Backyard Orchard News
Congrats to The Bee Team!
Congrats to “The Bee Team” at the University of California, Davis. The one-of-a-kind...
The Bee Team (from left) Eric Mussen, Neal Williams, Robbin Thorp, Lynn Kimsey and Brian Johnson. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC helps the Fresno Farm and Nutrition Day increase student awareness of healthful food and where it comes from.
More than 1,600 third-graders and 330 teachers and chaperones from 24 Fresno County schools attended Farm and Nutrition Day March 22 at the Big Fresno Fairgrounds. Attendees had the opportunity to tour 50 stations with educational handouts, experiential workshops, presentations and demonstrations. Fresno County Farm Bureau organized the event with the assistance of several presenter groups, sponsors and volunteers, including two UC Agriculture and Natural Resources units.
KARE provided short presentations on what it takes to be a healthy plant and what it takes to be a healthy person, followed immediately by workshops where the students planted leaf lettuce transplants to take home and enjoy. This workshop was made possible with donations and volunteers. Valley Soil & Forest Products donated soil, The Plant People donated pots, and Greenheart Farms donated lettuce transplants. Ten volunteers helped ensure that all of the participants were able to pot up and take home leaf lettuce plants.
Fresno County UC Cooperative Extension provided nutritional presentations and demonstrations. Fresno’s community 4-H clubs brought farm animals to interact with the mostly urban students. Richard Molinar, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Fresno County, small farm program, displayed Southeast Asian vegetables and discussed Southeast Asian culture with the students.
Students at the Fresno Farm and Nutrition Day discussing what it takes to be a healthy plant and what it takes to be a healthy person.
Students potting up leaf lettuce transplants to take home and grow.
Richard Molinar displaying Southeast Asian vegetables and discussing Southeast Asian culture with students attending the Fresno Farm and Nutrition Day (photo by Fresno Farm Bureau).
Going Native
The first thing you notice when you walk up to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility...
Bumble bee, Bombus vandykei, foraging on phacelia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Side view of bumble bee, Bombus vandykei. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Competition for the phacelia! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Big Attendance for the Fuller Rose Beetle Field Day
On April 22 a field event was held at Lindcove with speakers Joseph Morse from UC Riverside and Jim Cranney from the California Citrus Quality Council. The issue discussed was how California citrus growers are going to prevent fruit from arriving in Korea with live Fuller rose beetle eggs, now that Korea is no longer going to fumigate citrus. Korea will reject citrus shipments if live Fuller rose beetle eggs are found. Speakers suggested that a systems approach that combines several strategies (a combination of skirt pruning, trunk treatments, foliar treatments, and/or post-harvest fumigation) may be necessary to accomplish the goal, since no single treatment provides complete control. The problems with pesticide treatments are that Fuller rose beetle adults emerge from the soil year round, they are difficult to kill with pesticides, and the pesticides must be reapplied to maintain their efficacy. The problems with the post harvest fumigants currently under study (phosphine and ethyl formate) are that they require extended periods of treatment and cold temperature to achieve a high level of kill of the eggs. Research is being conducted on all of these strategies and until it is completed, the best management strategy includes skirt pruning, trunk treatment starting in June, and a foliar spray 600 degree days prior to harvest. More information can be found at this web site, http://ucanr.edu/sites/KACCitrusEntomology/Home/Fuller_Rose_Beetle_384/Management_36/ that includes information on how to build a spray wand for trunk treatments.
Jim Cranney of CCQC discusses the regulatory issues associated with Fuller rose beetle
Ladybugs Coming Up in the World
Decisions, decisions... Where's the best spot for the new residents of my garden? I acquired two...
Two ladybugs in a tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Ladybugs exploring the menu. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Hmm, looks like an aphid over there to me. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)