Rangelands

Ever seen this mottled brownish/blackish/grayish moth around lately? The alfalfa looper moth, Autographa californica?

Spring is here, and planting is underway in bee gardens throughout California. And planting, especially if you're creating a new garden, means you are thinking about design.

During periods of "extreme fire conditions," PG&E will shut off electric power lines to prevent wildfires, reported Dale Kasler in the Sacramento Bee. The reporter spoke to Lenya Quinn-Davidson, UC Cooperative Extension area fire advisor in Northern California, about the utility's proposed actions.

Integrated pest management (IPM) scientists affiliated with the University of California, Davis and the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources received high accolades at the 9th International IPM Symposium, held March 19-22 in Baltimore.

So you're a rural landowner thinking about planting cover crops in your fields or orchards. And/or, you want to learn more about beneficial insects. You're in luck.

The California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMBP) is all the buzz. Extension apiculturist Elina Lastro Nio, director of the program, introduced the 40 new apprentice-level graduates, Class of 2017, at the fourth annual UC Davis Bee Symposium, held recently in the UC Davis Conference Center.

A little drama in the mustard patch... A honey bee is foraging head-first in the mustard. She's collecting nectar and pollen. She does not see the lady beetle, aka ladybug, thrust head-first above her. The honey bee is dusted with yellow pollen. The ladybug, not so much. The bee moves closer.

Might As Well Be Spring "I'm as restless as a willow in a windstormI'm as jumpy as puppet on a stringI'd say that I had spring feverBut I know it isn't spring."--Frank Sinatra Wait, it is spring! Today is the day we've all be waiting for--the first day of spring.

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A sure sign of spring: honey bees foraging on mustard. You'll see mustard growing as cover crops in the Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley vineyards, but you'll also see it gracing the hillsides, roadways and area gardens. It's a time when the yellow pollen dusts the bees from head to thorax to abdomen.