Podcasts about biological control

The tiniest critters can be the biggest pain in the you-know-what when it comes to your body and your garden. The mere fact that they are sooo small does not help to discover them in time. That kind of goes for most of the members of the Order ACARI – a huge range of critters such as Bird mites, Follicle mites (we all have them in our eyelashes), chiggers, scabies mites, ticks and —of course— plant mites. A week or two ago I discovered the very first Acari on Julie's Frangipani bush in the glasshouse. Just a few innocent little acari, known as two-spotted spider mites with the elegant scientific name of Tetranychus urticae. Literally a couple of days ago I discovered this: Massive “spider webs” made from the smallest and softest silk on the planet. All strands very close together, keeping the inhabitants safe from whatever may be mite predators. Spider mites are often a real pain in the warmer areas of the garden – especially the glasshouse, tunnel house, and very sheltered areas with warm sunlight. Their trouble-making is very simple: damage the tiny cells on leaves by rasping, and remove the moisture inside those plant cells. That leaves the cells without their contents, and they simply dry out. The most important stuff they grab is the green chlorophyll that's inside those cells; those cells will be filled with air, thereby becoming bleached, light yellow and grey. Spider mites use the massive silken constructions as easy runways to get from leaf to leaf and partner to partner. Their numbers increase rapidly, and the damage follows… Once you have had a close look at the leaves, the silk and the runways, you'll find the little scrapers: 4 pairs of legs, a few dots on their body, and some movement. Once you spot them it pays to have a go at controlling these vast colonies before they really cause severe damage. Organic control can be achieved via Yates' fatty acid spray (NatraSoap). That stuff works on tiny critters with a sensitive skin. An alternative: Neem Oil or Conqueror Oil. Repeat sprays are recommended to catch the tiny babies after they come out of their eggs. Biological Control is another way to reduce the population. Phytoseiulus persimilis is available from BioForce Ltd, who sells the product Mite-E™. It's a parasitic mite that eats the eggs of the spider mites and even the juveniles and adults of that pest. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you are dealing with vine mealybug in your vineyard, you are not alone. Kent Daane, Cooperative Extension Specialist at the University of California Berkley studies different types of mealybug populations across the globe. Kent covers organic and conventional strategies, ways to increase the presence of generalist and specialist natural predators, and the importance of establishing refugia for beneficials. His latest work focuses on area-wide management tactics. Looking to the European Grapevine Moth eradication program as an example, Kent sees an opportunity to decrease vine mealybug populations through neighborhood driven monitoring, trapping, coordinated sprays, and mating disruption. Resources:         119: Vine Mealybug 101: Species Identification, Lifecycle, and Scouting to Create an IPM Program 130: The Biological Control of Vine Mealybug Using Mealybug Destroyers and Anagyrus Wasps Biology and management of mealybugs in vineyards Ecology and management of grapevine leafroll disease Impacts of Argentine ants on mealybugs and their natural enemies in California's coastal vineyards Insecticides for a mealybug and a carpenter moth on vine trunks, 2023 In-season drip and foliar insecticides for a mealybug in grapes, 2023 In-Season Drip and Foliar Insecticides for a Mealybug in Grapes, 2021 Kent Daane Mealybug transmission of grapevine leafroll viruses: an analysis of virus–vector specificity Sustainable Control tools for Vine Mealybug UCCE Napa Viticulture Extension Leaf Hopper site Vineyard managers and researchers seek sustainable solutions for mealybugs, a changing pest complex Vineyard Team Programs: Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship - Donate SIP Certified – Show your care for the people and planet   Sustainable Ag Expo – The premiere winegrowing event of the year Sustainable Winegrowing On-Demand (Western SARE) – Learn at your own pace Vineyard Team – Become a Member Get More Subscribe wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources. Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.   Transcript [00:00:00] Craig Macmillan: Welcome to Sustainable Wine Growing with Vineyard Team. Our guest today is Kent Daane. He is a Cooperative Extension Specialist with the University of California, Berkeley, and he works primarily out of the Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center. And today we're going to talk about a number of topics. Thanks for being on the podcast, Kent. [00:00:17] Kent Daane: Craig, thanks. I'm happy to be here. [00:00:20] Craig Macmillan: Let's dive in on one pest that everybody's interested in, continuing to be interested in, and you may have some new insights or newer insights on this. Let's start with mealybug management. Kind of what's the state of the art in that topic right now? [00:00:33] Kent Daane: Yeah, that's been the number one question I've been getting for many, many years now. It is an invasive pest. We know it came in, probably being brought in by a grower down in Coachella Valley. It has since spread into the San Joaquin Valley, Central Coast area where you are, Napa Sonoma, and it's been found now in Oregon. Just like Napa, Oregon has attempted an eradication program. And probably just like Napa, most likely it's not going to work. It's a very, very difficult insect to kill 100%. I mean, I can come up with all kinds of different programs, soft programs, hard programs, expensive programs, inexpensive programs, where I can suppress that insect pest. It's very difficult to remove it from a vineyard. And that becomes important when you think about the kinds of damage we're worried about in Central Coast wine grapes. Pretty much anywhere where they're looking at grape quality. But especially in the cooler regions. So, this insect, this mealybug, is one of many mealybug species. that is a vector of grape leaf roll associated viruses. And this is the primary reason it grows to such high pest status. So for the most part, the growers can knock its levels down far enough that it's not in the grape clusters or it's rarely found in the grape clusters. That's more of an issue for table grape growers. It's a cosmetic pest. When you look at some of the Regions in the San Joaquin Valley where they're growing a lot of table grapes Kern, Tulare, Kings, Fresno, counties, there's enough heat accumulation and these grapes are harvested early enough in the season that they can still build up their Brix. They can still get a very good grape to market. Even when there's some vinely bug on the vine, they just don't tend to be as impacted by this leaf roll pathogen as our wine grapes. When you get into regions like San Luis Obispo, Napa, Monterey, Oregon, where they really are trying to hold those grapes on the vine for a longer period of time, trying to build up the bricks levels. That's where this. pathogen causes so much damage. [00:03:06] Craig Macmillan: most of our growers are already going to be familiar with this, but what kind of damage does the vine mealybug cause? It's so, so terrible. [00:03:12] Kent Daane: So the vine mealybug, besides being a vector of this pathogen, is also a direct pest of the grapevine. It can feed on the roots, on the trunk, on the leaves, and in the fruit. When this first hit California, we were working on it primarily as a San Joaquin Valley pest. growers that were putting on, you know, the products of the day dimethylate, lanate. If they were missing , the, target window where that pest was exposed, we would see thousands and thousands of mealybugs, not just per vine, but sometimes a thousand millibugs per leaf. It was causing defoliation. It was causing the berries to raisin on the vine. In South Africa, populations were getting so heavy. It was killing the vines themselves. How many people out there 20, 30 years ago were spraying so many neonics as we're saying today? We weren't doing that. now really, we were spraying for leaf hoppers as our number one pests followed by mites in case there was a flare up. It changed what we were doing in terms of pest management. In fact there's a group of us working internationally. Not just on the vine mealybug, but other mealybug species, because we've seen vine mealybug, grape mealybug, citrus mealybug, all becoming more problematic over the last decade. And we're, asking that question, why? What has gone on? And one of the thoughts we've got, not yet shown, but one idea is that we just sprayed so many of these, these newer chemicals that the mealybugs are developing resistance, The natural enemies are not, and we're seeing an escape of some of these mealybug species in now a, to them, a pesticide lessened environment. [00:05:10] Craig Macmillan: speaking of biological control, so this is an invasive pest, came from outside the U. S. That's the kinda the classical biological control problem. the pest comes, but its natural enemies don't come with it. there are some natural enemies of vine mealybug in the United States. [00:05:24] Kent Daane: Yes, they are, and I don't want to go too deep in the weeds on this, but this is new, very exciting to me. I did an importation program, that's a classic biocontrol program, where we go to the pests, origin, we look for natural enemies and we bring those back to the United States. Growers can't do that. It's got to go into quarantine. We have to study those natural enemies. Sometimes for years to make sure that they're not going to do any harm. The classic example people think about is I've got a problem with rats. And so I bring in a weasel, the weasel kills all the rats, and then starts going after my chickens. We don't do that anymore. Classic biocontrol is now much more modern. We've got all kinds of protective barriers against making a mistake. In fact, I think that we've gone a little bit too far. I think we're overly cautious. Bringing this back to the Vine melaybug, I imported material from Europe, from Israel, from Egypt, and from South Africa. We were finding mostly the same species in most of these different regions. The two most important species at that time were called Anagyrus pseudococci, which is The well known parasitoid that you can purchase from insectaries. The other one is Coxydoxinoides peregrinus, no common name on these insects. Both are established in California. When I did this work, we noticed a difference between the anagyrus near species Pseudococci that we were getting in Sicily and Spain with the material that we were getting that had already been established from Israel and what we're finding in northern Italy. Working with a taxonomist, Sergei Trapitsin he found some significant differences between these. And later on after both were imported in the United States determined that these were two species, one still Anagyrus pseudocoxi and one Anagyrus vladimiri. So sometimes you'll see insectaries selling Anagyrus vladimiri and you think, Oh, I want that. That's different. It is different, but both are established in California. We're actually going to do a followup study. now in collaboration with this international group to find out what we've got in California. I suspect we've got both. Now, why is this exciting? Because at the time we were doing this work, we felt like the parasites were different, and we felt that these different groups that we were importing, maybe one had co evolved with the citrus mealybug, And the other with the vine mealybug. And we had already done some work with the vine mealybug, molecular work, looking at its relationship to each other around the world. and their names are, scientific names would be citrus mealybug, planococcus citri. Vine mealybug, we knew as planococcus ficus, which means, Ficus tree, fig tree. And we were showing that this group was, they had an outlier and ours was the outlier. And then working with this international group, they said, look, back in the fifties, there was a planococcus vitis. And I think what you've got, what we've got on vines, is the vine mealybug. But not in Iran and Iraq at that time. And, and maybe in that Mediterranean region Israel, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Turkey the Mesopotamian region, I think is what it is. Maybe there are some parasites there that we didn't have. Certainly, my colleague in Egypt and more parasites than we were finding in Europe. We just weren't able to get them all to establish in colony in quarantine. So it opens up the window that, that maybe there's something still out there. At this point in time, I say in all the countries where vine mealybug is reported as a problem, that's most of Europe Mexico, South America South Africa. We have the best of those parasites. We just want to delve deeper into what are we seeing in Turkey? How does that match up with what we know is in Egypt? And I do have colleagues in Iran. It's just harder for me to go there. [00:10:09] Craig Macmillan: right, of course. so this makes me think, is it possible that we have mixed populations of these mealybugs in California on the same plant, so it's different areas? [00:10:17] Kent Daane: So that's the project we're working on with this international group. What we decided to do in a three part approach is to first find out what everyone's got. The assumption is that in South America, In the United States, North America, we have got single invasion events. Our guess is that it arrived in the U S in Coachella and Mexico at the same time. We're pretty sure that the population they have in Peru is from California Yeah, they were bringing nursery wood in and lo and behold, they found vine mealybug. We went down to look at a nomatode problem to be honest with some UC California researchers. And we found that they had some mite problems at the same mites that we've got in North American California. So they were probably not being very cautious in what they were importing. So we're assuming that South America's got this California group which came from Israel. We know Israel and Egypt have something very similar, but it's different than most of Europe. South Africa is similar to Portugal and Spain, which makes sense with the trade routes that were going on in the 1960s. What we're guessing is that The European groups, there probably are, there's reported failures of vine mealybug mating disruption in some European areas. And we think that probably is this other mealybug that is probably in Turkey. So it's all very exciting to me, kind of delving deeper into the weeds on this. But the first part of this international group, again, a great group of people, Europe, South America our first part is what do we all have? Our second part is what we're doing a grower survey that we actually sent to the vineyard team and they spread out to some growers as well. What are, what are growers using to control the mealybug? Because maybe with some of the, we find out what it is and maybe growers are working harder to control our vine mealybug than say that the fig millebug which appears to be what they've got in most of Europe. Remember when I started the foreign exploration when I was in Spain growers would tell me yeah we've got the vine millebug but it really is not much of a pest. Citrus millebug on vines is more of a pest. Well they probably have that fig mealybug but [00:13:01] Craig Macmillan: