Backyard Orchard News
From Insect Development to Heart Research
It's truly amazing how the study of insect biology can lead to research that may benefit...
Heart researchers Bruce Hammock and Nipavan Chiamvimonvat. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Packin' the Plum Pollen
Ever watched an in-flight honey bee packing her load of pollen? A foraging bee carries her...
Pollen-packing honey bee heading toward plum blossoms. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee adjusts her load. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee loaded with pollen heading home. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Doesn't Get Any Better Than This
It was a gorgeous day to be out in an almond orchard. Staff research associate Billy Synk of the...
Billy Synk (left) shows Randall Cass a frame. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Beekeeper Billy Synk checks the productivity. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Checking out the bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of the Laidlaw research bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Seeking Undergraduate Research Scholars
Eager to experience a one-on-one training and mentorship that you'd normally find only in a small...
Jay Rosenheim, professor of entomology at UC Davis, doing research in a meadow. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Vedalia Beetles Should Be Appearing
Its March and it is the time of year when the cottony cushion scales are maturing into large females on the trunks of the tree. They especially like plantings of grapefruit and mandarins with dense canopies. It is also the time of year when the vedalia beetles arrive and begin laying their bright red eggs on the cottony cushion scale females. The eggs will hatch and the vedalia larvae will consume the eggs inside the cottony cushion scale egg sac. The adult beetles are voracious predators and will eat all stages of the scales. If you have a population of vedalia and are willing to share it, please let us know (Beth Grafton-Cardwell, 559-592-2408, Lindcove Research and Extension Center). It only takes a few beetles to get a population started in a new location and they control the cottony cushion scales better than pesticides.
vedalia beetle adult feeding on cottony cushion scale
vedalia beetle eggs on the egg sac of the scale
vedalia larva feeding on a cottony cushion scale egg