News

The crapemyrtle bark scale is an invasive pest of crapemyrtles, first introduced in the US in 2004. For a summary the scale, check out the page on crapemyrtle bark scale. Earlier this year (2017), crapemyrtle bark scale has been found on landscape beautyberry in East Texas ...

With the plethora of pesticides out there, it can be challenging to know which will actually work an which wont. Many blogs and websites suggest different home remedies or natural products, but how can you know whether what the blogs are saying are reliable? ...

This post is a part of a series of notes taken at the International Organization of Biological Control 2017. Go back to Monday's Agenda Plant-provided food increases indirect defense through manipulation of a mutualism Pete Nelson, North Carolina State University Conservation biological control in tobacco

• Spined stiltbug

...

The International Organization for Biological Control (Nearctic Region and West Palearctic Regional Section) had a meeting in Niagara Falls (Ontario) from June 4th - 8th, 2017. Below is a list of the talks that I took notes for. When the notes for that talk are published, the title will become ...

From June 16th till the 30th, I was in Guyana as a part of a two-week volunteer project through US AID Farmer-to-Farmer program, administered through Partners of the Americas. The whole first week was spent visiting farmers to learn about their pest challenges and pest management materials that can be ...

Today we visited an urban farmer group that pays special attention to permaculture. For those that aren't familiar with permaculture, it's a type of gardening or farming aimed at creating a self-sustaining 'ecosystem' that doesn't require intervention to manage insect pests or weeds. This strategy, in theory anyway, relies on ...

Last Thursday, we visited a few farms in remote locations, referred to as "the bush" by the locals. Completely off the grid; using rain-water as their water supply, no need for electricity or using diesel generators when needed, fruits and vegetables everywhere, and the forest is your toilet. There are ...

First thing in the morning, we headed towards the interior of Guyana, where we visited a coconut, pineapple, and other smaller 'cash crop' farms. The most important pest brought to our attention was the devastation being caused by a rhinoceros beetle; a beetle that bores at the base of the ...

Today was the first day of visiting farms as a part of my time here in Guyana for the Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer program. The Journey We drove to region 6, which is far down south along the coast for a total of about 3 hours commute time in each direction. Throughout ...

Our flight arrived early this morning, from Miami to Guyana. Our driver recognized us using our F2F hats we were provided in our orientation packages and started the one-hour driver to Georgetown. Like the couple other countries I have visited in South and Central America, 'highways' are two or maybe ...