Ah, [00:13:01] Kent Daane: You know, taxonomically, it looked to us like the vine mealybug.And I hope I'm not throwing all these things out and it's confusing. So, second part, that is, the survey. What do you have and what are you using to control it? And if it matches up that, yeah, what we've got is the one that's more difficult, that fills in a lot of boxes. Third and fourth part are now looking at the natural controls. What parasites are you getting coming off of this? What parasites are in your region? And how do they respond to the pheromones that we know are out there? So if they're not, if they're responding to both citrus and vine, maybe that's an indication that it's this other group. If they're not responding at all, or weakly, yeah, we've, we've got three or more distinct species. And we can't tell them apart, but maybe the parasites can. [00:13:56] Craig Macmillan: this is kind of a practical question. hoW do you monitor parasitic wasps? They're tiny. They live in refugia. They then come out and plant their eggs in their host. that seems like a really hard thing to do. [00:14:10] Kent Daane: That's an absolute fantastic question. So let's look at that most common parasite, Antigyrus Pseudococci slash Vladimiri. So what we found over the years is that it does a great job on mealybugs that are exposed in the fruit, on the leaves, on the cane. By the end of the season, if you're not putting on a lot of contact chemicals, you're getting greater than 40 percent parasitism. Very easy to see, [00:14:43] Craig Macmillan: Right. [00:14:43] Kent Daane: doesn't do very well against the mealybugs under the bark, because it's got this searching behavior where it's got to get on top of the mealybug, determine how big it is, do I want to put a an egg that's not fertilized in that, which would be a male, and they need smaller mealybugs for that. Do I want to put an egg which is fertilized? In that, that will become a female parasite that needs larger host. [00:15:09] Craig Macmillan: the same insect, the same parasite has the ability to do either. [00:15:13] Kent Daane: Yes. [00:15:15] Craig Macmillan: Wow. [00:15:15] Kent Daane: again, this is really a neat subject and I hope I don't bore the audience too much. But, a lot of these parasites that become important for mealybugs they have this little sac, so you've got your oviduct going to your ovarioles, in the female. And right around the oviduct area, before it splits into the two ovarioles, you've got this little sac called the spermatheca. unlike humans, where the sperm goes in and Seeks out the eggs and fertilizes it. The sperm go in and the female parasite stores them in the spermatheca. And then as the eggs are mature and ready to go down, oviduct and get ready to be oviposited into the mealybug, the female decides to fertilize the egg or not fertilize it. And if it's fertilized, it becomes a female. If it's not fertilized, it becomes a male. And that allows her to determine what the host size is, because the females are bigger than the males. And so she will walk up and down. and size that mealybug and say that this, this mealybug is a good enough size that this is worthy for me to put a fertilized egg in and that will become a female. Or a second in store mealybug, she'll say, this really isn't that good of a mealybug host. So I'm going to put An unfertilized egg, and that will become a male. And that was, going back to this Anagyrus Vladimiri versus Pseudococci, that was the most important difference that we found in this Sicilian and Spanish group of Anagyrus, was that they would oviposit and put females in smaller hosts than the male. earlier parasite which probably evolved on the citrus mealybug. So going back to this question because I do go off on different tangents. How do you sample for these things? So it's really easy to find a mummified mealybug on a leaf. But remember what we're doing. We're spraying now a lot of Movento and we're spraying a lot of the Neonics regardless of its Admire, Platinum, or generic derivative. They're all good materials. and maybe you're putting on an IGR like a plot, again, all good materials, Assail, all good materials. What they tend to do is work really good against the mealy bug, which is exposed on the leaves. Our systemic materials are really good at going out to the leaves. Our contact materials, our IGRs, the neonics, that are contacts kill the mealybug that's exposed. All of these materials do less of a good job with the mealybug underneath the bark. we're not getting a true indication of what these parasites can do because we're killing the host that's the best location for them to attack. So that means to really find out what's going on, you got to strip bark oftentimes. So now you're looking at parasitism in that region of the vine that the parasite doesn't like to be. Now, if we add to this, this other good parasite, which is the coccidoxoenoides peregrinus, we really liked to bring this in because it attacks the very, very small stages of the mealybug, the first and the second instar. It's sometimes a small third, but really it's focused on the second instar. [00:19:05] Craig Macmillan: Got it. [00:19:06] Kent Daane: It's in California. You can find it, but it's really hard to find out what impact it's got because it will parasitize the mealybug and will cause the parasitized mealybug to die. to feel sick and to seek out some area for protection because the anagyrus if you see that mealybug parasitized on the leaf causes that mealybug to kind of glue itself down to the leaf You have to flip that thing to get it off the leaf. A mummy is a dead mealybug which sticks to the leaf. The coccydox anoides causes the mealybug to find a place of protection because it doesn't stick it to the leaf. So it often times goes to the trunk, or goes to the stem, and eventually falls off the vine, and will pupate down into the ground. And so to sample for that one, you have to collect them as first or second instars live, bring them back to the insectary, and rear them out to the parasite, which is just really a lot of work hard to do. so these things are far more difficult to do. Sample four, then going out and counting, you know, aphid parasites, which are just out there as little brown mummified aphids. [00:20:29] Craig Macmillan: it sounds like this would play a role in my timing of my insecticide applications, whether it's Spirotetramat or Neonic or One of the programs that I think is common is to have spirotetramat on top and have a myothiamethoxam soil applied. Does that sound right? [00:20:47] Kent Daane: Yeah, that sounds right. I mean, they're both good products and they're doing what they're supposed to do. they're killing the mealybug. And when the timing is right, they're getting out there before the mealybug. So as the mealybug is going out towards the leaves. You know, they're probably doing a better job than the parasite will do on its own. Now, if you are an organic grower and you can't use those materials, then timing does become a little bit more critical because you're putting on, oftentimes, organic materials every 10 to 14 days because they've got a shorter residual. So on those you may want to, you know, work your timing around to avoid to give it a window of opportunity some of these natural enemies. There you're looking on the leaf, you're looking for mummified mealybugs. You know, are, do I have some of these good natural enemies in the field? You're looking for the mealybug destroyer, or one of the other beetles. Green lancelings are also doing a pretty good job. So you're monitoring those. And maybe you're deciding, I've got a lot of good activity maybe I should wait to put on pyganic or one of the other materials, which is broad spectrum give the other parasites a chance, a cycle, to see what their impact's going to be on that millibug population. Or maybe you're going to leave every fifth row unsprayed to let the parasites come back in and then hit that row later. So you've got a chance for those natural enemies to move the just sprayed vines. [00:22:22] Craig Macmillan: That was going to be my next question is what is the refugee situation for these parasites? Do they come into the vineyard, do their thing and then leave? Do they come in when there is host and then they hang out in the vineyard for the rest of the season? Do we know? I'm just thinking about ways that I can preserve, conserve those parasites as much as possible so that they're there when I need them. [00:22:45] Kent Daane: That's a great question, Craig. And let's break this apart into two different areas. Let's talk about First, the generalist predators that I just mentioned, the green lacewings, a good mealybug predator against the smaller mealybug stages. A lot of the things we do to enhance natural enemies will enhance generalist predators. So that's where your cover crops come in. That's where your pollen and nectar come in. You'll increase generalist predators. Ladybird beetles, green lacewings, minute pyre bugs, those can all attack and kill. That same group of cover cropping that brings in the gentleness predator may have little impact on the specialized parasitoids. Things like the anagyrus and the coccidocsinoides, what they want is the mealybugs. And not all mealybugs will do. They really want the mealybugs that are better hosts for them. So, they tend to get everything they need out of that pest population. They can host feed. They can stick their ovipositor into a mealybug, turn around and feed on some of that exudate, some of what's being bled. The mealybug creates honeydew. That honeydew, instead of trying to plant a cover crop for honeydew, that honeydew serves as a food to increase the longevity of those parasitoids. And as the mealybug density goes down, the parasite numbers should go down as well. Now there are different kinds of food sprays that we hope to look at that oftentimes do help increase both generalists and perhaps specialist natural enemies. [00:24:46] Craig Macmillan: Hm. [00:24:46] Kent Daane: The number one thing you do to to enhance beneficial insect numbers is to watch the broad spectrum insecticide sprays or to time them where you're not spraying, you know, all 100 acres at the same time, but you're leaving a refugia so they can move back in. [00:25:08] Craig Macmillan: Interesting. So, I might be looking at something and saying, okay, I am going to have to take some action here. I'm hitting an action threshold but not pull the trigger on the whole thing. leave one area for a little bit, and then can you come back and treat that later, so that you're preserving some of these folks, and then they can come back on the other side, and find a balance between the chemical and the biological. Mm [00:25:31] Kent Daane: Right. A balance, a delay might just be 10 days, might be 20 days. We don't want to miss our spray window, but remember, Most of the natural enemies are winged as adults, whereas the female mealybug is never winged. Fairly slow, fairly thestle. So that allows for those beneficials to come back in. And if you're a large grower this just happens over over the course because you can't spray 100 acres in a day. [00:26:07] Craig Macmillan: Right. Right. Fascinating. Are growers starting to adopt, in your experience with the folks that you work with, are growers starting to adopt these kinds of timings and techniques and methods? [00:26:19] Kent Daane: I think growers are constantly adopting, improving, changing one of the common misconceptions when I talk to students or people who just don't don't know how to farm or farmers is that farmers really don't want to spray. Spraying costs money. it is an added expenditure, added time, added worry. So they'd much rather, you know, go back 50 years when we didn't have all these invasive insects from Vine mealybug to Virginia Creeper growers are always seeking out how to improve the insecticide materials they've got, how to reduce the insecticide applications they have to make. And that does include natural enemies, mating disruption. What it comes down to is just costs. So oftentimes there's a trade off. If you're going to use mating disruption, you may not be doing three applications of an insecticide for vine mealybug. Maybe it's one insecticide plus vine mealybug mating disruption. If you're organic and you're releasing beneficial insects and spraying every other week. Maybe you don't have the cost for mating disruption. So these are all decisions that individual growers have to make. Obviously we've got some growers in some regions can spend 300 per acre for mealybug control. Other growers simply cannot do that because of the value of, their product at the very end. [00:28:03] Craig Macmillan: Right. This is kind of a natural lead in to something I wanted to touch on, and that is the Virginia Creeper leafhopper that's found on the North Coast. That also an invasive, correct? Came in from outside. [00:28:15] Kent Daane: It is invasive to some extent. It is not invasive like the vine mealybug is from. The Mediterranean region Virginia creeper most likely is, is North American. But yes, it was never really a California leafhopper pest. It was, no England, Canada. Pest that then went into Washington, then went into Oregon, that then came into California. interestingly, the, leafhopper that I worked on for so many years the variegated grape leafhopper probably North American, probably had a different avenue, probably came up from the south, from Mexico, Texas, to Arizona, to California. So Some of our invasives are close relatives. [00:29:07] Craig Macmillan: Interesting. what's the difference in damage that's caused by the Virginia creep leaf hopper and the the variegated leaf hopper. [00:29:17] Kent Daane: So they're, they're very similar. I think that the grape leafhopper is the one we've been dealing with for the longest time and has been relatively mild compared to the other two. The variegated grape leafhopper When it first came into the San Joaquin Valley, it could defoliate vines. It had three to four generations per year. [00:29:42] Craig Macmillan: Oh, wow. [00:29:43] Kent Daane: It seemed to be much more damaging than the grape leafhopper. Virginia creeper leafhopper, now in northern California, making its way south. So it's gotten to the middle of the state. It's in Napa, Sonoma, Sacramento. I have not seen it. Heard it reported in the Fresno area. Oh, it has been reported in Fresno. But I'm not saying it causes much damage here. We really don't get many leaf hopper reports for damage here, except for organic growers. And that's because all the sprays for vine mealybug. Most of those vine mealybug sprays are very good against the leaf hoppers. Where I have seen it as a pest. It's been mostly in wine grapes. Mostly in the cooler regions of the state. Mostly controlled by conventional insecticides. There are programs organic materials registered for Virginia creeper that I think have done a fairly good job. But it, it does get out of hand. And I think for all these leaf hoppers with organic materials, what happens is that The organic products tend to not work well , against the leaf operant in the egg stage or the leaf operant in the adult stage. So timing is very important. You want to get those materials on. when egg hatch is nearly complete and when you've got mostly first and second instars out there. That's because most of our organic products tend to impact these pests by either being a desiccant like the soaps that dry it out or a suffocant like the oils that clog the spiracles. And so the the, adults just fly away from that tractor rig as it's coming down. The eggs are protected inside the leaf itself, in their