
For Citrus, Avocado, Cherimoya, Passion fruit, Dragon fruit Growers
21 September 2023
8:30 – 3, Thursday
Cooperative Extension Ventura County Office
669 County Square Drive, California Room
Ventura, CA 93003-5401
Workshop Overview: Ants, especially the invasive Argentine ant and the native grey field ant, are serious agricultural pests because they protect sap sucking insects infesting citrus, cherimoyas, grapes, and other perennial tree and vine crops, from their natural enemies. In return for protection, hemipteran pests like Asian citrus psyllid, mealybugs, soft scales, aphids, and whiteflies reward ants with honeydew, a sticky sugar-rich waste product that ants drink and return to nests to feed nest mates. This is an example of a food-for-protection mutualism that is highly disruptive to biological control and IPM programs. This workshop will cover the latest developments in ant monitoring and management and will provide overviews on the benefits of ant control and how reductions in ant densities results in very high levels of biological control of important hemipteran pests.
4.5 "other" DPR CEUs have been applied for.
Workshop Agenda:
Time |
Presenter |
Topic |
8:30am |
|
Registration |
9:00am |
Mark Hoddle, UC Riverside |
Overview of the Asian citrus psyllid biological control program and the need to control pest ants |
9:30am |
Ivan Milosavljevi? CRB (or Mark Hoddle, UC Riverside) |
Use of biodegradable hydrogel beads and bait stations for controlling pest ants in citrus |
10:00am |
Mike Lewis, UC Riverside |
Infrared sensors and the Internet of Things to automate ant counts in orchards |
10:30am |
|
Coffee Break |
10:45am |
David Haviland, UCCE Farm Advisor, Kern County |
Ant management research and applications in the San Joaquin Valley |
11:15am |
Soon Il Kwon, UC Riverside |
Cultural control of ants in orchards |
11:45am |
Nicola Irvin, UC Riverside |
Flowering cover crops to promote natural enemy ecosystem services |
12:15pm |
|
Lunch |
1:00pm |
Hamutahl Cohen, Entomology Advisor, UCCE Ventura |
Overview on red scale and broad mite control in citrus |
1:30pm |
All presenters |
Table visits and posters to observe technologies that were discussed and to interact with presenters and ask questions |
2:00pm |
David Haviland/Hoddle Lab |
Field demonstration of hydrogel applications for ant control |
3:00m |
|
Workshop Ends |
Contacts: Ben Faber @ bafaber@ucanr.edu or Hamutahl Cohen @ hcohen@ucanr.edu
aRGENTINE ANT
Ant Field Day Flyer Final
New Avocado Pest
Red imported fire ant (RIFA), Solenopsis invicta, has been reported as a pest in Florida where the fire ants girdle young citrus trees (Diepenbrock) https://crec.ifas.ufl.edu/media/crecifasufledu/extension/extension-publications/2021/2021_jan_fireant.pdf Florida researchers found that RIFA girdled the trees and killed them. In the summer of 2022, we discovered newly planted avocado trees being girdled and killed in Riverside. Upon closer examination we discovered the girdling was from the activities of a fire ant. Dr. Dong-Hwan Choe, Professor of Extension – Entomologist at UC Riverside, identified it as Solenopsis sp. Figure 1 show the initial damage to an otherwise healthy avocado tree which weeks later was completely girdled and dead. Fire ants were controlled using a bait. This took 2 applications. Fire ant mound is evident in Figure 1B but is not the typical mound that is associated with fire ants so growers need to be watching for ant activity and treat proactively. The fire ants were very aggressive to both the tree and the people working the trees.
fire ant holes
fire ant girdle
Colony of Red Ants Roams the Bohart Museum of Entomology
A colony of red ants recently roamed the Bohart Museum of Entomology. They really weren't red...
UC Davis first-year entomology student Kat Taylor (in ant headgear) staffed the arts-and-crafts table at the Bohart Museum open house. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Five-year-old twins Lucas and Logan Cheuk of Woodland created these striking hats. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Esmeralda Myhre, 2, works on her art project. Her mother, Morgan Myhre, is a UC Davis senior majoring in entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis senior entomology major Morgan Myrhe adjusts the ant headgear on her son, Galileo, 5, while her daughter, Esmeralda, 2, watches. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis senior entomology major Morgan Myhre shows her daughter, Esmeralda, 2, some of the Bohart Museum's insect/spider tenants. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)