Although treated as a social or political wedge, insecticides represent an important tool for growers dealing with the hordes of insect predators vigorously pursuing their share of the yearly crop. A major problem for growers is the daunting task of choosing the right insecticide and using it effectively to achieve personal and community-wide economic and … Read more
If insects were our friends, they’d still be our enemies – if they prey on our fresh tomatoes. To keep those tomatoes juicy and ripe on the vines, growers must identify and control three important pests – the tomato fruitworm, stink bug and leaf-footed bug – that can cause a tremendous amount of damage. Tomato Insects … Read more
In recent decades integrated pest management (IPM) has gone from being essentially an exotic idea about how to address plant, animal, fungal and a range of other pests capable of crippling production, to being a term bandied about in the growing community almost daily. Widely accepted today as the most appropriate response to the problem … Read more
Pollinators are responsible for nearly 30 percent of our nation’s food supply. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) support an estimated $15 billion in crop production, visiting fruits, nuts and vegetables including blueberries, cranberries, cucurbits, apples, almonds, onions, celery, beets, brassica and citrus. In California alone, 850,000-plus acres of almonds require more than 1.5 million honeybee colonies … Read more
Many commercial growers spray chemicals to rid crops of weeds, but few actively consider the possibility of herbicide resistance. Yet the first known reported case of herbicide resistance occurred back in 1957 when a spreading dayflower spotted in a sugarcane field became resistant to a synthetic auxin herbicide, according to the Weed Science Society of … Read more