Pest Management & Plant Health

Human lice (singular louse) are parasitic insects found on people. Adult lice are small (about 1/8 inch (3 mm) long or less) wingless insects that move by crawling. There are three species of lice that exclusively feed on humans: the head louse, the body louse, and the crab or pubic louse.

The Mediterranean oak borer (Xyleborus monographus), or MOB, is an invasive ambrosia beetle that was first collected from declining oak trees (Quercus spp.) near Calistoga (Napa County) in 2019 (Fig 1).

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Most pest management professionals have served clients who swore they were being bitten by unseen pests. Perhaps the usual suspects (bed bugs, fleas, and mosquitoes) were ruled out by thorough inspection and monitoring devices.

The Mediterranean oak borer (Xyleborus monographus), or MOB, is an invasive ambrosia beetle that was first collected from declining oak trees (Quercus spp.) near Calistoga (Napa County) in 2019 (Fig 1).

We are fortunate in California that not only can we grow vegetables in summer, but winter gardening is also an opportunity to grow vegetables and spend some time outdoors. Cool-season vegetables include broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, and spinach.

Do you know your spiders? If you engage in social media, you've probably seen a "what-is-this" query about a spider that some unsuspecting person discovered quite unexpectedly in a garden, bedroom, bathroom or garage.

In September 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 1788, which prohibits almost all uses of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) statewide.

A scientific research project may initially be deemed a failure, but failure can lead to success. It did recently at the University of California, Davis.

A little known fact about the outstanding career of Jay Rosenheim, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology and a newly inducted Fellow of the Entomological Society of America, is that, as an undergraduate at UC Davis, he initially majored in physics. Physics? Yes.