Backyard Orchard News
Red Admiral Challenging 'Gender Norms'
Think back to the first time you spotted a Red Admiral butterfly. You probably admired it and said...
A Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) forages on Jupiter's Beard. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Red Admiral butterfly hesitantly spreads its wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Kearney hosted a workshop on leaffooted bug monitoring, damage to tree nut crops, and management strategies.
On May 10, 2016, Kearney researchers, Kris Tollerup, UC ANR cooperative extension advisor at Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, specializing in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for almond, pistachio, tree fruit and grape crops; and Themis Michailides, UC ANR plant pathologist and lecturer in Plant Pathology at UC Davis and Kearney Agricultural Research & Extension Center, conducted a workshop to help attendees learn more about leaffooted bug monitoring, damage, management, and its involvement in spreading Bot of pistachio and other diseases on pistachio and almond.
Tollerup discussed the different Hemipteran pests (leaffooted bugs and stink bugs). A PowerPoint handout was provided. The handout covered what the bugs look like; the stages of the bugs' growth; diagnostics for identification; the host crops; overwintering, what the damage to almonds and pistachios looks like; when the damage occurs; what we know, and what we need to know.
In the field, Michailides showed how the insect damage can lead to an increased incidence of pathogenic infections. Field research by Michailides and Dave Morgan has shown that there is an “association of Botryosphaeria panicle and shoot blight of pistachio with injuries of fruit caused by Hemiptera insects and birds.”
Michailides concluded that the disease in almonds caused by insect damage “is a new disease of almond and it is very similar to the stigmatomycosis reported on pistachio.” Early insect damage can result in the nuts dropping from the tree and later damage can render part of the crop unmarketable due to decay and black spots on the kernels.
The photograph shows: Infection of pistachio fruit by Neofusicoccum mediterraneum (initially identified as Botryosphaeria dothidea, thus the name Bot of pistachio disease) initiated from insect-punctured fruit and spread into the main rachis of the cluster [A and B; note a leaffooted bug (Leptoglossus clypealis) on the rachis of pistachio cluster in B]; C, fruit infected by the pathogen and covered with pycnidia surrounding the sap exuded from the insect's injury; D, fruit infections initiated from injuries caused by birds and spread into the main rachis of clusters.
Interest Spiking in the May 26th UC Davis Zika Public Awareness Symposiun
The Zika virus is "scarier than we initially thought." So screamed a recent USA Today headline in...
Planning the symposium are (front, from left) Esmeralda Curiel, Irene Orellano Bonilla, Nepheli Neeta Aji, Amarita Singh, Professor Walter Leal, Nida Ahmed, Leah Uto and Navjot Grewal. In the second row (from left) are John Tenorio, Mahmoud Jabaieh, Holly Vickery, Justin Hildebrand (back), Savannah Tobin, Christian Wirawan (back), Justin Hwang, James Warwick and Andre Tran. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Welcome, Teddy Bear Bee
If you've never seen the "teddy bear bee," keep an eye out for it. A fuzzy golden bee with green...
A male Valley carpenter bee (Xylocopa varipuncta)sips nectar from a foothill penstemon, (Penstemon heterophyllus) in the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The male Valley carpenter bee twists to look at the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The male valley carpenter bee, aka "teddy bee," straddles a penstemon. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Did You Hear the Buzz?
If you attended the 141st annual Dixon May Fair, held May 5-8, and saw the honey bee display in...
Fisheye view of the honey bee display at Madden Hall, Dixon May Fair. In front is Cammie Garton, fair employee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Dixon May Fair's Cammie Garton stands by an observation hive in Madden Hall. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
These decorated bee boxes are the work of youths in Garry Haddon's beekeeping project, Vaca Valley 4-H Club, Vacaville. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
One display featured this interactive exhibit from UC Davis: "Guess if I'm a pollinator or not?" (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Protective equipment--bee suits, gloves and smokers--lined a fence in Madden Hall. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Hall. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)