Urban

Rodent Awareness Week (October 18-24) is a campaign created by the National Pest Management Association to educate the public about the potential harm associated with rats and mice. In addition to damage to structures and property, rodents can transmit disease to other animals and humans.

As the days get shorter and the temperatures begin to cool, now is the time to practice weed management for annual cool-season weeds. It's also not too early to consider management for weeds that emerge in springtime.

We don't often find flies such a popular topic of conversation, but given recent events, we'd like to seize the moment to share some science-based information about their status as both pests and beneficial insects. Flies can be nuisance insects both indoors and outdoors.

Sooty mold is a black fungal growth that looks like a layer of soot covering the leaves of a plant or a sidewalk. The aptly named disease is common in gardens and landscapes, appearing wherever a large infestation of plant-sucking insects are found.

Most of us have experienced itchy skin from a biting insect at least once in our lives. Insects and spiders such as mosquitoes, ticks, mites, bed bugs, fleas, and head lice can and do bite people.

While you are home working, learning, or relaxing, you may have noticed a few other critters sharing space with you.

American pokeweed is a large weedy shrub also known as pokeberry, American nightshade, poke salad, and a variety of other names. It is native to the eastern U.S. but is spreading in parts of California.

Beneficial insects can provide a lot of support in the garden. Natural enemies, which include predators, parasites, and pathogens, reduce pest populations and can help prevent damage to plants.

Pest Notes are UC IPM publications written for people who want information about pests in homes, office buildings, schools, gardens, urban landscapes, and more. We have more than 170 peer-reviewed Pest Notes on topics ranging from ants to the Zoropsis spider, all available on our website.

The white garden snail (Theba pisana), sometimes known as the Italian white snail, can be a serious pest of landscape ornamentals, including trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and herbaceous plants (Figure 1).