Pest Management & Plant Health

Are you tired of hand-pulling weeds from your yard or garden, and want to use an herbicide? Seen your friend's post on social media for a quick and easy guide to make your own herbicide but aren't sure if it's really a good idea to use? So many questions, so little time.

The fourth International Pollinator Conference, the first year ever held at the University of California, Davis, drew a capacity crowd of 250, with presenters from 15 countries.

The global decline of pollinators ought to concern everybody, and everybody ought to get involved, said bee conservation researcher Lynn Dicks of the School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, in her keynote address at the fourth International Pollinator Conference, he...

"If you were a bug, what would you be?" That sign greets visitors to the California State Fair's Insect Pavilion. It's a good conservation starter. The Insect Pavilion showcases insect specimens and insects from the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis.

Soil solarization is a simple technique that you can use in your home garden to reduce or eliminate many soil-inhabiting pests. Solarization works by heating up the soil in the presence of moisture to temperatures that are high enough to kill many fungi, nematodes, weeds and weed seeds.

Weed control in lettuce and other crops is a key issue this time of year. Purslane is particularly problematic and is adapted to warm conditions and can grow very rapidly especially during July and August. At times growers and PCAs are disappointed with the efficacy of Kerb on this weed.

If you read The Plant Journal today, you may have noticed the exciting research published on nematodes. And it has a University of California, Davis, connection.

An international team of 10 scientists, led by plant nematologist Shahid Siddique, a former research group leader at the University of Bonn, Germany, and now an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, has discovered the role of a plant's endodermal barrier system...

With a buzz here and a buzz there, the 4th International Pollinator Conference, hosted by the University of California, Davis, is underway.

It's all about the pollinators--whether they be bumble bees, longhorned bees, squash bees, sweat bees, honey bees or hummingbirds.