little clusters for the Virginia Creeper. And the larger insects can, they're just more mobile. So it's hard to kill them. So timing becomes relatively critical with these insects. I've not worked directly with Virginia creeper other than hosting Houston Wilson did his graduate work in my lab and really focused on, on the parasites of this insect. Lucia Varela, now retired, did focus on looking at the different insecticides and she's got a nice summary article which is on Monica Cooper's website. It talks about the different insecticides, U C cooperative extension Napa County. And she's got a website that goes into materials for organic growers for Virginia creeper leaf hopper. I think that's where I saw. that information posted. And what Houston did was he just looked at and tried to improve the Enneagrus. So we get those two confused. The Lilybug parasite is Anagyrus. The Leafhopper parasite is Enneagrus. The two names sound pretty similar, but one is an inserted family and one is a Mimerit. Or a fairy fly, fairy winged fly. They're some of the smallest insects known. So, [00:33:03] Craig Macmillan: Wow. So, we are continuing to look at these new parasites, how they're performing, we're learning a lot more about them, and we're learning a lot more about timing of different kinds of sprays around their life cycle. [00:33:17] Kent Daane: Yeah, what Houston was trying to do was to understand why parasitism against the Virginia creeper leafhopper was against all the leafhoppers. Why parasitism was relatively low. So I was working with Danny Gonzales and Sergei Tripitsin, And just mentioning to the taxonomist, Sergei, that it seemed like there were differences amongst these Enneagris samples that we were releasing. And I had happened to save all of the material that had died. So I sent that to Sergei, and Sergei looked at these things closely and then said, look, we've got a complex of parasites. And he named Enneagris erythronureae. After the species that was most commonly attacking variegated grape leafhopper, which is Erythronere variabilis. There was another one, and he called a Negris tryptocova, which was named after his wife's father's family and he said that was the better looking one of the group. And there was one that just didn't do that much. And he named that after me, a Negris Dana. And so that one we thought was the one attacking the western grape leaf hopper most commonly. And it was being found more commonly in the riparian zone. So that's 20 years ago, fast forward to our new invasive leaf hopper, the Virginia creeper leaf hopper, which is again coming down from Canada to Washington to Oregon to California. Well, it ends up that the Enneagris deni is very important attacking that leaf hopper. So Houston was working out the relationship of these three parasites against these three leaf hoppers and trying to understand if he could manipulate their numbers to improve biocontrol. He looked at hedgerows, he looked at augmentative releases or inoculative releases, and we're still curious to see if that can't be improved even. [00:35:30] Craig Macmillan: That's fantastic. Another topic that I wanted to touch on, because it's a really cool idea, and I think we'll have applications across a lot of things eventually, and that is area wide pest management strategies. And I know that you've done a lot of work in this area from the beginning, really, of kind of the concept. What is an area wide pest management strategy? Management program. What does it look like? What can it what is its goal? How does it operate? What kind of success we've seen so far? [00:35:59] Kent Daane: Yeah, that's a fantastic question. It's a topic I'm really excited about and let's think about it when we think about the European grapevine model. that was another invasive insect, It was found in California, it was found in Chile around the same time. So you've got this invasive insect, and the state of California deemed this important enough to have an eradication program. [00:36:22] Craig Macmillan: Oh and just real quick. What kind of damage does grapevine moth do? [00:36:26] Kent Daane: So the European Greenvine Moth it'll feed on the vine, but it gets in the fruit clusters. think of the omnivorous leaf roller One of those, one of our tortricid pests that can really cause damage to the grape a number of generations per year, a lot of different possibilities where it might come from in terms of a host plant material. So it can be very problematic. It would require a spray every single year, an additional spray for a tortricid pest, if it were to establish. [00:37:00] Craig Macmillan: one the big issue here is that it attacks the berries directly [00:37:03] Kent Daane: absolutely. [00:37:04] Craig Macmillan: Okay. So that's a, that's a serious problem. [00:37:07] Kent Daane: No, no, the, it, it causes mold and rot and everything else once it gets in there. So, you know, two or three doesn't seem like a lot. You just think, well, berry can go to crush, but that berry will get all kinds of bunch rot. not a good fruit. So when you think about the eradication program, where there was monitoring everywhere in the state. When you think about the eradication program, where when they found this pest through pheromone traps, and then they did a ground search to find out where it was. And then there was a coordinated investigation. Effort to spray the right materials, to use mating disruption, to go after it in all of the adjoining areas. those eradication programs are very intense. Area wide control programs. So, let's think about Vine mealybug, which is now in most vineyards. We're still approaching this on an individual grower basis. We might have one grower using mating disruption, because they're going to go organic, and a next door neighbor doing nothing. There's going to be constant movement of that pest into that grower's. field We might have two growers, one using Movento every other year, and another using Platinum every other year. Those males are going back and forth between those vineyards, sharing whatever genetic resistance that they're developing. And so really, if those growers are switching, one's using Movento, one's using Platinum that insect is moving between those vineyards all the time. And it's not a resistance management program, or you might have a small five acre grower deciding to put out mating disruption. Mating disruption works better blanketing the whole area. So an area wide program, and then you bring into it the idea of roguing leaf roll diseased vines. there are two things I just mentioned in this last 30 seconds that are so important for area wide management of mealybug and leaf roll that are the killers to those programs. The first is mating disruption still costs more money than a pesticide application. It's a fantastic tool. It is a tool that works better the lower and lower the mealybug density gets. So you use insecticides to really drop the mealybug population down, but there gets to be a point where the mealybugs are now on the bark. There are little populations here and there, and we know the insecticides are never 100 percent. Mating disruption works better. The lower the milli buck density is. [00:40:05] Craig Macmillan: Got it. [00:40:06] Kent Daane: But there's a cost to it. So we start with insecticides. The next part is the rowing of the infected vines. That's very important on an area wide basis because if you're planting, you've had, vineyard is old, it's not productive, it's had leaf roll. You pull it out, but it's right next to a block that's got 80 percent infected vines. You're always going to have new infections showing up over and over and over again. Unless that grower next to you is just doing this bang up job of applying insecticides all the time to keep mealybugs from going into your vineyard. you can make area wide control work for the pathogen. and the pest. But in the best world, let's say you're in control of a thousand acres, pull out every vineyard that's infected and replant and then pull out every new infection in it. And people just can't afford this. [00:41:06] Craig Macmillan: Right. [00:41:07] Kent Daane: if you're managing 200, 300 acres and Your vineyard with leaf roll that's at 30 percent is still profitable. it's hard to pull out those 30%. It's just hard to do. I get it. But something that I wish we could get, you know, government subsidy for to, to have them help us come in, pull out the infected vines, start clean again. But it does work. It's worked in South Africa. It's worked in New Zealand. It's worked in Napa. It just comes at a cost that may be prohibitive in some regions, in some areas. So the best we can do is to manage mealybug and the disease incidence in an area wide manner. [00:41:52] Craig Macmillan: if I remember correctly, I mean, the work has been done now that, demonstrates roguing is your best strategy overall long term, but it's expensive short term. and that is the issue. That's the tricky bit. [00:42:06] Kent Daane: There are two tricky bits to it. The first tricky bit is the expense you just talked about. The second tricky bit is that in most of the regions where we know it's worked They have not been dealing, perhaps, with our vine mealybug. They've been dealing with the grape mealybug, long tail mealybug, obscure mealybug. we've got I think the worst mealybug. And maybe that mealybug is just better at surviving on root remnants. You know, you hear all the time from growers, I r I've been removing 10 percent of my vineyard every single year for five years. And when I looked at The south African data, they removed 20%. Second year, 5%. Third year, 3%. Fourth year, 1%. And after that, it was always 1%. [00:42:54] Craig Macmillan: last piece of this puzzle in my mind is you have to get your neighbors to cooperate. That's the area wide bit. You have to get people to get on the same page in terms of what they're doing. And it sounds to me like they don't necessarily have to be doing exactly the same thing. They just have to be sensitive to what somebody else wants to do. Does that sound right? [00:43:15] Kent Daane: There are areas where it has worked well. It can work in the Central Coast. It can work in Lodi. We may not see, you know, eradication of diseased vines. We may not see a reduction of vine mealybug to a point where we can treat every other year. We might be treating every single year. for this, but we can improve what we're doing through communication right now. In the central Valley, we're working with a great group of growers where we're just mapping out the vine mealybug and we're sharing with the growers where the melaybug populations are. It's their decision. What? What to use, what to do for control. It's their decision. Can they rogue or not rogue? But what we're trying to do is to help foster communication amongst the different growers that are neighbors, because we're a third party, which I think helps a little bit. it would be fantastic if we could have someone hired as a scout or PCA, where we work with. PCAs in the region and everyone shares data. We're trying a new computer program this year, which we at the end of the season, we'll launch with our collaborating growers where they can log on in real time. and see what the trap counts are as we count those trap counts. And that will help them make a decision, we hope, on what to do in terms of control measures. But again, the best thing might be that we're opening up communication, just as the Vineyard team is doing through podcasts, through field days, through the website. [00:44:55] Craig Macmillan: Well, let's hope. And I, and there's a number of other organizations too. the, the group in Lodi has done a fantastic job from what I understand. Fostering communication and sharing information. like you said, I think that's probably one of our, our, our best hopes. Is working collaboratively as an industry and getting communication between the experts like PCAs and the extension community. . [00:45:15] Kent Daane: And of course, anyone can always reach out to me with questions as well. [00:45:18] Craig Macmillan: Fantastic. And we'll put your information in the show notes. I want to thank you for being on the podcast. fantastic. Very helpful and very, very exciting. I think I was feeling a little more dismal about this whole topic coming into this interview than I am now. I think there's maybe more potential than I was kind of giving credit. I, you know, I come from a time back in the 90s when Vine Mealybugs showed up in the Central Coast. And it was a lot of gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair, and we did not know what to do, and the damage was insane. I mean, I saw stuff that was just blood curdling, and I think we've come a long way. We've come a long way, and that's from the efforts of folks like you, so I really appreciate it. I want to thank our guest, Kent Daane. He is a Cooperative Extension Specialist with the University of California, Berkeley. he works primarily out of the Kearney Ag Research Extension Center. And, thanks so much for being on the podcast. This is great. [00:46:10] Kent Daane: Thank you very much. Enjoy the harvest time coming up.   Nearly perfect transcription by Descript

This episode supplements information shared in the past two editions of the GrowerTalks Biosolutions Guide that was released in June 2023 and 2024—a popular grower tool intended to help professional growers stay up to date on the latest research into biosolutions, as well as trialed and tested products and strategies.   Many greenhouse owners, growers and IPM managers are moving down the path of softer, more sustainable pest and disease control tactics but continue to use traditional or synthetic chemicals, as well as bio-based products and beneficials or biological control agents. It is this conjunctive approach and the compatibility knowledge required that provides the basis for host Bill Calkins to talk to this episode's special guest.   Dr. Carlos Bográn wrote two well received articles for our first Biosolutions Guide—Using Bioinsecticides in your Greenhouse and Using Bioinsecticides in Conjunction with Biocontrol Agents—and now he joins the podcast to dig much deeper into these topics. Carlos and Bill also discuss high-tech new research findings, different ways to approach pest population management, how the economics of biosolutions has evolved, the current state of the market and new, cutting-edge products becoming available.   Resources:   GrowerTalks Biosolutions Guide—1st Edition: https://www.growertalks.com/pdf/Biosolutions_Guide_2023.pdf   GrowerTalks Biosolutions Guide—2nd Edition: https://www.growertalks.com/pdf/BioSolutions_Guide_0624.pdf   OHP, Inc.: https://www.ohp.com/ OHP Regional Technical Sales Managers: https://www.ohp.com/Company/sales_regions.php OHP Literature & Recipes for Success: https://www.ohp.com/Literature/   OHP Chemical Class Chart: https://www.ohp.com/Literature/pdf/OHP_Chemical_Class_Chart.pdf   OHP Product Guide: https://www.ohp.com/Literature/pdf/OHP_Chemical_Class_Chart.pdf

Frank speaks in this episode with PBI-Gordon's West Research Scientist, Dr. Chrissie Segars. Dr. Segars received a BS at Clemson University, spent a short time as Grad Assistant at LSU “watching Les Miles eating grass”, then an MS and Ph.D. at Oklahoma State University under the tutelage of Dr. Dennis Martin. Short stints in academic life ultimately led to Dr. Segar's current role exploring Biological Control products as West Research Scientist for PBI-Gordon. This is a lively conversation with a passionate professional committed to educating, encouraging and doing some exploring for the next generation of turfgrass professionals.

