Backyard Orchard News
'The 13 Bugs of Christmas'--Revisited
Back in 2010, two innovators with the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now the UC Davis...
Five gold rings? How about five golden bees? "On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: 5 golden bees, 4 calling cicadas, 3 French flies, 2 tortoise beetles and a psyllid in a pear tree. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Butterfly for a Beer! Or Suds for a Bug!
A butterfly for a beer? Suds for a bug? The annual “Butterfly for a Beer” contest,...
A cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, nectaring on catmint in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Davis Teen: How Those Pesky Mosquitoes Led to a Scientific Publication
Listen to ABC Channel 10 News, broadcast Dec. 22Seventeen-year-old Helena Leal doesn't like...
Researcher and lead author Helena Leal, 17, a scholar at Davis High School, injects a sample of odorants trapped in a solid phase micro-extraction syringe intothe gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in the Walter Leal lab at UC Davis. In back are chemical ecologist Walter Leal (right) and UC Davis student researcher Kaiming Tan. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Working on the mosquito cage assay are (from left) researchers Kaiming Tan, a UC Davis student in the Walter Leal lab; lead author Helena Leal of Davis High School, and UC Davis chemical ecologist Walter Leal. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Looking over mosquito specimens are (from left) UC Davis chemical ecologist Walter Leal and two members of the research team: daughter Helena Leal, lead author; and UC Davis student Kaiming Tan. Not pictured is UC Davis student researcher Justin K. Hwang. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Davis High School scholar Helena Leal addresses the crowd at the Mexican-American Yolo County Concilio Scholarship Dinner. At left is keynote speaker Carlos Saucedo of ABC Channel 10.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Almond and Walnut Pest Management Guidelines revised just in time for the holidays.
‘Tis the season for baking lots of tasty treats. Breads, cookies, cakes, and candy are just a few that come to mind. What makes many of these treats so tasty is the addition of almonds or walnuts to the list of ingredients.
In California, we are lucky to be at the center of almond and walnut production. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture's (CDFA's) latest Agricultural Statistics Review, more than 99% of the almonds and walnuts produced in the United States are grown in California.
Almond and walnut growers work tirelessly to supply enough nuts to not only satisfy domestic demand, but also for export. Worldwide, almonds rank as the largest specialty crop export. California is the top almond producer in the world, accounting for about 80% of all almonds grown. For walnuts, California ranks as the second largest producer in the world. To keep up with this demand, almond and walnut growers must be constantly aware of pests, diseases, and abiotic problems that can affect the tree and growing nuts.
The University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) has recently published revised Pest Management Guidelines for almonds and walnuts, helping growers prevent and manage pest problems with the most up-to-date information.
Revisions in the Almond Pest Management Guidelines include:
- A new section on bacterial spot, a new disease of almond in California found in the Sacramento and northern San Joaquin valleys
- A renamed section on fruit russeting, revised from the old powdery mildew section
- Significant revisions made to the management section of navel orangeworm, one of the major pests attacking California almonds
- Improvements on how to do dormant spur sampling section with easier-to-understand information on monitoring and thresholds
Revisions in the Walnut Pest Management Guidelines include:
- Updated information on the association between walnut twig beetle and thousand cankers disease
- New sections for Botryosphaeria and Phomopsis cankers, branch wilt, and paradox canker
- Significant changes to the walnut husk fly management section
Both the almond and walnut revised Pest Management Guidelines also include updated information on fungicide efficacy, weed management, and vertebrate management.
Authored by University of California specialists and advisors, the Pest Management Guidelines are UC's official guidelines for monitoring and managing pests in California crops. For more information on pest management in these or other crops, visit the UC IPM website.
There's a 'Me' in Mead
There's a "me" in mead. Mead or honey wine is the "in" thing, and the UC Davis Honey and...
UC Davis winemaker Chik Brenneman leads a group at the Honey and Pollination Center's Mead Making Bootcamp. In back is Bruce Leslie, of Griffin Mead fame. "He is relocating to Chico to be the Olivarez Honey Bee Mead Maker!" said Amina Harris, center director. (Photo courtesy of the Honey and Pollination Center)
Pete Bakulic (left), president of the Mazer Cup International, the world's largest mead competition, leads his group of mead makers during the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center’s boot camp in the UC Davis Winery. (Photo courtesy of the Honey and Pollination Center)