Pests in the Urban Landscape

Many people think wild rabbits hopping around are adorablethere's even an international rabbit day celebrating wild and domestic rabbitsbut they're less welcome when they're eating your carefully tended garden. Wild rabbits in California can devour your garden vegetables, just like Peter Cottontail.

Abiotic plant disorders are generally caused by environmental conditions, rather than microorganisms. They are sometimes called noninfectious diseases. Abiotic disorders can develop if a plant's needs are not being met.

The invasive pest spotlight focuses on emerging or potential invasive pests in California. In this issue we are covering the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB). Brown marmorated stink bug facts BMSB can cause severe crop and garden losses and become a nuisance in and around homes and other buildings.

With ongoing drought and local water restrictions in place in many areas of California, you may start to see landscape plants suffering from stress caused by a lack of water, calledwater stress. Water-stressed plants can have symptoms that resemble diseases caused by plant pathogens.

Are you concerned about pesticides in our waterways? Join us on August 18, 2022 at noon for UC IPM's free monthly webinar to learn how to keep surface water clean by reducing pesticide use and runoff.