Microbial communities vary widely from plant to plant, even from rootstock to rootstock! Philippe Rolshausen, Professor of Cooperative Extension for Subtropical Horticulture in the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences at the University of California Riverside studies the phytobiome. This includes all organisms associated with the vine including bacteria, fungi, insects, and animals. Learn the impact these communities have on your vineyard from young vine decline under extreme stress to the wine's terrior.  Resources:         78: Biological Control for Grape Vine Trunk Diseases A Method to Detect and Quantify Eutypa lata and Diplodia seriata-Complex DNA in Grapevine Pruning Wounds Endophytic microbial assemblage in grapevine Grapevine pruning strategy affects trunk disease symptoms, wood pathobiome and mycobiome Philippe Rolshausen Phylogenomics of Plant-Associated Botryosphaeriaceae Species Rolshausen Lab Soil Health Playlist Temporal Dynamics of the Sap Microbiome of Grapevine Under High Pierce's Disease Pressure Vineyard Team Programs: Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship - Donate SIP Certified – Show your care for the people and planet   Sustainable Ag Expo – The premiere winegrowing event of the year Sustainable Winegrowing On-Demand (Western SARE) – Learn at your own pace Vineyard Team – Become a Member Get More Subscribe wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources. Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.   Transcript [00:02:07] Craig Macmillan: Our guest today is Philippe Roshausen. He is Professor of Cooperative Extension at University of California, Riverside. And today we're going to be talking about the soil microbiome. Thanks for being on the podcast, Philippe. [00:02:19] Philippe Rolshausen: Thank you for having me. [00:02:20] Craig Macmillan: Well, when we do these topics, like to start from the very basics. And then we can go very deep from there. What is your definition of the soil microbiome? [00:02:31] Philippe Rolshausen: Well, a microbiome is the collection of microbes. The soil microbiome is the collection of microbes associated with the soil. I have to say we work on the soil microbiome, but we also work on the phytobiome, which is the collection of organisms. associated with the, the, vine, and that can be fungi, bacteria, viruses, even insects. So we are more interested in fungi and bacteria in my lab. And especially those that live inside the vine and how it's connected to the roots and the soil. [00:03:12] Craig Macmillan: Yeah, I'm very interested in that. Just for our listeners, other aspects of the soil microbiome could include things like microarthropods, uh, nematodes, etc. It's a very complex Complicated ecosystem. [00:03:26] Philippe Rolshausen: I and I only focus on one part of it. [00:03:29] Craig Macmillan: The work that I've done with soil microbiome in a very primitive way. We just focused on total bacteria, total biomass, things like that. You just mentioned this and this is a good jumping off point actually. Because plants are an active part of this ecosystem, you will find different soil microbiomes around different crops. What is the soil microbial community like around grapevines in particular? [00:03:50] Philippe Rolshausen: Well compared to, to what is the question. Let's give you an example. I work on citrus and grapes in the same soil environment, you would see differences between a grapevine and the citrus plant just because of the property of the host. Within grapevine, you know. Depending on the variety or the rootstocks, I should say then you would also have different microbial communities associated with the rootstock. And this is like a plant effect because plant recruits their microbes. So, so you have sort of a template of microbial or a core microbiome, which is you would find across a different rootstock or varieties of grapes or even plants. But then. Some are very variety specific or host specific, and so you would tend to see some varietal specificity and specific microbe associated with some of those rootstock operants. [00:04:47] Craig Macmillan: That's news to me. That's fascinating. there is some commonality, but you will find some differences just based on things like rootstock? [00:04:56] Philippe Rolshausen: Yes.   [00:04:57] Craig Macmillan: Oh, that is interesting. We may come back to that. one of the things about your work that I was really intrigued by, which I was unaware of, is the different microorganisms that one might find inside the grapevine, and what roles they play in the functioning of the plant. I mean, I think most of familiar with Our gut microflora. Right, where we know that we have organisms inside us. We have organisms on our skin and all that. I didn't realize that was true for plants as well. Tell me more about that. [00:05:26] Philippe Rolshausen: You can make the parallel between the roots and the gut, actually. Because they have similar functions. Especially with respect to nutrient assimilation Defense against disease, for instance. Now, the gut is inside, the root is outside. Someone made the comment that the plant where there are guts on the outside, just because of that parallel that between the rhizosphere and the gut. there is a connection between what's going on inside the plant and what's going on outside the plant. We are interested to understand what the organisms that live inside the plant. Where they're coming from. in terms of diversity the endosphere, which is the the region of the, the organism living inside the plant, the endosphere is not very diverse. There's only a few of thousand fold less microbe capable of living inside the plant just because it's a more. Stringent environment I work on the xylem a lot and, you know, there's a negative pressure for instance, there are, there's not a lot of food available, for instance. And so microbes have to adapt to those environments, right? And it's not every microbe is capable of doing that. there's only A certain type of microbe that can live inside them. we're interested in those because we work specifically on vascular disease of grapevines, so fungi, bacteria especially. And we try to understand how those pathogens interact with the plant, but also really understand those pathogen within the, context of the microbial community and how those pathogen interact with the microbes living inside the plants. to go back to your question, it's like, where are those pathogen coming from? How did they get there? How do they interact with the plant and how do they interact with the microbes? within those interaction, what would be the, the disease outcome in certain type of interaction. [00:07:35] Craig Macmillan: So what we're talking about is we have these pathogenic organisms Which could be in the form of like grapevine trunk disease Things like that or Peirce's disease. In the case of bacteria and what you're getting at is it that there's other types and populations of microbes that may be antagonistic to the pathogen? [00:07:56] Philippe Rolshausen: Yes. So that was our hypothesis. Traditionally, you know, microbiologists were looking for biological control agent against diseases and they were culturing those. That was the traditional approach. So you take a plant tissue, You put it in the culture media and you see what's growing and then you test if those organism are able to inhibit the growth of your pathogen. That would be the traditional way of doing it. Now, with the metagenomics , the development of those technology, we're able to kind of look, at the entire community of those organisms living inside the plant and using those tools, we could actually select those that have some. That might be antagonistic to certain pathogens. the beauty of this is that you can actually look at the entire community. When you look at a traditional microbial approach, you kind of zoom in on, to those that can grow in culture and those that can grow fast in culture and sort of overpower the other ones. when you use those molecular approaches, you look at the entire community and you can And sort of a broader view of really what's going on and who does what. and so that's the approach that we've been doing to try to identify biological control agents or beneficial organism to plants and to grapes in particular. what we do is we select plants with different phenotypes. So we will select. Plants that, you know, that range from very healthy to poor health. And we're able to build those sort of correlations with organisms that associate specifically with healthy plants and those that associate with sick plants. and from that, once we have identified the organism, we can go back and try to culture it and to reintroduce him in the system to prove that Actually, they are beneficial in some capacity. [00:09:52] Craig Macmillan: does this mean that I could have plant material, and one of those vines would be healthy and one would be weak and showing disease, but they both would have the pathogen, it's just that the other one has the microbial community to help fight it. [00:10:07] Philippe Rolshausen: That's right. [00:10:08] Craig Macmillan: Wow. [00:10:09] Philippe Rolshausen: there's a environmental factor that comes into play as well. because abiotic stresses also so like, you know, drought or heat play a factor into the plant, weaken the plant in some capacity and will change the disease outcome and the interaction between the pathogen and the microbe. There are more layers than, you know, the simple pathogen, microbe. plant interaction There's also the environment in which those components are part of that really plays a big factor. [00:10:43] Craig Macmillan: So, are you finding or pursuing how those abiotic factors can be manipulated? [00:10:50] Philippe Rolshausen: A little bit. I'm really interested in those aspects of, especially in the eras of climate change. plants are going to be subjected to a lot more stress than they used to be. I think we need to understand how this is going to affect the, the microbiome at large and because I'm a pathologist, how this is going to affect disease outcome. we are starting to only scratch the surface of that. I think a lot of people are as well. It's a lot more complicated when you work with. Woody perennial than when you work with an annual plant, because you have the approaches and the logistics are more challenging, I would say. drought is the number one just because it's been on the radar of every grower in California, but so we, you know, we are interested to see how those factors really affect the Have an effect on disease. Yes. [00:11:44] Craig Macmillan: Are you doing that in the laboratory? [00:11:46] Philippe Rolshausen: Well, yes. You have to sort of work in more controlled conditions and sort of dissect it one stress at a time. so it is in more greenhouse conditions or gross chamber conditions where you can, semi controlled environment where you can really control heat or, you know, water or, and see how that affects the microbiome. [00:12:07] Craig Macmillan: I think this is fascinating. can you tell me more about what that actually looks like, like how do you set it up? How are you controlling it? What kind of ranges are you using? I love the details. [00:12:17] Philippe Rolshausen: So we've done experiments mostly with irrigation so far. And we are only starting to tie irrigation to microbiome, but we have done the. How irrigation affects severity of disease and impact on the plant. this is pretty straightforward, you have plants that are fully irrigated that are not on the deficit irrigation, and then you calculate what a deficit irrigation like a 25 percent deficit irrigation look like, a 50 percent deficit irrigation look like, measuring, you know, how much water. How much irrigation you put in on your plants, you inoculate your tree or vine with a pathogen, and you let it incubate for, you know, weeks, because you know, those are slow pathosystems, they take time, and you see how that affects for trunk disease in particular lesion of the wood necrotic lesion, for instance. And then we look at factors on the plant. We measure biomass, for instance, of the roots, the shoots. We look at gas exchange, photosynthesis, and so on and so forth. going down to the microbiome, you know, we would be sampling the tissue, extracting the DNA, and then sequencing, you know, all the microbial community, bacterial and fungal, to see how those communities have changed over time in a well watered versus a deficit irrigated plants. [00:13:49] Craig Macmillan: And is that quantitative analysis, or is it simply the complexity of the diversity of the microbiome [00:13:56] Philippe Rolshausen: it's semi quantitative so let's say, you know, like you're looking at a presence of a specific taxa. It's a relative abundance of the taxa in comparison to the others. So when you see an increase of the taxa. in your community, it's either because it does increase or because the other taxa within that community decreased. So it increases in, in relation to that. So it's not really an absolute measure of abundance. It is a relative measure of abundance, but you could still use it and make some correlation with that. [00:14:34] Craig Macmillan: Can you explain, metagenomics? [00:14:37] Philippe Rolshausen: That's not my field. To be honest with you, but the principle is that you're using primers that are universal primers and that allow you to, so there are. Meaning that you can sequence conserved region. So those primers are aligned with conserved region across several taxonomic groups. Okay, so fungi or bacteria. And then you sequence a length of nucleotide. In our case, it's about 200, 250 nucleotides in length. In between, and this is valuable between those two. Primers, that region is valuable. And so you could start making you can do a micro real fingerprinting and identify which types are, are present, you know, but it's the community of organism. So it's like all the fungal communities or all the bacterial communities. So some primers are better than others for special taxonomy group. So for instance. I work with Dario Cantu at UC Davis, CBT Controlled Neurology. Davis uses field of knowledge, and so he developed primers for group causing grapevine trunk diseases. And so it's mostly what's called the Ascomycota phyla. his primers are mostly focusing on this group of, fungi, but it doesn't give any information on The basidiomycota, which is another group, or the glomerulomycota, which is the mycorrhizae fungi. if you wanted to get information about this group, you would need to get a different set of primers, right? so it's really up to primer that you're using that gets you the right information. and also the database that you're using that gives you the right information because sometimes the database are not curated or they're not accurate, and those are getting better as we're getting more and more knowledge about the taxonomy and, and the biology of those organisms. we're able to make more accurate prediction because we're gaining more knowledge about those organisms. So for instance, there's a lot more information about bacteria than, They are about fungi just because there are not a lot of reference genome for fungi compared to bacteria. so it's a lot more difficult to predict. Sometimes for fungi than it is for bacteria. [00:17:01] Craig Macmillan: But it sounds like that would be coming down the road. [00:17:04] Philippe Rolshausen: Oh yeah, yeah, it's a matter of time. I mean, really, you know, this technology is going so fast, so quickly that, in five years from now, I can't even predict what it's going to look like, [00:17:15] Craig Macmillan: This thought just occurred. your work is obviously, I don't want to say infancy, but it's, it's pretty early work. You know, we're, we're working with tools that are still in development, basically. at this point, would you say that there are certain conditions or practices or manipulations that a grower could use to promote the most beneficial endo, um, microbiome in their plants? [00:17:40] Philippe Rolshausen: In principle, yes, and I believe that this is true. We just don't have the knowledge yet to make recommendations that are solid. There we go. So, when you apply something to your soil, you know, if you're a grower and you apply fertilizers, or this is going to, or even if you if you till your soil or it will have some impact on the soil microbiology. That we know. How that reflects to what's going on inside the plant, we are, we are not there yet. We, we don't have that knowledge yet just because like I've said before, only a few of those organisms move inside the plant. There's always a a gap between you know, what's going on outside the plant and what's going on inside the plant. The inside the plant it's a buffered environment that changes very slowly compared to the root of, a grapevine. what we've done is we've looked at the microbiome of vines that we planted in the field and look at the rhizosphere microbiome, or the, the The macro bill community associated with the root and the macro bill, community associated with the trunk, the graft union, and so forth. And we see right after planting that the microbial communities associated with the root changes really quickly, whereas the the microbiome in the trunk are the graph union. changes very slowly. whatever growers do and cultural practices that they implement in the vineyard will have a limited effect inside the vine or it will take years for this to see the effect. the rhizosphere microbiome drive a lot of, of biological function, you know, they, they, they fix nitrogen metabolize phosphorus detoxify compounds and so on and so forth. So there's a lot of, benefits of, using some cultural practices, beneficial practices and how they affect microbial communities associated with the roots. [00:19:48] Craig Macmillan: We know that for like the pathogenic organisms, like the fungal ones, you know, they come in through wounds, whether that's a grafting or whether that's a pruning, we know that bacteria are introduced through things like piercing sucking insects. Like Leaf Hoppers and Peirce's disease. what is the, pathway for the bacteria and fungi that you find inside of a vine that are not the pathogens? [00:20:10] Philippe Rolshausen: Well, you said it. the pathway is like from inside the vine, it's first of all inherited from the nursery. That's, that's the main pathway. And then. Some of those organisms come from the soil, there's a fraction that comes from the soil and move throughout the plant systemically through the sap, the plant sap. So that's another pathway one of the major pathway. But again, that takes time. Right. And then, you