Backyard Orchard News
Why Spiders Are Not Insects
It's almost time for Halloween, when all self-respecting little ghosts, goblins and ghouls take a...
A jumping spider on a pink rose soaks in some sun. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Garden spider weaving a web. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Black widow spider with egg sacs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Debut Event of UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center
If you want to know more about honey and pollination, then mark your calendar for Saturday, Oct....
A frame of honey from the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Ready to greet visitors are RMI executive director Clare Hasler-Lewis (left) and event coordinator Tracy Dickinson. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
RMI executive director Clare Hasler-Lewis at the RMI's Silverado Vineyards Sensory Theatre. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Bug-Eat-Bug World
It's a bug-eat-bug world out there. Today we watched a syrphid fly, aka "hover fly" and "flower...
Syrphid fly (right) circles a blanket flower, unaware of the jumping spider. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Syrphid fly sipping nectar close to the predator. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
End result--the jumping spider feasting on the syrphid fly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Well, Hello There!
At first they appeared on our pomegranate tree, our 85-year-old pomegranate tree. Then they...
Leaffooted bug nymphs, Leptoglossus clypealis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Leaffooted bug nymphs, Leptoglossus clypealis. crowd a leaf of a passion flower vine. Note the yellow Gulf Fritillary eggs on the leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of a Gulf Fritillary caterpillar. These leaffooted bug nymphs are sharing leaves of the Passiflora with Gulf Fritillary caterpillars. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
California Red Scale Winding Down
The graph below shows the male California red scale pheromone trap catches (green) and the crawler tape catches (red) for a citrus orchard at Lindcove. The scale activity is finally starting to wind down as the night temperatures cool. Male flights peaked at Lindcove this year during March, mid-mid June, late July and early September. Four generations of crawler activity occurred during Mid May, early July, mid-August, and late September. The male flight and crawler activity seems to be winding down now. It may pick up a bit if the daytime weather stays warm, but usually the females stop producing crawlers around November 1.
California red scale data for Lindcove 2012