UC Blog
Bringing ants to their 'skinny little knees'
Redding Record Searchlight columnist Laura Christman described her reaction to a stubborn ant problem with hyperbole and maybe a tiny bit of truth in a recent column.
"Get out! I do not care if I have to spray you with a chemical that has the half-life of plutonium and kills all living things within three blocks. I want you GONE!" Christman wrote.
"I did not actually say that," Christmas confessed. "But I thought it. And right about then, the ants left . . . . I know they will be back."
That's why, she said, she was pleased to have the opportunity to review UC ANR's new publication Urban Pest Management of Ants in California. The 72-page book, which details environmentally sound ant control measures, was written for pest control professionals, but is also a helpful reference for homeowners. The publication is available in the ANR Catalog for $20.
After talking to the author, UC Riverside entomology specialist emeritus John Klotz, and reading the book, Christmas reached a common sense conclusion: Controlling ants is not a matter of doing one thing, but several things.
Klotz told Christman that ants can be persistent, but with persistence they can be controlled.
"So I'm not giving up," Christman declared. "I hope to determine just who my ants are and then bring them to their skinny little knees."
A new publication that details urban ant control.
Chinese farmers take a bite out of the California cling-peach market
California cling-peach growers' market dominance is beginning to erode in the face of cheap cling-peach imports from China, according to an article in today's Fresno Bee.
Imports of lower-priced Chinese canned cling-peaches grew from 43,000 cases 10 years ago to more than 2.2 million last year, the article said. Chinese peaches now represent 12 percent of the 16 million cases consumed in the U.S.
To defend their turf, California growers are looking for ways to reduce their production costs. Bee reporter Robert Rodriguez spoke to UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Roger Duncan about his research with German-made equipment that would cut the cost of spring hand-thinning, a practice that ensures ripe fruit reaches the proper size.
"I am optimistic that growers will take a look at this," Duncan was quoted. "Because it is going to be difficult to compete against a country that can produce a product cheaper than we can.
Mechanical pre-thinning will not replace the hand thinning, but it can reduce the cost -- estimated at about $1,000 an acre -- by 25 to 30 percent.
"We've done lots of studies in California on mechanical and chemical fruit thinning or blossom thinning," Duncan said. "Generally what we see is the earlier you remove those fruit, the larger the remaining fruit are at harvest because there is less competition for nutrients from the mother tree."
In addition to finding efficiencies in their production practices, the cling-peach industry is asking Americans to buy the home-grown product.
"We need to educate consumers that they should be looking for peaches from the U.S.," Reedley farmer Harry Berberian told Rodriguez. "There are a lot of us who have been growing cling peaches for a long time. It's in our blood. And we are going to keep going as long as we can, but it is not going to be easy."
The online version of the Bee story generated many outraged comments from readers, including:
"We used to produce the best peaches in the world, how can we compete with these fellas from China? The folks from this country will work for a few cents a day, they don't complain about the job, and if they do, there's a heck of a lot of Chinese folks that will take their place."
"Who let that happen? We the people want our jobs back that the American government gave to China. It should be economic treason what Wall Street and the government have done!"
UC farm advisor Roger Duncan, center, with a group of California farmers.
UC educator is better known as the 'Carrot Lady'
Sometimes, it's all in the name. A garden variety story about nutrition education seems to have gotten lots of pickup in the media, perhaps because of the catchy moniker attached to the teacher - the Carrot Lady.
Sutter-Yuba UC Cooperative Extension youth nutrition educator Angela O'Rourke visits local schools and teaches children about healthy eating by guiding educational activities and offering samples of carrots and other vegetables, according to a story in the Appeal-Democrat.
"You can call her the 'Carrot Lady,'" wrote reporter Ryan McCarthy in the article's opening paragraph.
O'Rourke said she wears a bright green apron with a big carrot logo to schools and tells the children her memorable nickname to reinforce her reason for visiting.
"It reminds the kids that we're talking about something healthy today, about how to make healthy choices," O'Rourke said.
Schools are working to make sure what they serve in cafeterias is good for kids — and parents can assist by providing their children with healthy foods. The lure of processed foods, carefully marketed to be tasty, is strong.
"If you put chips next to carrots, what do you think they're going to eat?" O'Rourke was quoted in the story. She tells the children her own favorite snack is orange juice and toasted bread.
The story was also picked up in the Orland Press-Register, the Willows Journal and the Colusa County Sun Herald.
Angela O'Rourke is the Carrot Lady.
LA resurrects Master Food Preserver program
In what is probably a natural outgrowth of the emerging vegetable gardening and local food movement, Los Angeles County UC Cooperative Extension is bringing back a Master Food Preserver program.
The program was discontinued 10 years ago when home canning fell out of favor in modern kitchens. Interest has rebounded. A story in the LA Weekly blog Squid Ink says Master Food Preserver Ernest Miller and UC Cooperative Extension nutrition, family and consumer sciences advisor Brenda Roche will relaunch the program in March.
Like Master Gardeners, Master Food Preservers are volunteers who receive in-depth training from UC Cooperative Extension experts then share their knowledge with the general public. Miller will teach the 12-week series to approximately 15 students at the UC Cooperative Extension office in East Los Angeles.
"The class is truly amazing, it covers every aspect of safe food preservation from canning to pressure canning, of course, but also freezing, dehydration, curing, smoking, fermentation and brewing," Miller was quoted. "It is a hands-on class and nearly every week the participants will make and take home various preserved products."
Miller a chef at The Farmer's Kitchen, a project of the non-profit Sustainable Economic Enterprises, which manages eight farmer's markets in LA. He earned his Master Food Preserver designation form UC Cooperative Extension in San Bernardino County and also recently became a UC Master Gardener.
Miller writes a blog about home food preservation, PreserveNation
LA Master Food Preserver applicants will be selected for the program based on their prior food preservation, culinary and volunteer experience, the article said. The students must pay a $120 class fee and commit to a minimum of 30 hours of volunteer work per year.
Home canning is once again growing in popularity.
UC IPM program is a 2010 'IPM Innovator'
The UC Integrated Pest Management Program is among the organizations to be honored by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation as 2010 "IPM Innovators," according to a DPR news release.
The annual honor is presented to businesses and organizations for their efforts to control insects, weeds, rodents and other pests with a combination of natural and preventive strategies and pesticides less toxic than traditional treatments.
DPR Director Mary-Ann Warmerdam will present the IPM Innovator Awards at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow in the Sierra Hearing Room on the second floor of the California Environmental Protection Agency building in Sacramento.
The UC IPM award is shared with the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The two organizations defined and clarified effective IPM practices for a wide range of commodities and provided stakeholders with this information and incentives to increase their adoption and implementation, the news release said.
Examples of the partnership’s efforts include development of year-round IPM programs for 19 different crops. These programs help to reduce pesticides in water runoff and volatile organic compound pesticide emissions that contribute to smog.