Backyard Orchard News
Pursuit of a Tiny Beetle Leads to Coveted Honor
Her research pursuit of a tiny beetle that is wreaking havoc on walnut and butternut trees...
The walnut twig beetle is about the size of a grain of rice. In association with a newly described fungus, it causes thousand cankers disease of walnut and butternut trees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
VOC regulations affect the San Joaquin Valley.
It's that time of year when volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions released from nonfumigant pesticide applications can impair air quality. Regulations are in effect that growers and pest control advisers should know about, especially for the San Joaquin Valley starting May 1.
Here are highlights from Pam Wofford, Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), regarding the San Joaquin Valley. Pest control advisers cannot recommend and growers cannot use:
- high-VOC products containing abamectin, chlorpyrifos, gibberellins, or oxyfluorfen
- between May 1 and October 31, 2015 and again for May – Oct. 2016
- for alfalfa, almond, citrus, cotton, grape, pistachio, or walnut
Review the updated factsheet for nonfumigant regulations, available on the DPR website. Limited, specific exceptions are allowed. For exceptions, a PCA recommendation is required.
No regulations affect the use of low-VOC products. Pest control dealer requirements remain unchanged, as do fumigant VOC requirements.
Nonfumigant VOC emissions regulations for the San Joaquin Valley strive to maintain VOC emissions below the state implementation plan goal of 18.1 tons/day. In 2013, emissions increased to 18.28 tons/day from 16.26 tons/day in 2012.
View the 2013 VOC inventory for a report on all five ozone nonattainment areas on the DPR website. In addition to state implementation goals, there are VOC regulation benchmark goals to reduce emissions by 12 to 20% from emission levels in 1990. In 2013, VOC levels were reduced 11 to 88%.
VOC resources:
- Department of Pesticide Regulation VOC information
- Nonfumigant pesticide product VOC information
- UC IPM VOC: learn to minimize emissions and use DPR's VOC calculators
- UCIPM Pest Management Guidelines
Picture showing smoggy conditions.
Thrips Expert Cheryle O'Donnell: From San Diego to Beltsville
Thrips expert Cheryle O'Donnell, a true UC Davis success story, is now settled into her new...
Just before Cheryle O'Donnell left San Diego for Beltsville, Md. she posed for this photo, which documents her USDA career.
From a 'Butterfly Wish' to a Tarantula Named 'Peaches'
What a grand event! When the University of California, Davis held its annual campus "Take Your...
Roxanne Bell, 7, of Davis, decided that Peaches, the rose-haired tarantula, "tickles!" Watching her reaction at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, during "Take Your Daughers (And Sons) to Work" Day is Joel Fuerte, 6, of Woodland. Their mothers work at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Joel Fuerte, 6, of Woodland, eagerly listens to children's author S. S. Dudley, a retired UC Davis scientist. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Children's author S. S. Dudley draws the attention of a crowd listening as he talks about the morpho butterflies. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Luck Be a Lady (Beetle)
Overhead in the lady's restroom of a restaurant at the Sausalito marina: Mother to daughter:...
A lady beetle, newly rescued from the bathroom of a restaurant in Marin County, crawls on an Iceland poppy in a Solano County bee garden. Freedom! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Which way is up? Which way is down? A rescued lady beetle exploring its surroundings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)