Pest Advice - General Publications
Full Title: A Field Key to the Most Common Lygus Species Found in Agronomic Crops of the Central San Joaquin Valley of California. Correct identification of captured Lygus bugs and similar-looking insects is a key to accurate research and pest control. This publication and its companion publication (Key Features of Common Lygus Species...) give point-by-point instructions.
Apples, broccoli, tomatoes, citrus, and a wide variety of other food crops are susceptible to Alternaria diseases. Learn how to recognize symptoms and control outbreaks.
Plant hosts, life cycle, crop damage, and pest management information for this pest of citrus and other closely related plants.
Barb goatgrass is a winter annual grass native to Europe and western Asia. It first appeared in California in the early 1900s, but only recently has it begun to spread widely, crowding out native vegetation. Learn to identify and manage this hardy weed.
Information on how to "bee prepared" for the movement of the Africanized honey bee into California. Includes tips on how to identify Africanized honey bees, bee-proofing your home, and what to do if stung.
Horseweed and hairy fleabane are showing increased resistance to chemical controls, including glyphosate. By learning about their biology and other control alternatives, you can do a better job of keeping on top of this pest problem.
Citrus canker and huanglongbing (HLB, or citrus greening) are two serious diseases that affect crops around the world, but have not yet infected California groves. This publication tells how to help keep the diseases out of California, and how to recognize them if or when they do arrive.
Citrus leafminer and citrus peelminer are serious pests of California citrus groves. Learn how to tell them apart and how to apply appropriate control measures. Includes many color photos.
How to recognize and control louse and mite parasites on chickens, turkeys, and other poultry. Color photographs.
Damping-off diseases affect vegetable crops worldwide. Learn the basic on how these fungal diseases spread and what you can do to stop them.
Diaprepes root weevil is a serious pest of Florida citrus, sweet potatoes, papayas, and ornamental plants, and it threatens to become established in California as well. This publication gives guidelines for pest identification and control. 23 color photos.
Now, instead of sending samples to a laboratory and waiting for answers, you can use quick and relatively simple, commercially available test kits to identify common plant viruses and root and crown decay fungi. You’ll also learn tips for good sampling technique critical to the effective use and interpretation of the tests.
Full Title: Establishing Integrated Pest Management Policies and Programs: A Guide for Public Agencies. Adoption of a written IPM plan is an important first step in implementing integrated pest management practices. This publication takes you through the process, step by step.
Feral poultry -- whether escaped domestic birds or their offspring born in the wild -- cause property damage and other hazards. Traps used for live-trapping mammals are ineffective against these birds. Learn how to build and use a simple, effective trap.
Ferrisia gill is a mealybug species in California that affects pistachio plantings in 11 counties. Find out how to monitor and control the pest's spread using biological and chemical means.
Flower flies (also known as syrphids or hoverflies) are effective predators against aphids in California vegetable fields. Learn to recognize these aphid eaters and encourage them to help with your pest management. This publication describes syrphid flies and other natural enemies of aphids. It includes color photographs of the syrphid adults and larvae commonly seen in California vegetable crops.
Full Title: Guidelines for Controlling Listeria monocytogenes in Small- to Medium-Scale Packing and Fresh-Cut Operations. New handling and packaging techniques can help keep this disease-causing bacterium out of refrigerated and ready-to-eat foods.
A herbicide ceases to be a useful tool for farmers when its target weeds develop resistance to its effects. This publication helps you understand resistance: what causes it, and how you can slow or prevent its development.
Full Title: Insecticide and Miticide Resistance Management in San Joaquin Valley Cotton for 2001 It's a fine line: pest control chemicals can help cotton growers increase yields and reduce production costs, but poor chemical application techniques can lead to chemical-resistant pests that hurt yields and are much more difficult to manage. This publication tells you how chemical resistance works, and how you can help prevent its development.
Correct identification of captured Lygus bugs and similar-looking insects is a key to accurate research and pest control. This identification key and its companion publication (A Field Key to the Most Common Lygus Species...) give point-by-point instructions.
