Backyard Orchard News
Online Degree Day Presentation Available from UC IPM
To accurately time insecticide treatments see the new UC IPM online presentation about using degree-days for pests in fruit and nut trees. While we can’t control heat waves such as the recent one, we can measure daily temperatures to protect our orchards from several important insect pests such as California red scale, navel orangeworm, San Jose scale, orange tortrix, and codling moth.
Using degree-days to time treatments allows you to reduce insecticide use by targeting the most susceptible insect stage, attaining maximum control and reducing costs. Monitoring and using degree-days allows for the correct application timing of reduced-risk products preserving many of the parasites and predators that control other orchard pests.
Walt Bentley, retired UC IPM Advisor, narrates the 15-minute presentation and explains the basics using stone fruit and nut pest examples:
- How heat influences insect development
- What a degree-day is
- How degree-days accumulate
- What data is needed to calculate degree-days
- The benefits of using degree-days to time insecticide treatments
The presentation can be accessed on the UC IPM degree day website: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/WEATHER/index.html.
In the future, look forward to a second degree-day presentation on how to use UC IPM Web site tools and information for calculating degree-days.
Know the EP of Your Ag Products and Lower VOCs
VOCs are gasses that combine with other substances to form ground level ozone (smog). In an effort to reduce smog in the San Joaquin Valley, as of Nov 1, the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) is restricting sales and use of High-VOC producing ag products during the months of May through October. High-VOC ag products have an emission potential (EP) greater than 35%. For citrus, products of concern include chlorpyrifos, gibberellin, abamectin and oxyfluorfen. There are many formulations of each of these agricultural products and the goal is to choose formulations that keep the EP below 35%. The following link provides a list of the formulations that are above (High-VOC) and below (Low-VOC) the EP threshold of 35% for all crops. Keep this in mind as you purchase and use insecticides, herbicides and gibberellin.
DPR Overview http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/emon/vocs/vocproj/factsheet_voc_overview.pdf
List of High and Low-VOC formulations http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/emon/vocs/vocproj/nonfum_voc_prod_list.pdf
The 100 Most Endangered Species
The world's "100 Most Endangered Species" are back in the news again, and well they should...
Robbin Thorp with his computer screen showing a photo he took of Franklin's bumble bee, one of the world's 100 most endangered species. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This macro image of Franklin's bumble bee is the work of Robbin Thorp.
Cooperative extension specialist, nut and fruit crop pathology position available at Kearney.
The Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis is recruiting for a faculty member in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California, Davis, and located at the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Parlier, California. The plant pathology department has a research, teaching and outreach mission to develop and disseminate comprehensive basic and applied knowledge regarding the interactions among plants, pathogens and their environment. A Cooperative Extension (CE) Specialist is being recruited to conduct original applied research with the goal of achieving more effective management of diseases affecting nut and fruit trees. The successful candidate will bring visibility and cohesion to CE academics and other researchers and educators involved in the study of nut and fruit tree diseases. Research and outreach activities will be closely integrated with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR), county-based CE colleagues and clientele as well as campus based CE and ladder rank faculty.
Closing date: September 30, 2013
Job description: Download
Download application: Word | PDF
Applications should be submitted on-line at https://recruit.ucdavis.edu/.
Kearney's main office and laboratory building located in Parlier, California.
The Bee Course
If you want to learn about bees--and learn it from the experts--The Bee Course is the place to...
Robbin Thorp (left) of UC Davis and John Ascher of the National University of Singapore are two of The Bee Course instructors. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Robbin Thorp at a UC Davis function with Emily Bzdyk, who received her master's degree in entomology from UC Davis and is a graduate of The Bee Course. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)