Backyard Orchard News
Pollinators on the Beach? Fancy Meeting You Here
So you're walking along Doran Regional Park Beach in Sonoma County on Tuesday, Oct. 16 and thinking...
A syrphid or hover fly, Eristalis tenax, nectaring on a sea rocket plant, Cakile maritima, on Oct. 18 at Doran Regional Park Beach, Sonoma. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Along with sand castles and beach balls and beach umbrellas, look for pollinators nectaring on sea rocket plants at the beach. Note the honey bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Footprints in the sand? Yes, and bees and other pollinators nectaring on sea rocket. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
European sea rocket grows in clumps or mounds on sandy beaches along the coastlines of North Africa, western Asia, and North America. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Hungry, Hungry Caterpillars!
It starts out slow. Beginning in the spring (and sometimes year-around in some locales) Gulf...
A Gulf Fritillary laying eggs on her host plant, passionflower vine. Note the eggs (yellow dots) on the left. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
By fall, the only thing left on the passionflower vine is the fruit. The leaves are gone. The hungry caterpillars are like insect shredding machines. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
No leaves--just fruit--remain on this skeletonized passionflower vine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The end result: a Gulf Fritillary adult. This one is nectaring on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
They Don't Announce Their Arrival or Departure
They don't announce their arrival or departure. If you're an insect photographer, or a...
A female variegated meadowhawk dragonfly, Sympetrum corruptum, perches on a bamboo stake in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
In this view, you can see the “bi-colored” Pterostigma on the wing tip and the two black spots on the top of the tip of the abdomen," noted Greg Kareofelas, Bohart Museum of Entomology associate. "This is unique to this species (Sympetrum corruptum)." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A blurred Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) forms a backdrop for the variegated meadowhawk dragonfly, Sympetrum corruptum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A flickering light and backdrop of a Mexican sunflower add to this image of the dragonfly, Sympetrum corruptum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Spotting the Cabbage White Butterfly
They're everywhere. But they're not welcome. Agriculturists who commercially grow cabbage and...
A cabbage white butterlfy, Pieris rapae, heads for lantana in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The cabbage white butterfly flips. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Cabbage white butterfly returns to sip some nectar from the lantana. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Riverside graduate students broaden their education at Kearney.
Under the auspices of Georgios Vidalakis, Professor at UC Riverside, a handful of graduate students visited Kearney to broaden their scientific knowledge and see examples of how individuals in careers such as their own can have an impact. The students were from a variety of disciplines including Plant Pathology, Microbiology, Entomology, and Botany. Vidalakis said that one reason he chooses to make the annual trek to Kearney is the great diversity of agriculture represented in this one field station.
Their morning was spent in the field.
Nematologist Andreas Westphal explained how he is saving years of research time by testing walnut rootstock against nematodes and for compatibility with commercial scion wood, simultaneously. Below.
Themis Michailides, Plant Pathologist, showed the students samples of infected pistachios. Later he said of this, “The disease is anthracnose of pistachio caused by Colletotrichum fioriniae, according to Project Scientist, Paulo Lichtemberg. It is a new disease in California and caused major problem in a few orchards in Glenn Co. The same disease in 2010 destroyed 75% of the Australian pistachio crop. It is fortunate that the Kerman pistachio that is extensively planted in California shows more tolerance to this pathogen than the susceptible Red Aleppo cultivar. At present, we (with the lead of Paulo Lichtemberg) are doing epidemiological studies to determine conditions affecting the disease, evaluation of pistachio cultivar susceptibility to the pathogen, and fungicide trials to manage it.” Below.
The students examined a novel trapping method for leaffooted bug as Entomologist Houston Wilson related control strategies for this emerging pest of pistachios. Below.
After lunch, Leslie Holland, a Plant Pathology PhD Candidate working with CE Specialist Florent Trouillas, gave a presentation to students on the important role of plant disease diagnosis to growers and to research institutions. Holland spoke with students about emerging diseases in the fruit and nut crop industry in California and the research being conducted to manage these diseases.
The group continued their day learning from Director Jeff Dahlberg how he and just six other people on the board of the Whole Grains Counsel developed the Whole Grains Stamp. The stamp, used to help consumers make healthy eating choices, is now on 12,000 different products in 58 countries. Vidalakis said that for the students to see firsthand the kind of influence a small group can have in the world was a “jaw-dropping” moment.