have fewer introduction that comes through, you know, the plant natural openings, stomatas on the leaves, for instance. Right. Or pruning wounds. Some organism when vines are pruned some organism common pruning wounds and are able to colonize down into the vascular system. That's another path. Or introduction through insects. And, you know, OSA is, you know, one of the best example of that being introduced with shop shooters. during feeding So, but I would say those, are minor introduction compared to what's already there when the vine is being planted and secondary to movement you know, sap movement throughout the plant, from the root to the upper part of the plant. [00:21:29] Craig Macmillan: One thing that I saw mentioned is that these variations in The microbiome inside the plant may also have kind of a role in our concept of terroir in terms of how different areas have different characteristics. Is there, something to that idea? [00:21:46] Philippe Rolshausen: the characteristic of wine region or the terroir is not only linked to the soil, the variety or the weather condition. . It's also linked to the microbial communities associated with those vines. There has been a study that's very famous that was done 10 years ago at UC Davis that showed that. But it's mostly true for organisms that live on the plant surfaces the surface of the berries or the surface of the leaves. It is not so true for organisms that live Inside the vasculature of the vine, just because of what we've talked about, just because it takes time for those communities to change over time. really those the microbial composition of the trunk is, from what we understand today, mostly inherited from what's coming from the nurseries. you know, nurseries have a huge impact in shaping. the microbial communities of the trunk and the vines and you know, can you talk about terroir when it comes to the endosphere of the vine? I don't think so. I think it's, it's a debatable question. I think it's mostly true on epiphytic organism, organism that live on the vine surface just because they are more subject to the environment. Whereas it's not so true for trunk organisms, [00:23:11] Craig Macmillan: , Even though we've been talking about the endophytic side, what's some of the things that the other parts do you were just talking about, we have a different community in the environment that's on the surface of the plant and that, that has a role in, you know, differences between regions in terroir. What impact are those kinds of organisms having on the physiology of the vine that contributes to those differences? [00:23:35] Philippe Rolshausen: Well, that I don't know because, you know, that's not the field I've studied. But they, could influence the fermentation process, but I'm more interested in the one that live inside. Do they have an impact on the wine quality itself, perhaps, you know, that's a question we're interested in. they have an impact on disease. We know that much because they, they affect disease outcome and we've shown that. The question also, I think, from the standpoint of A grape grower or a winemaker is like, well, do they also affect winemaking? we found some bacterium in the sap of grape vines that are present during the fermentation process. So lactobacillus, for instance we found those in the sap of grapes and some bacteria that also that spoil the wine fermentation process will also. Found them in the sap. So the question is like, are those, are those coming from the soil? You know, where are they coming from? We find them in the sap and then can they go inside? Can they be moved to the berry of the grapes and then participate in the fermentation process later on? We don't know the answer to that question. The only thing we know so far is that we can detect them inside the plant stem. And so. What is the impact? That's the question mark, but those are really relevant questions questions we're interested in because, if you can connect the root system to the cluster, and then if you can influence the root system or the microbial community of the root system, then perhaps you can influence the communities living in the cluster and then, you know, Later on, influence your fermentation process. So that's the idea behind it. It will take time to decipher those questions.   [00:25:27] Craig Macmillan: Coming back to the pathology side. we have testing programs for virus in the nursery system. And we have the ability to test for fungal diseases, of course.  Do you see a role for testing for bacteria and fungi other than the pathogens at the nursery stage? [00:25:48] Philippe Rolshausen: I don't think it makes sense. So we've been working with nurseries for several years now. And we are looking for where diseases are coming from prior to vineyard establishment. there's no certified program for fungal diseases and some bacterial disease like Crown gall. there is a fraction of those pathogen that is coming from the nurseries. That's a fact and this is true for California, but this is true for everywhere else in the world. So if you get any. any vines from a nursery, you are going to find fungi causing grapevine trunk disease. And the reason is that there are over a hundred taxa of fungi causing grapevine trunk disease you will likely find one of them and not only that, but they are able to live on a different environment. And so they can live in soil, they can live in water, they can live in plant debris for some of them. And so you cannot get rid of them. I think that growers have to have the mindset that you are not going to be able to have plants free of pathogens causing fungal, grapevine, and trunk disease. That's just not possible. Viruses, you can get rid of them and there is a certified program that works for that. This program would not work for fungi. It's just not realistic. Right. It would be too costly to do it. Right. Right. Right. Right. The question is like, can you live with it, right? Do pathogen causing grapevine trunk disease will cause the vine to die? If that were the case, you would have no grape production in California because virtually all the vines are infected with one fungus causing grapevine trunk disease. that's not the case. It happens, it's called young vine decline, you know, when sometimes growers plant their vine. And the vine dies within five years. But this is because what we understand now is that it's related to the stress factor that I was talking about earlier. there is something going on with the environmental stress that caused the vine to decline after five years. what we've done is to monitor the microbiome and the vine, like I've told before, following planting. And we do capture those pathogen from the nursery to the vineyard. And they are evolving in the vineyard just and we can detect them. But under no stress conditions the vines are doing just fine. So every year a vine will lay out new wood, right? It will grow out some wood. The trunk gets bigger and bigger.  the fight between the trunk disease pathogen and the vine is if the vine can grow wood faster than it loses some to trunk disease, then it's fine, you know, it will be able to survive. Plants and grapes are able to compartmentalize the infection. They lay out walls to compartmentalize infection, and if they do that successfully, you know, Then they will survive now when you have a stress factor that comes into play and here you have to Go back and define well define stress this is where we go back and go back to your question about what stress are we talking about? Heat a drought I think overcropping can be one of them also, when growers take tend to push the vine early on after the establishment to get into production quickly after two years. I view this as a stress factor, so this will influence the microbiome of the vine, living of the microbiome living inside the vine, and as a result, it will influence disease outcome. [00:29:34] Craig Macmillan: I will not look at grapevines the same way. , is there one thing, one takeaway from this conversation that you'd like growers to hear [00:29:44] Philippe Rolshausen: what we're trying to do is to identify cultural practices that are beneficial to production. I think you, you have to look at it from a probiotic or prebiotic. Standpoint, just like we do for humans, you know. when you look at the prebiotics, those are similar to the cultural practices that you implement in vineyards to support the presence of beneficial organisms. that can be, you know, adding compost to your soil or cover cropping because they provide some benefits to the microbes living in the soil, and as a result, the microbe associated with the vine. that's one of them. The probiotic is the addition of single microbes to the system identify which one of those probiotics using the metagenomics approach. And we've made some some stride in, in, in that research, we've identified several organisms that are beneficial to the plant and that are antagonistic to some of the disease. So for instance Pierce's disease we've identified several organism living inside the vines that are antagonistic to PD. And today we are testing those organism in field trials at UC Davis. Because we've demonstrated that they, they work on the greenhouse condition. And now we moved on to field trials. And when we inoculate those beneficial organisms to, or those probiotics to vine, they are able to stimulate the vine health in some capacity, or are being antagonistic to the pathogen in some capacity. And the vines are able to sustain the disease. So, the takeaway message from that is that we are making progress, you know, understanding what those probiotics and prebiotics are for viticulture. [00:31:39] Craig Macmillan: That is great. and I'm really happy, That you're doing this work. It takes time Oh yeah, It takes time. Absolutely, that's, and that's, part of what we do here is we, bring people kind of what the future is looking like and what's possible because if you understand it, then when it does come along, The learning curve is already hopefully down the road a little ways. doing your homework, basically. thank you in your lab. This is really exciting. interesting stuff. Where can people find out more about you? [00:32:09] Philippe Rolshausen: Well, they can go to the University of California, Riverside Botanical and Plant Sciences website. I'm a faculty member, so they will find me there. I have also my personal website. Rolshausen. Slash lab. com. The problem is like the spelling of my name, right? It's not easy to do. [00:32:27] Craig Macmillan: We'll have a link to that show page plus A a number of your recent publications. [00:32:33] Philippe Rolshausen: Yeah, we have several publications about what we've talked about today. We have just had one released about how pruning practices affect also the microbiome and, and disease. So. You know, this is an active area of research. I'm not the only one doing this. Like I've said, I've collaborated with Dario Cantu at UC Davis. And I think he should be mentioned because he's doing some excellent work. And we are a great team working together. As a cooperative extension specialist, I collaborate with others. I collaborate with other faculty. And this is a collaborative work that I'm talking about. I'm not the only one, [00:33:11] Craig Macmillan: there's a network. want to thank our guest, Philippe rolshausen. He is professor of cooperative extension with the university of California riverside and doing some very exciting work. And thanks for being on the podcast, Philippe. [00:33:24] Philippe Rolshausen: Well, that was great. Thank you for having me.   Nearly perfect transcription by Descript

Episode produced by Lidor Levy, Kaitlyn Magyar, and Sophie Tan. For this episode of Sync Into the Earth, we explore the topic of biological control. Specifically, how it is used, and its relevance in today's world. Biological control has been used for centuries, with one of its most notable applications being Australia's infamous cane toads. Today's practices scarcely resemble that of the cane toad but rather highlight scientific development and the understanding of species interactions. We discuss practices used in the fields of agriculture and invasive species management, with some thoughts on the uncertainties associated with climate change. Within agriculture, biological control is growing in use over pesticides. We chat about a study that examined the use of predatory mites to control strawberry mites that showed both promising results and limitations. Field research identifies difficulties regarding climate variations and the maintenance of introduced control species, while greenhouse applications are less restricted. Invasive species managers have also been especially receptive to biological control applications, with Phragmites and Purple Loosestrife programs showing promising results.

Send us a Text Message.If you've been following our Instagram this week, you might have noticed our battle with aphids. So, I thought it would be helpful to share some more details of biological control in gardening.Biological control involves the use of natural enemies to tackle garden pests. From introducing predators to employing pathogenic nematodes, we explore how these methods offer effective and eco-friendly pest management solutions.Key Takeaways:Benefits of Biological Control: Unlike chemical pesticides, biological controls leave no residues and cause no harm to plants. Once established, natural enemies can multiply and reduce pest populations to acceptable levels.Understanding Predators:Predatory and parasitoid biological controls, though not providing instant results, offer long-term solutions. Timing is crucial, as introducing them before heavy infestation ensures effectiveness.Seasonal Considerations: Glasshouse predators and parasites thrive in warm conditions, with ideal breeding temperatures between late March and September. Reintroduction may be necessary annually.Compatibility with Pesticides: Predators and parasites are sensitive to pesticides, necessitating their avoidance for several weeks before introducing biological controls. Fatty acid-based pesticides can be used with caution closer to introduction.Common Garden Pests and Solutions: Aphids, thrips, vine weevils, slugs, and red spider mites are prevalent nuisances. We explore natural remedies such as ladybirds, lacewings, predatory mites, and nematodes to combat these pests effectively.Practical Tips: Daily monitoring, manual removal of infested leaves, and encouraging natural predators like birds contribute to pest management efforts.To explore further, visit Ladybird Plant Care - www.ladybirdplantcare.co.uk, where Tessa can assist you in selecting the right biological controls for your garden.Embrace sustainable gardening practices with biological control methods, ensuring a thriving garden ecosystem without harmful chemicals. Flower Farmers Retreat 2024 (21 &22 September): https://fieldgateflowers.kartra.com/page/businessretreat2024 2024 Farm Day at Field Gate Farm (10 August): https://fieldgateflowers.kartra.com/page/farmvisit A Cut Above Waitlist: https://fieldgateflowers.kartra.com/page/ACutAboveWaitlist The Growth Club: https://fieldgateflowers.kartra.com/page/thegrowthclub Lots of free resources on our website: https://thecutflowercollective.co.uk/cut-flower-resources/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fieldgateflowers Facebook Group 'Cut Flower Farming - Growth and Profit in your business' https://www.facebook.com/groups/449543639411874 Facebook Group 'The Cut Flower Collection' https://www.facebook.com/groups/cutflowercollection

(00:00) Introduction and background on Ashley Faris, Ph.D.(03:49) Discussion on the success of managing the sugarcane aphid(06:46) When raising money makes sense for pest management research(09:58) The power of small teams in tackling pest issues(13:55) Defining success and goals for pest management(17:08) Playing "infinite games" in life and pest management(20:11) Challenges of starting a business vs. staying in business with pest management(22:13) Lessons from 25 years in business for pest management(27:28) Venture scale vs. bootstrapping approaches in pest management(30:30) Choosing the right path for your business in pest management(33:19) The "Shape Up" framework for pest management(37:59) The drawback of making promises in pest management(39:56) Adopting a new way of working in pest management(41:36) The two-week cooldown period in pest management(43:53) Trusting intuition and gut in pest management decisions(46:41) Creating a gut-driven culture in pest management(49:44) What Ashley looks for in new hires for pest management(56:19) Advice on making changes and adapting in pest management(01:00:06) Why Dr. Faris' changed her mind about in pest management(01:02:33) Planning in 6-week stretches and figuring it out as you go in pest management(01:06:43) Being proud of the work you do in pest management(01:09:05) Dr. Faris' thoughts on why work should not feel like war in pest management(01:11:31) Advice for starting a bootstrapped business in pest management(01:14:33) Being at peace with the worst that can happen in pest management(01:15:42) The benefits of bootstrapping in pest management(01:19:11) The value of constraints in business for pest management(01:22:00) Dr. Faris' philosophy: "Just keep making great shit" in pest management(01:23:19) Once, 37signals's new line of software products for pest management(01:26:33) The philosophy behind Once for pest management(01:35:47) Closing thoughts on pest management(01:37:23) Lightning round on pest management RedDirtAgronomy.com

This week is focused on the insects that inspired Ridley Scott's "Alien"! Parasitoids have some of the craziest interactions with other insects, and this episode will feature a few among other details.  Support the show -> https://www.patreon.com/user?u=46499107  IG: https://www.instagram.com/insects4fun/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085443614825 Email: Insectsfordummies@gmail.com   Music from Lofi Girl featuring: S N U G, Sátyr, HM Surf, and Tokyo Music Walker

Weiskopf, Sarah R., et al. “Climate Change Effects on Deer and Moose in the Midwest.” The Journal of Wildlife Management, vol. 83, no. 4, 3 Mar. 2019, pp. 769–781, https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.21649.   Wyckhuys, Kris A. G., et al. “Island and Mountain Ecosystems as Testbeds for Biological Control in the Anthropocene.” Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 10, 24 June 2022, repositorio.uac.pt/bitstream/10400.3/6522/1/Pozsgai_2022_FrontiersinEcologyandEvolution.pdf, https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.912628. Accessed 7 Jan. 2023.

