Trees & Vines

January 15, 2025

Winter sanitation still key to controlling beetle pests

Orchard sanitation after harvest, including mummy removal, remains the best step nut growers can take to battle the Pacific flatheaded borer and carpophilus beetle.

Photo/Vicky Boyd

December 18, 2024

Borer pest in Lake County pear fruit 'mind-boggling'

Pacific flatheaded borers typically bore into the trunks and branches of trees, but for the past two years, they have been found inside pear fruit in Lake County, leaving researchers baffled.

Photo/Clebson Gomes Gonçalves

December 18, 2024

Increased almond shipments signal better times ahead

The 2024 Almond Conference trade show floor.

Photo/Ching Lee

December 4, 2024
Date growers keep eye on movement of palm weevil: Mark Hoddle, University of California, Riverside, biological control specialist, checks a hanging Picusan trap for South American palm weevil at Sweetwater Reserve in San Diego County. Behind him is a dead date palm with dropped fronds, an impact of the pest.
Photo/Mike Lewis, University of California, Riverside

November 13, 2024

Where there's smoke, there may not be smoke taint

Winegrapes are harvested at R Vineyards in Lake County. The family-owned vineyard managed to fend off a 2015 wildfire by running its sprinkler system for 18 hours while the smoke persisted. Grower and winemaker Dave Rosenthal said the defensive strategy allowed him to wash off smoke and ash residue from the vines, lessening the chance of smoke tainting his grapes.

Photo/Monica Rosenthal

October 23, 2024
Breeders strive for Hass-like avocados, other traits: Eric Focht, a researcher from the University of California, Riverside, avocado breeding program, shows off the Luna UCR, which he helped develop. Released last year, the new avocado variety has some of the same desirable traits as Hass, the industry mainstay. Luna UCR also appears to be more efficient in producing fruit per cubic meter of canopy than its predecessor, UC researchers say.
Photo/Vicky Boyd