Posts Tagged: pomegranate

Pom Squad

It was definitely a hot spot. Honey bees foraging last week on a pomegranate tree on Hopkins Road, west of the UC Davis main campus, competed for...

Five honey bees on one pomegranate blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Five honey bees on one pomegranate blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Four honey bees on one pomegranate blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Four honey bees on one pomegranate blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Two bees on one pomegranate blossom, and about to be three. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Two bees on one pomegranate blossom, and about to be three. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

UC scientists studying 'baffling' pomegranate ailment

A mysterious sudden crippling or death of pomegranate trees may be due to cold temperatures, said a story in Western Farm Press.

Three farmers and Themis Michiliades, UC Davis plant pathologist based at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, agreed that low temperatures have a lot to do with the problem. Michailides cited an Iranian research paper that showed similar cold snap damage. Michailides and Richard Molinar, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor in Fresno County, said damage from dieback this year was more common in sandier soils, perhaps because heavier soils hold moisture.

Writer Dennis Pollock reported on the problem in his article about a recent pomegranate field day at Kearney. At the field day, Michailides also reported on "black heart" of pomegranate, caused by Altenaria fungus, and cankers caused by species that include Neofusicoccum mediterraneum.

Claude Phené, a retired USDA-ARS researcher, discussed a two-year-old pomegranate irrigation and fertigation trial at Kearney.

Turning Over a New Leaf (Footed Bug)

When you first see the leaffooted bug, you know immediately how it got its name. The appendages on its feet look like leaves! This morning we saw...

Close-up of leaffooted bug. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Close-up of leaffooted bug. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Leaffooted bugs making pomegranates their kitchen, living room and bedroom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Leaffooted bugs making pomegranates their kitchen, living room and bedroom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Beady eyes, colorful antennae and appendages on its feet that look like leaves. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Beady eyes, colorful antennae and appendages on its feet that look like leaves. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Pomegranate Kind of Day

It was a pomegranate kind of day. Red, bright and wonderful.The papery-thin reddish blossoms in our yard draw both beneficial and pestiferous...

Honey bee nearly collides with a ladybug, aka ladybeetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey bee nearly collides with a ladybug, aka ladybeetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A pest, a spotted cucumber beetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A pest, a spotted cucumber beetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey bee foraging in pomegranate blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey bee foraging in pomegranate blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Katy Did. Katy Didn't.

As a child growing up in Washington state, I received an entomological nickname."Katydid."My father, in a take-off of the name, Kate, affectionately...

Katydid

JUVENILE KATYDID tucked inside a pomegranate blossom. The long awkward-looking hind legs and long threadlike antennae make it look like a Walt Disney cartoon character. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Close-Up

CLOSE-UP of a juvenile katydid, member of the longhorned grasshopper family Tettigoniidae, order Orthoptera. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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