Cliff Ohmart, Principal of Ohmart Consulting Services reflects on his 40-year career in agriculture. Cliff seeded his career with a Ph.D. in Forest Entomology from Berkley University. He worked in forestry in Australia, as a Pest Control Advisor in Chico, with the Lodi Winegrape Commission, and at SureHarvest. Cliff shares his experiences with sustainable winegrowing innovations including cover cropping, drip irrigation, solar energy, biocontrol, healthy soils, autonomous devices, and farm data management. Plus, he shares his number one tip for growers continuing on their sustainable journey. Resources: 25: Under-Vine Cover Crops 27: 50 Years of IPM 130: The Biological Control of Vine Mealybug Using Mealybug Destroyers and Anagyrus Wasps Healthy Soils Playlist Sustainable Winegrowing Self-Assessment (SIP Certified) University of California Cooperative Extension Vineyard Team Programs: Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship – Make a Gift SIP Certified – Show your care for the people and planet   Sustainable Ag Expo – The premiere winegrowing event of the year Sustainable Winegrowing Education On-Demand (Western SARE) – Sign Up! Vineyard Team – Become a Member Get More Subscribe wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources. Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.   Transcript Craig Macmillan  0:00  Our guest today is Cliff Ohmart. He is principal with Ohmart consulting services. And today we're going to talk about a little bit of perspective on what's happened in the past. And what's looking forward to in the future in the realm of sustainable wine growing sustainable crops just kind of in general. Thanks for being on the podcast, Cliff.   Cliff Ohmart  0:16  You're very welcome, Craig. It's nice to be with you.   Craig Macmillan  0:19  Just as full disclosure, Cliff, and I've known each other a long time. It's been really fun to see the things that he's worked on over the years, and his insights into kind of what's worked and what hasn't. So again, thanks for being on the being on the program. You've been involved in a whole variety of different crops and led different capacities over the years with different projects I've been with you see, I believe, and then also in the private sector, but how did you first get involved in this kind of thing? How did you get involved in sustainable farming?   Cliff Ohmart  0:45  Yeah, I love that question. Because it wasn't deliberate at all. I was very deliberate in my education, I wanted to be a professor of forest entmology. So I got a degree a bachelor's degree in Forestry and Forest entomology and a PhD in forest entomology. And so basically, since it wasn't delivered, but unbeknownst to me, I got a very comprehensive education especially as undergrad in biology ecology, to pretty intensive program at the College of Forestry, Syracuse, and then going to grad school, again, insect ecology, Plant Pathology, things like that. And then I wanted to be a research scientist at a university. So the only job going at the time I got out was actually in Australia. So I spent 13 years as a researcher in forest entomology and again, but don't to me, all of this was really giving me a very, very solid background to get into ag. My family and I, after living in Australia for 10 years, to make a difficult decision to want to come home. And so I had two fellows that I went to grad school with who started an IPM company in Chico, California. Going to Berkeley for a PhD get a very strong background in integrated pest management. So IPM people, and that's how I got into ag and I was a pest control advisor for seven years. It was a very unusual company in that three PhDs doing PCA work.   Craig Macmillan  2:15  That is unusual.   Cliff Ohmart  2:16  Yeah, working, especially in the 1980s, early 90s is when I worked with them. So we were really out there, independent PCA company. So we charge for our services, we didn't sell products, the thing was that they are very big IPM guys, we worked in orchard crops, and we are all entomology type. So both insects and disease management, especially in almonds, had a great IPM program for almonds. So then being there led to a contract with the Lodi Winegrape commission to help them write a grant. And then if they got the grant, we would administer the grant for them in helping them develop their integrated pest management program for winegrapes. So we got the money, and I ended up in charge of that project. Interestingly, being such having such a strong background in pest management, I quickly realized compared to the crops I've worked on wine grapes at the time really didn't have, which I would what I would consider challenging pest management issues. Of course there was powerdy mildew, which people in Lodi were managing very well made sulfur applications. So all of a sudden, it's like, hey, why don't we actually focus on the whole farm. So using that IPM background of, you know, economically viable, socially, just and environmentally sound. Let's look at the whole farm. That's really how it developed. So very quickly, we started calling our program, a sustainable winegrowing program. And one thing led to another we developed a reputation for our progressive nature, quote unquote, progressive. You know, we were very practical farmers. So that's how I got into it. And I after the first year of working on that grant, they offered me a staff position. And I realized what a great opportunity, so I took it. So that's a long road to get to it. But what's interesting is, you know, that's we're talking about 30 years ago now. So I've been added a long time. But that's how I got there. It was for somebody that was so laser focused on what they thought they wanted to do. I never would have expected to get there where I ended up but of course, it's been fantastic because you know.   Craig Macmillan  4:30  It's all about the journey. Yeah, you know, most of the most of us end up in places we never expected.   Cliff Ohmart  4:36  That's one of our mantras in Lodi is sustainable farming is not about crossing the finish line. It's about journey. And because you're never going to be there, you know, it's very almost Zen.   Craig Macmillan  4:48  Yeah, it is. Yeah, yeah. Well, I have my own perspectives on this, but this is why I wanted to have this conversation with you is you know, when you go back and you look at something like let's say 30 years ago, you know, there were certain farming practices in different crops and some have applied across crops that came along. And the science was starting to show that there was some potential. And then some of them were adopted by different types of growers and others were not some became kind of industry standards and others kind of did not. And again, you can think across crops, you know, what were some of the things that you saw that came along that seemed absolutely crazy at the time, that ended up being widely adopted.   Cliff Ohmart  5:20  I can't think of anything that I thought was crazy. Now. Crazy, but you know, this is the advantage I had kind of from the research community in the background, I had learning how to talk to growers who have lots of important concerns. But interestingly, the thing that got me early in the early days was cover cropping in wine grapes, and how if there was one, no matter what project we did, and we did things like develop that self assessment workbook, all around sustainable wine grape growing, that was the one topic that I would get in the most arguments over me, it seemed like such a no brainer. But me back to my orchard days up in Chico, because of where they were and the rainfall they had. There was a natural cover crop in all the almond orchards and they mowed it. And then of course, scientific methods was the name of the company that clients down around Fresno, and down there, everything just got tilled, and floated. All of that. And I could never figure it out. And of course, some of its rainfall. But then when I started working on winegrapes, it was clear my interpretation was It was literally like a tradition you till as soon as you can in the spring and get this incredible. And of course Lodi had these amazingly deep soils, trying to convince growers that there's all these great reasons for growing cover crops was a long, slow battle. And what I always chuckled about was, oh, Napa, we grow cover crops, you know, and I'd go over there in the middle of summer and there was bare dirt everywhere. Thank you found that there's something cover crops. I understand if you plant them that cost a lot of money, whatever. But yeah, so that was the one thing. The thing that I've seen happen over time, of course, is so many people now and I'm thinking of orchard crops, especially but wine grapes were they were using drip irrigation pretty early. But now so many orchard crops have them, whether I don't think growers necessarily thought it was a crazy idea. But for various reasons, it took a while for that to really catch on. And yet, it's such an important way to manage your water as well as crop health. The other thing, being a data guy because of my research background, the sort of high level I would call it convincing growers that measure to manage is really the best way to farm sustainably no matter who you are talking to a natural organic farmer, because they felt like they were doing great stuff. They were just as bad as not managing and measuring stuff as the conventional because they felt like they didn't really need to. So we're talking about very the thing that got me in my early days, I developed computer software system, using barcodes for company in Chico. And it really was in the early days I laptop in my truck got barcode readers for data collection, because we collect data sheet we gave growers data sheets every week. And it was all about this measure to manage when the first software companies started to SuoeHarvest was one of the earliest to come up with farm data management systems. It didn't get widely adopted. And I asked myself, and I think it's because in those days, growers weren't doing a lot of measuring to manage. Now, I think, you know, growers, because they're on site all the time, they have incredible wealth of experience in their head. I learned very quickly that what's in your head, and what you think you're seeing may not be exactly what you have what's really going on based on what you're measuring. So that was one, you know connected to that is, over time, autonomous devices for capturing data. And weather station was one of the first soil was one of the next and over time, you know, and those are those costs money. And so over time, I've seen more and more that now. I think we've actually reached the point is companies are selling things to growers that a set of ahead of its time. I'm worried that growers are getting ripped off in a way some growers depending on what they're buying from companies so but this measure to manage I think over time has really changed things and then things like solar. I think in the early growers would have thought boy, that's crazy. One thing I enjoyed about wine grape growing wine growers seemed more willing to adopt new things. So like solar really started catching on for pumps especially. And now I think it's more and more Common, and then things like measuring moisture stress with pressure bombs. I can remember in my forestry days, so we're talking about back in the 60s and 70s. Growers well, bark beetle people were measuring moisture stress in pine trees. But they had pre dawn moisture, which was so bad about the vineyard in the middle of the day, they had to go out when it was dark, because they were looking what trees are stressed or not. But it's the same idea. So all of a sudden, people started coming up with using pressure bombs in orchards and vineyards, again, around irrigation, all good stuff. And so I saw that Come on. And then coupled with this as well is just this whole, clearly farm workers are still underpaid, but things gotten you know, more and more growers are paying health care, more and more growers are paying for time off. I've seen that change again, 30 years ago, I think growers would have thought that's crazy stuff.   Craig Macmillan  10:59  And in that tradition, and that idea of like, I just physically can't I would love this, but I just there's no way well, let's let's see if we can find a way also in terms of tradition and mindset friend of mine, before those rules came into practice, he got ahead of the game and he sat his main people down, he said, Okay, listen, we're gonna go to a 40 hour week, I'm gonna give you a raise. So you have the same wage weekly, the workers were really upset. And they said, Hey, you're taking days away from me, you're taking work away from me. And he says, No, I'm not what I'm doing is I'm giving you a weekend. And I'm giving you, you know, a life, you know, plus, complying with the law, he showed people math and try to explain it. And he was really in he was really frustrated. Because, you know, these were his his managers, these are his supervisors. And these are really smart people, really sharp people. But that change to the culture was just, you know, scary. And I think that that's true for a lot of the things we've been talking about. I remember talking about cover crops friend of mine farmer and going back to like the 90s, early 90s. What was it called was cover cropping and vineyards, I think was the name of the book. It came it was I think it was a SARE book, came out.   Cliff Ohmart  12:07  Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Chuck Ingles and others.   Craig Macmillan  12:11  Yeah, exactly. He also I think he also did Steel on the Field, maybe. So okay, people getting interested. Here's how you do it. Okay, now we're going to help you. And here's the crops, and here's how they grow and all that. So it was it was available. And so people were starting to get into it. And so this friend of mine who hadn't been doing it was starting to do it. And I said, Well, how's it how's it going? And he goes, Man, I don't know. He says, I feel like I'm farming two crops. And I was like, well, you are. But is it that bad? Is it that hard? Over time, they figured it out. And he actually told me that he said, I spent my whole career cultivating weeds. And now you want me to grow plants? Like that just doesn't make any sense to me. And I got it. I understand that. Like if you spent your whole career trying to knock stuff down. Now you're asking me to build stuff up? You know, it's tricky. I think we're still now working with adoption around some of these things. Cover crops, I think are widely widely widely used in the wintertime and vineyards. You see that's kind of common practice now wasn't in the past, you kind of relied upon native vegetation, but we are still tilling things under. And all of the science is showing. And we're doing tailgates and podcasts and articles and all over the place, not just Vineyard Team all over the place, about hey, you're really eliminating your soil life when you do that. And I wanted to get your opinion on that. Because this idea of soil health, I had never heard that term up until five years ago or so. And then suddenly is like, oh healthy soil, it's all about soil. But are you doing the things that you need to do to do that? And to get those benefits? What kind of experience have you had around that?   