Pest Management & Plant Health

Boom, just when you think everything is going fine, you run across a reminder that there are little things going on in the orchard that are out of our control.

What a catchy title: "Not So Heartless." Wait, there's more! "Not So Heartless: Functional Integration of the Immune and Circulatory Systems of Mosquitoes." This may not be the proverbial heart-stopping seminar, but it promises to be an eye opener by a medical entomologist and captivating speaker.

Client's Request: I'm a trapper in the Ag Department. We have been looking for plum bud gall mites in the county. I recently came across this plum tree with a huge growth or gall, it's 8" long and 7" wide on the underside of a branch, the tree is around 15 years old.

Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County Gardener's request: I've just caught and identified what looks like a California Angle-wing Katydid.

The highly respected California Academy of Sciences greeted its 2019 Class of Fellows on Oct. 15, and one of them is a pollination ecologist from the University of California, Davis.

Pollination ecologist Neal Williams, professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is now a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, a group of more than 450 distinguished scientists who have made notable contributions to science.

It won't be a Fright Night or a Delight Night. After all, it's in the afternoon. But the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on "Parasitoid Palooza" on Saturday, Oct. 19 from 1 to 4 p.m.

Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and master advisor of the animal biology major, is the recipient of the 2019 UC Davis Outstanding Faculty Advising Award. Kimsey will be honored at the UC Davis Fall Welcome, set for 9:30 to 11 a.m.

Advice for Home Gardeners from the Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County Home Gardener's Request: I found 2 of these little beetle like bugs about 1/4-inch long in our home. Are they cockroaches? I've seen them outside as well.

On Wednesday October 9th, a Brussels sprout plant sample was submitted to our Entomology laboratory for insect identification. At the naked eye, we observed some webbing and specks on the leaf (See Fig. 1). Fig. 1. Leaf of Brussels sprout showing some webbing and 'specks'.