Backyard Orchard News
Being Watched
So you're sitting there watching the Gulf Fritillary caterpillars chowing down on the passionflower...
A Gulf Fritillary caterpillar ready to eat the leaves of a passionflower vine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This Gulf Fritillary caterpillar is really chowing down. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A praying mantis watches a ravenous caterpillar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bee-Helpful Cover Crops in Vineyards
Kathy Kellison is on a mission: to encourage winegrape growers to plant “Bee-Helpful Cover...
Honey bee foraging on mustard, a good cover crop for bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Upside down honey bee on mustard. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Courtship in the Lantana
The purple trailing lantana (Lantana montevidensis) is a butterfly magnet. In our yard, it...
Courtship in the lantana: the female is on the left, and the male on the right. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Courtship in the lantana: second photo in a series of four. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Courtship in the lantana: third photo in a series of four. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Courtship in the lantana: fourth photo in a series of four. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Asian citrus psyllid Find in Tulare Affects Citrus Fruit Movement
California’s Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) establishing a quarantine area around the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP) detection sites in Tulare County. It is estimated that there are 11 packing houses and 21,520 acres of commercial citrus that fall within the quarantine area, which is approximately a five mile radius around the detection sites.
http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/acp/maps/quarantine/3435ACP_Tulare_20130730.pdf
All fruit leaving the quarantine area must be cleaned of leaves and stems before it is moved from the quarantine area. At the present time, groves cannot be treated with pesticides as an alternative to cleaning. CDFA has requested approval from USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to implement this option, but APHIS has not approved it as of today. Compliance agreements are required for growers, haulers and packers if fruit is moved from the quarantine area. Parties should contact CDFA’s ACP Exclusion Office in Visalia at (559) 636-7410 for additional information about compliance agreements.
Is There a Better Camouflage Than This?
Robbin Thorp saw it first. Talk about an eagle eye. Thorp, a native pollinator specialist and...
Larva of an emerald moth, Synchlora, disguised in florets. (Photo by Allan Jones)
Larva of an emerald moth, Synchlora, on Robbin Thorp's finger. (Photo by Robbin Thorp)
Davis photographer Gary Zamzow (far left); native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp (center), emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, and Davis photographer Allan Jones in the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)