Topics in Subtropics

Firefighters from all over the country worked around the clock to put out fires throughout the state of California. Fires could be devastating to growers and, in some ways, they could be beneficial by reducing populations of weeds and unwanted vegetation.

I recently came across a library of all kinds of images of pests, diseases and crops. It has lots of entries, such as Bees of the United States: https://www.ipmimages.org/browse/projectsubject.

Plant-out-of-place photo galleries: http://wric.ucdavis.edu/photo_gallery/photo_gallery.htm http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/weeds_intro.html Horseweed - Conyza canadensis Herbicide treatment table for citrus: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/r107700411.

Roof rats are running rampant in California orchards this year, according to UC Agriculture and Natural Resources scientists.

Earthworms are commonly associated with healthy soils and in many cases they are good indicators. See a previous blog: http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=23945 In a recent blog, Michigan State University is telling a different story: http://msue.anr.msu.