Cliff Ohmart  13:44  Negativity on that concept? It just I think so happened to the personalities involved came from actually a soils person was resistant. They thought this concept of the word health was just crazy when it came to soils. And this is a soils guy. And we just in the end agreed to disagree because we did put all of that in our original workbook back in 1999. Growers for state just, if anything, they get that that's been my experience. It's just that depending on what you want them to do like adding compost if they can or can't afford it. And I think it was more the academics but I think that's changed as they've gotten more used to the term this one person still will not use the word soil health, but it's become accepted now because I think it's been defined. And then on the scientific side, the to me, one of my regrets I don't have very many but my biggest regret is not getting into soils. I had a sales class in forestry school, but I was not interested in below ground. I was interested in the bugs. And in the end when it came to consulting and ag that been my biggest  deficiency, I don't really understand the geology of soils. And what I've getting for sure is the science behind what's going on in the microbial communities, the interaction between microbes and plants, and the quality of the soil and what's going on in the soil. It's so important. And I think more and more growers are just realizing it, even though again, I'm worried that the commercial side is getting ahead of it selling inoculants and this and that, I think, we're not quite there yet. But we're learning the soil scientists are doing a great job, I think helping us get up to speed on what's really going on.   Craig Macmillan  15:41  Yeah, absolutely. I'm, I'm on a journey myself, right now, about the last two years I've been on this crash course into soils and to soil microbial communities that because I had no background that, you know, I wasn't really interested in what was happening above the ground. And I was interested in, I was primarily interested in insect pests. And then I got more interested in diseases. And that led to nutrition which led to irrigatoin. And this is the piece I'm kind of learning about. Now, it seems like if you're really interested in sustainable farming, no matter who you are, what your crop is, to me one of the limitations, and I want to see what you think about this, one of the limitations is you say, Okay, I'm an expert. Now, in almond farming, I'm an expert in wind grape farming. Now I've got to become an expert in soil microbial communities. You know, now I have to become an expert in soil, geology, impair material, you know, I mean, every topic that comes along, I now have to I have to go back to school again, that to me is an interesting one, because I find people seem to embrace it. And I find people who seem to be resistant to it, mostly because they don't have time or energy to do it. What has been your experience with folks? Are there certain kinds of different types of people that are more willing to invest the energy? How much? How much energy? Do people have to invest in these kinds of things? Is that a limitation?   Cliff Ohmart  16:51  Yeah, I think where I think, if anything, we're I've seen the biggest challenges with small growers that are basically owner operators, and they don't have any help, really, and and they I think, are really time constrained. But I think the real answer to your question is, this is where Cooperative Extension comes in. If you've got the right people writing the right educational materials, you can distill it so that a grower can take information and apply it. I don't have any proof. But I think for definitely some people that say, I don't have time to get into this, they use that as an excuse. They just don't want to deal with it. I understand that part because farming is very complicated. One of those guys, I work with a longtime Kent Reeves as a wildlife biologist, he helped us in Lodi for years. And his great saying was, farming is not rocket science, it's harder. So getting your hands on the right educational information, if you're a grower owner operator, is the secret. Now, if you're a large grower, and I've seen this, they hire people, and it's getting more and more sophisticated, as large growers are doing so they have the opportunity to hire a soil scientist PhD level. And then most people can really dive into it. And then, you know, they have a management team where they can sit down and integrate what what they've got. It's an issue for sure. Time. You could literally spend all your 24 hours a day worrying about doing stuff around the farm. But it's back to the cover crop thing back in the old days. The thing you probably know Steve Mathiason. Yeah, well, in the early days, he and I worked together for four years in Lodi, and he had this he felt that he call it recreational disking. You know, or people just wanted to get out of the house. So they got discked, you know, and we don't really know if that's true. But growers do want to do things, their program. And I saw that in my early days as a PCA, particularly when it came to spraying for insects is convincing them you don't have to do something today, because they're programmed. And so again, back to your thing about I think it can be a crutch, oh, I don't have time to get into soils or whatever. But the other the flip side is that is convincing me. So much of my experience, especially in orchards and almonds was, look, I know it's hard, but don't do anything right now. And that's how you save money. And it really is, you know, I think for insects spraying you can really make good cases for that.   Craig Macmillan  19:31  I agree. And I think that for the folks that I've seen who have implemented certain kinds of practices over the years, they find that it actually is a savings because they're their vineyards are more balanced. So there's less kind of adjusting maybe that they need to do especially if you can get your irrigation dialed in. If you get your nutrition in to where you want it, there's less manipulation is required. You can get your cost down because you're only putting on kind of what you need. I mean, I think we found out the hard way that we have a tendency to put on more inputs than you necessarily need to be putting on because I need to do something, right? I need to take care of these plants, I need to feed them, I need to water them all of which is true. The question, the question is, do you just put out a buffet of cookies for your kid? Or do you control what they eat based on what you know about nutrition? Right, that kind of that kind of a thing. I think the same is true for what you've mentioned, the time and the knowledge part of it. We have lots of great education stuff out there. And that doesn't take that long to read. And there's also lots of other professionals that can come and talk to you, or folks that you hire that can take on a lot of that I've met, I've been very, very impressed with the quality of knowledge and education of young pest control advisors that are coming out of the universities. Now. They have a very strong grounding in sustainable ag. So they see the world a little bit differently. I think one area that I wanted to ask you about, because it's near and dear to my heart, and I think it is teasers as well as biological control in vineyards.   Cliff Ohmart  20:57  Yes,   Craig Macmillan  20:58  Yes. I'll start the conversation. This part of the conversation this way I was talking to I actually interviewed was talking to a person who manages an insectary. And they said to me, what is wrong with you guys in the Central Coast? When I say What are you talking about? I sell a ton, a ton about control agents in the San Joaquin Valley. And I can't sell hardly anything on the coast. And I don't get it. And my first response was, Well, maybe the pest pressures are different this and that. And he says, no, no, no, I, I'm familiar. Yes, there's some differences. But like these, they just don't seem to like believe in it, which I thought was an interesting observation. Because as a sociologist, my backgrounds in sociology also is like, Hmm, I wonder if there is something cultural going on there? Or if there's a group adoption thing, I feel like we've kind of stalled out what is your take on the state of insect biological control right now in wine grapes?   Cliff Ohmart  21:54  I actually don't have a feel for what the state is right now. What I thought you're going to ask me is, what is my view on it?   Craig Macmillan  22:03  Let's do that.   Cliff Ohmart  22:04  Yeah, and I do have something to say. This is where my academic training especially at Berkeley, you know, that was a hotbed of control scientists, when I was there as a grad student, Robert VandenBosch, probably being the most famous. I went through this very interesting, Berkeley, and it was a huge Entomology Department when I went there. And the concept in Berkeley overall was natural enemies, regulate insect populations. And you have to be very specific, using IPM. And disease management is a whole different ballgame. As with diseases, if there there you, you're behind the eight ball, insects, you can watch them and wait. And then when I went to Australia as a research scientist, there was a school and the weight Institute in South Australia. And they felt that the environment controlled insect populations, not natural enemies. It was the classic academic thing of we're right, no, we're right. And in reality, if you study a particular insect, some insects are controlled by the environment, and others are controlled by natural enemies. So my view about bio control is not all insect populations are controlled by natural enemies. It depends on the insect and it depends on the situation. And so it's a great opportunity for insect trees to flog stuff to people. Because you know, who doesn't want biocontrol for work? The danger of bonafide control is if you're going to use insects, you need to be out there measuring and seeing if it's really helping or not, because you put out natural enemies and you don't have a pest problem, and it may not be related to them at all. Unfortunately, it's very complicated. My guess is there's probably more being agents being sold and used than ever before. Partly because some growers realizing this is important. To me, it's really, you know, things like spider mites definitely are controlled by not only the plant but also their natural enemies. Vine mealybug, again, is very much controlled by natural enemies depending but you've got ant situation. So look at these to me in each specific case. And then of course, the other thing with with natural enemies, of course, is you don't want a natural enemy that's so good. That wipes out your pest population, because then...   Craig Macmillan  24:33  ...It goes away. But it's kind of the problem, isn't it? I mean, the original IPM paper from 1959 It's an economic injury level. It's an action threshold, there's some damages it's tolerated and and things like wine grapes will actually on all the all of the fruit vegetable horticultural crops. So you know, aesthetics is huge. I mean, statics is the whole deal. So you really can't tolerate stuff which makes these other techniques kind of tough. That was just exactly where I was kind of gonna go with This is that sometimes we can find a situation where biological control and release of biological control agents might work really well is an augmentative, then there's also conservation. And if we can think along those lines, if we can think along those lines, that helps balance everything out, as well. That's an area where I think that we can see some adoption, probably there's more room for growth, I don't want to sound like you've been critical of growers. I think I in my career have seen amazing commitment to innovation in the wine industry. I've seen people take on all kinds of things that again, the science didn't says it, say, oh, it's crazy. But people were like that, to me, sounds kind of crazy. It's too dangerous. You're gonna lose crop, I'm gonna lose yield. And then but there have been these companies that were like, hey, you know, we're going to trial this and see that if this works, if there's information that gets out, do you feel like we've made progress in sustainable ag, especially in vineyards? Are we have we improve?   Cliff Ohmart  25:55  I very much think so. It's a slow process, again, for all sorts of reasons that we've touched on some we haven't. But yes, I do believe, especially in wine grapes. And I think in orchard crops as well, the which is were my experiences, I just don't have a feel for for row crops, really. But yes, I think we've come a long way.   Craig Macmillan  26:20  In the area of sustainable ag in the future sustainable ag especially in vineyards, is there one piece of advice or philosophy or idea or concept that you think it'd be important for growers that are what would be the one thing you'd say to a grower this about, hey, sustainable ag is really cool. But...   Cliff Ohmart  26:36  Well, one thing I would just bring up this measure to manage and just remind them, no matter what it is, it's as simple as you know, how many growers really have a way to measure how much water they use on an annual basis in a given venue? You know, do you have a flow meter on your pump. And I still think that's the case that some people don't. And then the thing that we were touching on it, I didn't mention, so many of the things that we you and I've talked about, just bring back memories of why this is so difficult. One of them is, you know, it's can sound like we're really being critical of growers, which of course, if you're trying to work with a grower to help them, you don't want to sound like you're saying, Why are you doing this? And I used to come up with various ways. How can you get this across? And so when we developed the self assessment workbook, for example, what that does is it helps you, in the privacy of your own home, identify very specifically things you're doing or not doing. But I tried to remind people look, I said, How would you feel if someone knocked on your door and said, I don't like what you're doing in your backyard. And I'm here to help. You know, it's all partly it's about the approach. And then back to resistance. I'm a big believer in perception of risk versus real risk. And I think all of us as people, and you touched on it, about irrigation, and about fertilization, and about spraying. It's like, if I don't do this horrible things are going to happen. Again, I would just introduce it's a very high level concept. But have people say, Is this a perceived risk? Or do you think it's a real risk? And how do you know if it's real or not. And of course, this comes back to measure to manage. And again, I would try to come up with various very simple parables of why this is so difficult. And it had to do with spraying because you know, so many people, it's like, growers just spray. And of course, growers don't jump out of bed in the morning say, What can I kill today?   Craig Macmillan  28:46  No, they just don't. That's a thing. When around pesticides, people are like, Oh, growth, you're just looking for a pesticide to use. Yeah, but no, I don't want to do that, right. No, I do it because I think I have because I have to I'm not doing it for fun.   Cliff Ohmart  28:58  And as a PCA, especially in my early days spraying and reduce spraying was what we were trying to accomplish when it comes to insect spraying or disease spraying. When you don't spray, you'll learn one of two things. Gee, I wish that I did. If you don't spray and something bad happens that tends to hang with growers for years. Or the other thing you're learning is, boy, I'm glad I didn't. And that's when you realize, Wow, this is why things take a long time to evolve. And it wouldn't be the same for irrigation or nutrient. You know, if I don't put on my nitrogen, my crop yields can be down and it comes back to risk it growers that are interested in sustainable farming, but growers are risk takers. But I think there's a lot of perceived risk, as opposed to try and really get grips on what is real risk or not. So I would talk to a grower about that. And that's the kind of talk you'd have over a cup of coffee or a cup of tea in the office. But I think it's really something really for growers to think about and that doesn't make them sound Like, they're terrible. We're human. We all go through that.   Craig Macmillan  30:04  Absolutely. And there's a lot of responsibility. I mean, that's the other thing, you know, no matter what says the operation is the you know, it doesn't matter. It's the, it's the farm. It's all on your shoulders, don't screw it up.   