Add plant diversity to your gardens. Also make sure you have flowering plants year-round. Those are key recommendations of ecologists for enlisting natural predators to combat pests in our garden and orchards. These tips can even help ward off pests such as the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), which …
The Consequences of Pesticides in Citrus Pest Treatment – and references
An op-ed article I wrote for the Redlands Daily Facts, entitled "Understanding the Consequences of Asian Psyllid Treatment," is being published tomorrow. It was prompted when I noted that articles were not mentioning the negative effects of the recommended pesticide treatments for an alarming pest …
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Pollinator killing plants: questions to ask nurseries
I've been besieged with a lot of email petitions recently about a pesticide called neonicotinoids (neonics for short), found in some plants sold by nurseries, which has been shown to kill bees, butterflies and other pollinators - so the word is definitely out. When pollinators visit the flowers or …
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Positive News for Wildlife
I admit to not reading some environmental news because it can get so depressing. So, here's some recent positive news, including two in California.(2018 update: I just added another one regarding suspending the killing of federal wildlife.) One thing I do appreciate about living in California is the …
Rodent Poisons: What Communities are Doing (Part 3)
I heard some coyotes howling the other night and what a comforting sound. I hadn’t heard them for many months and with my last article on this subject opening with a sick coyote, it was nice to hear them sound healthy. I tried not to think about the rabbit or rodent they were probably about to …
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Rodent Poisons and our Ailing Wildlife – Part 2
Note: this is my 100th blog article since I launched in December 2011! (and my 2nd in a series on rodenticide issues) My husband saw a panting, lethargic coyote on the streets of our city a couple days ago and we called Redlands (California) Animal Control. A city official who didn’t want to be …
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