Backyard Orchard News
National Honey Bee Day 2018: Brush up on your knowledge of bee protection.
Celebrate National Honey Bee Day by brushing up on your knowledge of bee protection—check out the newly revised Best Management Practices to Protect Bees from Pesticides and Bee Precaution Pesticide Ratings from UC IPM. These resources will help you strike the right balance between applying pesticides to protect crops and reducing the risk of harming our most important pollinators.
The best management practices now contain important information regarding the use of adjuvants and tank mixes, preventing the movement of pesticide-contaminated dust, and adjusting chemigation practices to reduce bee exposure to pesticide-contaminated water. The Bee Precaution Pesticide Ratings have also been updated to include ratings for 38 new pesticides, including insecticides (baits, mixtures, and biological active ingredients), molluscicides (for snail and slug control), and fungicides.
Most tree and row crops are finished blooming by now, but it is a good idea to learn about bee protection year-round. Visit these resources today to choose pesticides that are least toxic to bees and learn how you can help prevent bees from being harmed by pesticide applications.
Can You Bear It? Plush Water Bears Are All the Rage at the Bohart Museum of Entomology
Move over, teddy bears! There's a new bear in town. Stuiffed toy animals resembling tardigrades,...
UC Davis student and Bohart associate Emma Cluff holds a plush water bear from the Bohart Museum's gift shop. It costs about $30, plus tax, will all proceeds to finance educational programs at the Bohart. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
What's not to love about a water bear? UC Davis student and Bohart associate Emma Cluff hugs the stuffed toy. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Meet the 'Extreme Insects' Aug. 19 at Bohart Museum of Entomology Open House
Talk about extremes! Have you ever thought about how some insects have adapted to fire, ice, acid,...
This is part of the beetle collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey
A sand wasp, Bembix americana, foraging on seaside daisies at Bodega Bay. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bugs Share Spotlight with Pigs, Polar Bears and Pigeons: ACE Awards
This was a case of bugs sharing the spotlight with pigs, polar bears and pigeons. Six...
Children of California migratory workers react to a Madagascar hissing cockroach during their tour of the Bohart Museum of Entomology. A news story about the event won a gold or first-place award in the ACE competition. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, fields questions from the tour group. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This monarch caterpillar, discovered Oct. 27, 2017 on milkweed in Vacaville, survived and hitched a ride to an overwintering site in Santa Cruz, thanks to "Monarch Mom" and "Good Samaritan Rita LeRoy of Vallejo. The blog, "Once Upon a Monarch," won a silver award at the ACE conference. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"Monarch Mom" Rita LeRoy (pictured) of Vallejo transported "Ms. Vacaville Monarch" to an overwintering site in Santa Cruz. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Itsy Bitsy Spider
The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out. Out...
Yes, we can see you. A crab spider on Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The crab spider ventures out on a petal of the Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A perfectly camouflaged crab spider on a gold coin flower (Asteriscus maritimus). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)