UC Blogs

Got pests and want to use integrated pest management? Use a year-round IPM program developed by the UC Statewide IPM Program. If you’re not familiar with what a year-round IPM program is, think of it as a checklist for the agricultural pest management activities you should be doing throughout the season. You can take the new video tour "Using Year-Round IPM Programs" to explore the benefits and uses of IPM in field, orchard and vineyard crops. If you are managing pests in cole crops or pistachios, see the two newest year-round IPM programs.

Monitoring the most important pests, making management decisions, and planning for the following season are all activities in the year-round IPM programs. Even better are how they connect to the Pest Management Guidelines so you can read about the details . . . how to monitor, what the treatment thresholds are, or the best pesticide to use.

One of the basic IPM principles is to choose the best pesticide for the situation. The year-round IPM programs help you do this by ensuring you’re applying pesticides only when you need to, and providing you with information so you can choose the most effective pesticide with the least harm to water quality, air quality, natural enemies and honey bees.

The checklist, photo ID pages, and monitoring forms are easily printable for use in the field. Interested in other crops? We have 25 year-round IPM programs:

Alfalfa Almond Apricot Asparagus Avocado Cherry Citrus Corn Cole crops

Cotton Cucurbits Dry Beans Grape Lettuce Nectarine Peach Pear

Peppers Pistachio Plum Potato Prune Strawberry Tomato Walnut

The weather has turned grey again. Time to knuckle down to my books and get out of the garden.   It was so delightful to enjoy that week or so of sun and mid-60's in the afternoon. Just started taking a Plant ID class a couple of weeks ago and now have my first group of leaves for my collection.  My first group included Magnolia grandiflora, one of my favorite trees.  Just hearing the word Magnolia reminds me of the South.  I worked with people in North Carolina for a number of years and was able to travel to the Raleigh area a number of times over the course of 10 years.  Besides getting to know a bunch of charming people, I got to appreciate many plants that grow so well in that climate,  so different from the California I have lived in throughout my life.  So many of the plants that need special care here, grow with abandon in the southern states with the humidity supporting a different palette.  I would see the Magnolia trees in the manicured lawns with those enormous 8 to 12 inch cream colored fragrant flowers and I would swoon.  Just too much beauty to behold.  Now that I am studying this tree, I find that Magnolia grandiflora which is commonly called "Southern Magnolia" is so named for a good reason, it is native to the southern United States. There are a number of gardens at the universities and arboretums featuring these trees in the Raleigh area.  This tree is so popular in the south it has been chosen as the State Tree of Mississippi, and the State Flower of Mississippi and Louisiana.  The flower was also used as an emblem of the Confederate Army in the US Civil War. Well back to Solano.  I recently found that the "Southern Magnolia" has adapted very nicely to the Glen Cove community in Vallejo, so much so that it has been used as a street tree with much success.  Very nice to see this special tree bring beauty so close to home.