Pest Management & Plant Health

These days, most people are wearing masks when out in public for personal protection for themselves or others. In nature, there are a few pests that have their own type of face coverings, markings, or that other types of protective covers or behavior.

Here's UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor Scott Oneto showing us how to control yellow starthistle with burning: https://www.youtube.

Here's Patrick Cavanaugh interviewing Guelta Laguerre (UC Davis undergraduate student working in the Al-Khatib Lab.

Here's Patrick Cavanaugh interviewing Drew Wolter (UC Davis graduate student with the Hanson Lab.

While many of you are preparing for the 4th of July holiday, we at UC IPM are also thinking about stars and stripes but in a slightly different way: yellow starthistle and striped skunks.

One of the beautiful things about conducting "NO SPRAY" plant trials is seeing just how resilient landscapes can be if you give them a chance.

Following a tip generated by citizen scientists in the Porterville/Tulare area, UC ANR researchers have installed traps to determine the potential for Velvet longhorned beetle, Trichoferus campestris (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), introduction to the southern San Joaquin Valley.

Rhonda Smith has been heralded as the heroine of the vineyards for her groundbreaking work in helping combat the parade of pathogens and other problems that have plagued grapevines and alarmed growers - during her more than 30 years as Sonoma County's viticulture advisor.

This year, National Pollinator Week is June 22 to June 28, celebrating the value that pollinators such as bees, birds, butterflies, bats, and beetles provide to the ecosystem.

How do you keep ants off your hummingbird feeders? That was a question a Bug Squad reader asked: "I was wondering if you had any tips on how to keep ants off and out of the hummingbird feeder? I've put Vaseline on the line it hangs from, and that helped for a long time.