Free UC webinar on 'Natural Enemies & Beneficial Bugs'
An adult lady beetle considers the dining offerings on an aphid-infested chard plant. Immature lady beetles are even more voracious eaters of aphids than the adults are. Kathy Morrison
A free lunchtime webinar on "Natural Enemies & Beneficial Bugs" is this month's online offering from the University of California's Statewide Integrated Pest Management Urban/Community program.
The session will be conducted on Zoom from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, July 20. It also will be recorded and made available on YouTube at a later date.
Eric Middleton, area IPM adviser for San Diego County, will lead the presentation, which will cover natural enemies in the insect world. He will discuss how these beneficial bugs -- which prey on or parasitize insect pests -- can help gardeners protect their gardens without pesticides.
Register here for the webinar.
Past sessions have covered topics such as pantry pests, aphids, squirrels, bed bugs and termites. For links to view them, see the full list here. To learn more about the webinar series, including upcoming topics, visit this website.
The main UC IPM website contains a wealth of information on pests of all kinds. Check it out at https://ipm.ucanr.edu/
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 19
Dress warmly in layers – and get to work:
* Apply horticultural oil to fruit trees to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based oil to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. The safest effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees. Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback if pruned now. Save those until summer.)
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladioli for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
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