Full Title: Managing Hull-Borne Invasive Species and Coastal Water Quality for California and Baja California Boats Kept in Saltwater. Information for boat owners, boat maintenance and repair businesses, port managers, scientists and policy makers.
When you retain storm-generated drainwater to remove pollutants before releasing it into natural waterways, you can easily create an ideal mosquito-breeding habitat. This publication tells how to treat drainwater and still prevent mosquito infestations.
Constructed wetlands can provide many economic and environmental benefits, but due care must be taken to prevent mosquito infestations.
Mosquitoes can cause a variety of problems on the farm: they carry illness to humans, harm livestock, and reduce you property's value. Learn the basics of agricultural mosquito control from this publication.
Full Title: Nursery Guide for Diseases Caused by Phytophthora ramorum on Ornamentals: Diagnosis and Management. Phytophthora ramorum has caused widespread mortality in native oaks and tanoaks in coastal areas of central and northern California. On oaks, the disease is commonly called sudden oak death. Camellias, rhododendrons, and other popular ornamental plants are susceptible to infection, and the pathogen can be moved long distances through ship ments of infected nursery stock. Federal and state quarantines are in effect that require nursery inspections, and if the pathogen is found, affected nursery stock must be destroyed as a means of eradication.
Leaf curl, also frequently referred to as peach leaf curl, is a disease caused by the fungus Taphrina deformans. Peach leaf curl affects the blossoms, fruit, leaves, and shoots of peaches, ornamental flowering peaches, and nectarines, and is one of the most common disease problems for backyard gardeners. The distorted, reddened foliage that it causes is easily seen in spring. When severe, the disease can reduce fruit production substantially.
Peach rust is a problem in every peach-growing area of California, but causes the greatest economic losses in Sacramento Valley orchards. Color photos and descriptions in this publication help you identify this fungal disease and the conditions that encourage its development.
Insecticides, acaricides, fungicides, and herbicides listed for use on 64 specialty crops or crop groups.
Pitch canker is a disease of pine trees that is caused by the fungus Fusarium circinatum. The fungus causes infections (lesions) that can encircle or girdle branches, exposed roots, and the main stems (trunks) of pine trees. The tips of girdled branches wilt as a result of obstructed water flow, causing the needles to turn yellow, and then red.
The stable fly (Stomoxys calcitrans) is a serious pest of confined livestock, and is becoming a pest of pastured livestock as well. This publication will help you learn to identify the pest and manage infestations.
Sudden oak death, caused by Phytophthora ramorum infection, has killed over a million oak trees in California. Most infected trees do die of the disease, but this publication gives some steps you can take to prevent infection in the first place.
Sclerotinia diseases cause rotting in a variety of vegetable and floral crops. Learn how to recognize and control outbreaks.
The first thorough key to the identification of slugs in California. You may think all slugs look alike, but on closer examination you will be surprised at how they differ. Color photographs.
Full Title: Stages of the Cottony Cushion Scale (Icerya purchasi) and its Natural Enemy, the Vedalia Beetle (Rodolia cardinalis). Color photos of various life stages of cottony cushion scale and a natural enemy used for its biocontrol, the vedalia beetle. Cottony cushion scale is a pest of citrus and woody ornamentals.
Vine mealybug (VMB), a vineyard pest throughout the world, damages grape foliage and fruit, rendering the fruit unmarketable. This publication helps you identify and control VMB in California vineyards.
Organic Vegetable Production in California Series. Weed management in organic vegetable production systems must involve the use of many techniques and strategies, all with the goal of achieving economically acceptable weed control and crop yields.
California Master Gardener Tip Sheet. In winter when many fruit trees go dormant, it's a great time to treat them for scale insects, mites, peach twig borer, aphids, leaf curl, shot hole, and other problems. Make the most of the season! English edition of "Manejo del plagas de árboles frutales deciduos durante el invierno" (Publication 8368s).