Backyard Orchard News
Integrated pest management extension helps Guatemalan farmers.
As part of the Farmer-to-Farmer Program sponsored by the Partners of the Americas and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Walter Bentley, UCANR integrated pest management entomologist, emeritus, at Kearney Agricultural Research & Extension Center, and Washington State University entomologist Jay Brunner traveled to Guatemala in April to help growers improve the peach and apple industry. Their primary goal was to identify pest problems and possible solutions to help peach and apple growers improve fruit production, taking into account the region's unique climate.
Bentley and Brunner worked with the Asociación Nacional de Productores de Frutales Deciduos (ANAPDE) and its director, Armando Hernandez, to reach out to various growers in the area. Bentley and Brunner set out to identify insect and mite problems. Fortunately, they found that there were only a few entomological problems.
Jay Brunner (far left), Walter Bentley and Armando Hernandez (center), with family members from one of the Guatemalan farms visited in April, 2016.
Love Out of the Blue
Birds do it...bees do it... You've probably seen the territorial male European carder bees on...
European male carder bees mating. The male, the larger bee, is about the size of honey bee. The European carder bees were introduced in New York in 1963 and became established in California in 2007, scientists say. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A female European carder bee sipping some nectar from bluebeard, Caryopteris "Blue Mist." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A male European carder bee pauses during patrol for nectar refueling. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
To Kill a Honey Bee
How times change with the advancement of knowledge. It's long been known that when honey...
Honey bee (at right) perished when her foot got caught in the pollinia and she was unable to free herself. At left is a foraging bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee flies off with pollinia on her leg. She returned to gather more nectar from the milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Catch Me If You Can
Do they ever slow down? Not much. The male European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum), a...
A male European wool carder bee, Anthidium manicatum, warms its flight muscles on a bluebeard blossom (Caryopteris clandonensis). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Morning sip of nectar for a wool carder bee is like a morning sip of coffee for us humans. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Dorsal view of a male European wool carder bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Well, hello there! This male wool carder bee eyes the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
'Double-Spined Murder Clamps' at the Ready
So here's this tiny praying mantis hovering over a spider's web in the bluebeard (Caryopteris...
A young praying mantis keeps looking down at a spider's web in the bluebeard blossoms. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
If you've ever been puzzled by all those anatomical parts of a praying mantis, no worries. Macro photographer and life-long entomology enthusiast Darren McNabb of Darren's Bugs has figured it all out. (Meme used with permission)