Cliff Ohmart  30:16  And it's all financed, usually. And then I'm thinking we were talking about this labor and growers paying more in this and that and of course, one of the big budget items now on in farms is labor. And so people trying to mechanize. But if you actually back up and look at other industries, it's the same. Unfortunately, we, we meaning you and I work expense. And so again, it's not that growers are being terrible people, it's they're dealing with it as as is everyone else is just the farm. And one of the things that really was eye popping, I got I was fortunate to be on the workgroup that came up to this sustainable pest management roadmap recently.   Craig Macmillan  30:57  Oh, right. Right.   Cliff Ohmart  30:59  That was an urban as well as AG. And one of the things that I think growers need to know is there are more pesticides used in the urban environment than in the ag environment. By pound more pounds of pesticides. And yeah, who's the enemy? The farmer? Why? Because regulations make it a requirement that we know what they use.   Craig Macmillan  31:27  Yeah, no, that's true. That's it. And I think that also is a challenge for us ag, when we look around at other industries, for instance, or we look at other uses, or we look at other things, and you're like, Hey, man, I gotta do all this stuff. Like, there's all these things that I have to do that you don't have to do, you know, and and measure to manage is another good example of that is, you know, we have tools to do it, we can do it. I mean, yeah, Flow Meter cost a little bit of money. And you got to monitor it. I mean, that's the other thing, you got to look at it. I mean, that's, that's my job big. Well, I do a lot of things. But part of my job is like I during the summer, I watch our water. And if things don't make sense, I jump in and say, Hey, what's going on? You know, homeowners are not necessarily doing that, you know, other businesses are not necessarily doing that. And I think is a societal level, I think the trend is going to have to go that direction, because the resources are just going to get scarcer. Hope that you will agree, and this is kind of where I want to bring things around is would you agree that that we've seen a lot of progress? would you also agree that maybe we've seen some changes in philosophy over time, and I don't just mean from younger people coming into the business, but just folks who've been farming for a long, long time changing kind of how they think about things?   Cliff Ohmart  32:35  Yeah, I think for sure, I definitely know individuals where that's really happened, which is great. You know, I would hope I would have changed over time, because of what I know. So yes,   Craig Macmillan  32:47  Yeah, I've changed over time. I'm just much more bitter.   Cliff Ohmart  32:51   Yeah. One thing that, you know, given that I've been doing this a long time, there's some things that don't change about and one of the things and it came up during this sustainability roadmap, we had a, after it came out, I was sitting on a panel, one of the growers in the audience and older grower, somebody my age, basically said, you know, regulations are putting me out of business. It's no fun farming anymore. But I heard that 40 years ago, and I said that I was a little worried because I didn't want to sound I don't know, I just didn't want to sound too confrontational. But I said, Look, I have to say something here. I understand what you're saying. I really understand what you're saying, But, I heard this 40 years ago from someone that 40 years ago was older. And at that point, I said, Look, grow. Growers are innovative people. And we have to innovate.   Craig Macmillan  33:56  But no growers are adaptive. Yeah.   Cliff Ohmart  34:00  And it's up to us. And this was going back to the pest management roadmap. It is up to all of us to do better. And yes, it's hard. It is hard.   Craig Macmillan  34:07  But but we can change. We can make progress. We can reduce our inputs, we can protect the environment, we can make life better for people. It's all good. We're going in the right direction. So and I'm really I'm really happy to have you bring that perspective and some of those stories to this topic. We're out of time for today. We could go on for hours and I look forward to it at some point. Having dinner with you. Swapping stories, I would love to have a series on on this just on and on and on and on. But unfortunately we can't I guess today's been Cliff Ohmart. He's Principal of Omart Consulting Services. Thanks for being on the podcast Cliff.   Cliff Ohmart  34:42  You're very welcome.   Nearly Perfect Transcription by https://otter.ai

Recorded: April 21, 2023In this episode, renowned entomologist Dr. Peter Ellsworth from the University of Arizona joins us to discuss the valuable role beneficial insects play in our cropping systems. We cover the differences between predators and parasitoids, how to scout fields to assess insect populations, as well as interesting, cutting-edge techniques such as beneficial insect releases via drone. Tune in to this in-depth conversation on all key aspects of biological insect control. Useful Links:About Peter C. EllsworthCrop CapsulesHosts: Joseph Akins and Dwane Miller, Penn State Extension Guest: Dr. Peter EllsworthFollow us on Facebook!

Today we learn from Jessica Maccaro, Catherine Nguyen, and Joshua Reger, the team behind the new science communication podcast Across the Cline.This podcast is the latest outreach vehicle for SciComm @ UCR, the student-led science communication group at the University of California, Riverside.SciComm @ UCR was established in 2019 to explore creative approaches to science communication and to provide learning opportunities in science communication to Riverside residents.The Across the Cline podcast has a smart format; we'll learn more about it in this episode.We'll also hear how SciComm @ UCR engages with graduate students across disciplines and learn about what graduate students will share with Riverside residents this spring.Let's meet Jess, Catherine, and Joshua! LINKSSciComm @ UCR websiteContact SciComm @ UCR@SciCommUCR (Twitter)@scicommucr (Instagram)Jessica Maccaro on Twitter (@JessicaMaccaro)Catherine (Thiên-Ý) Nguyễn on Twitter (@Catherine_TY_Ng)ZME Science@ZMEScience (Twitter) MORE ABOUT OUR GUESTSJessica:Science Nights at Back to the GrindWhen bees get a taste for dead thingsCatherine:Sex differences in offspring discrimination in the biparental California mouse (Peromyscus californicus)Student research gear closet lowers barriers to field experiencesJoshua:Joshua Reger, 2022 Scholarship Recipient | Applied Biological Control ResearchWhy flight testing is an important step in sterile insect technique

Last time Jessica Walliser was on the show, she talked about biological controls, or allowing the ecosystem to “pest control” itself. Today, she talks about how you can use companion planting to bring in beneficials. Connect With Jessica Walliser: Jessica Walliser is a horticulturist, founding partner at Savvy Gardening, and the author of multiple books including the upcoming Plant Partners: Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for the Vegetable Garden. Shop the Store As an exclusive for listeners, use code EPICPODCAST for 5% off your entire first order on our store, featuring our flagship Birdies Raised Beds. These are the original metal raised beds, lasting up to 5-10x longer than wooden beds, are ethically made in Australia, and have a customizable modular design.   Shop now and get 5% off your first order. Get Our Books Looking for a beginner's guide to growing food in small spaces? Kevin's book, Field Guide to Urban Gardening, explains the core, essential information that you'll need to grow plants, no matter where you live! He also wrote Grow Bag Gardening to provide you with specialized knowledge that can bring you success when growing in fabric pots. Order signed copies of Kevin's books, plus more of his favorite titles in our store. More Resources Looking for more information? Follow us: Our Blog YouTube (Including our Epic Homesteading and Jacques in the Garden channels) Instagram (Including Epic Homesteading, Jacques, and Chris) TikTok Facebook Facebook Group Discord Server

Vine Mealybug (VMB) is a challenging pest in many vineyards. Growers are increasingly incorporating biological control into their Integrated Pest Management programs by releasing Mealybug Destroyers and Anagyrus Wasps. Brett Chandler, President and General Manager at Associates Insectary explains how these two beneficials help manage VMB populations. The Mealybug Destroyer (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri) is a predator beetle. It feeds on eggs and small stages of VMB. The Anagyrus Wasp is a parasite. It lays eggs inside the Mealybug. The challenge with the wasp is that they are very susceptible to many chemicals and require more specialized conditions to be effective. Brett describes how to monitor for both Mealybug and beneficials, when and how often to release the insects, the best release methods, and how to pair beneficials with chemical control. References: 26: Controlling Mealybug Vectors of Grapevine Viruses 119: Vine Mealybug 101: Species Identification, Lifecycle, and Scouting to Create an IPM Program An Important First Step in Biocontrol: Don't Kill the Good Insects Associates Insectary Beneficial organisms for vine mealybug control Donate to the Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship Anagyrus vladimiri (formerly pseudococci) Mealybug Destroyer (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri) Natural enemies of Pseudococcus mealybugs SIP Certified Sustainable and Organic Control of Vine Mealybug in Vineyards: Two Growers, Two Approaches Sustainable Ag Expo November 14-16, 2022 Vine Mealybug Management- UCIPM Get More Subscribe wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources. Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org. Transcript Craig Macmillan  0:00  And with us today is Brett Chandler, president and general manager of associates and secretary in Santa Paula, California. And thanks for being here.   Brett Chandler  0:07   Thank you for having us Craig.   Craig Macmillan  0:10  You have been in the world of biological control for a long time. And you have seen a lot of trends and a lot of different approaches and a lot of different paths. And the pest that I want to talk about today is vine mealybug on winegrapes, specifically, and I'm very interested in the bio control strategies that people are employing and how they're doing it and how successful they're turning out to be. And some of the advantages of taking a biocontrol approach.   Brett Chandler  0:35  Well, it's actually an integrated approach, where you integrate your chemicals, as a last resort, your cultural practices as a first mainline, and then most importantly, monitoring the insects, both the good and the bad, and keeping a good track on what's happening in the vineyard. And it's much easier than most people think,   Craig Macmillan  0:57  You know, I want to shift to that one point there right away as as one of the challenges is you have to measure to manage, right, that's a common saying. And with beneficial insects, one of the challenges that I always found was how to monitor beneficial insects. I was a field checker for a long time, and I'd find lots of pests, but I couldn't find the beneficials. But we had reason to believe that they were part of the ecosystem, you know, populations would go up and down. And, you know, what recommendations do you have for any particular organism, maybe Cryptolaemus ? For monitoring what the populations are like?   Brett Chandler  1:30  Cryptolaemus, the organism itself is pretty standout, it's pretty obvious. But when it's feeding among the mealybugs, it's very easy to mistake because it's a mimic, it looks just like the mealybugs, and it can be working among there in numbers that you don't notice, unless you really take the time to look at it. What you're going to find with, say Cryptolaemus feeding is you'll find empty egg masses, where you'll see the white fluffy egg mass where the mealybug normally produces it young, but they're actually empty. And that you come to find is easier to recognize, the more often you see it. It's not that technical, but it is something you need to recognize. And through repetition, it's very doable for most most farm employees.   Craig Macmillan  2:14  And again, that's a combination of recognizing the insect itself and also recognizing the evidence that the insect has been there. Because oftentimes, that's what we're looking at is we're looking at the indirect evidence, you know, I should mention, I just dived right in. So the Cryptolaemus montrouzieri is the mealybug destroyer, and is a predator, is that correct?   Brett Chandler  2:34  Correct. It's a predator as opposed to the Wasp, which are parasites, which lay their eggs inside the mealybug. The Cryptolaemus beetle actually feeds on the eggs and consumes mass quantities of the eggs and smaller stages of the mealybugs. It's a it's a predator like any other that is not attached to any one stage, but feeds at all stages available to consume.   Craig Macmillan  2:58  Tell me a little bit about predators. I mean about parasites next.   Brett Chandler  3:01  The parasites, they're a very unique creature. They're highly specialized, they will only feed on one or two species where they can find and lay their eggs. Only the females do the feeding, the males do no feeding, they simply breed and provide no control. They are also very susceptible to many chemicals that the beetles or other predators may be less susceptible to. They also are very host specific. In other words, if there's not enough of the pest around, they won't find it and they may starve. If there's too many, they may be repelled, or they don't like them at that high density. So they're a very, very specific tool for a very specific circumstance. But broadly, the need to be used in only specific locations and times of year because they're they're quite delicate.   Craig Macmillan  3:55  You mentioned feeding. I thought the parasitoid wasps just lay their egg in the adult. And then it was the larva yes that had hatched out that does the damage. Is that right?   Brett Chandler  4:08  Well, actually, it does both. It's called Host feeding. And host feeding occurs in some cases where they're not getting enough protein. And they may feed on one because they'll find a mealybug and if it's too small or too large, they won't lay their eggs on it. But they may kill it by feeding on it or merely annoying it. Actually the Asian citrus psyllid parasitoid tamarixia, it kills twice as many by feeding than it does actually laying eggs.   Craig Macmillan  4:34  There you go, that it's fantastically interesting. If I'm trying to monitor for the wasps. How do I go about doing that? Because they're tiny.   Unknown Speaker  4:42  Very, very difficult. But again, early season, they're going to be laying their eggs inside the smaller mealybug and it's very difficult to find but once the first generation has passed, and the adult Wasp has emerged from what we call the mummy, where the egg has crawled out and become an adult fed on the mealybug. And emerged by chewing a hole just like a chick, choose a hole in a chicken egg, you see that characteristic round hole in the mealybug pupa. And that tells you that an Anagyrus adult emerge from that pupa.   Craig Macmillan  5:16  When we think of pest monitoring, and we think of densities, and we count or we quantify somehow, and then we come up with changes over time. Maybe we do our timings or pesticide timings, maybe based on that or decisions, whether we use pesticides at all based on that. What are the ways of measuring density? And what kinds of density measures do we use and thresholds to use for deciding Yes, this is really working well. Or maybe I need to do an augmentative release.   Brett Chandler  5:44  Well, for both of these, this is not an established what classic biological control where you release once and allow it to come on. The insect and the Wasp with the mealybug have what's called a dynamic equilibrium where it takes them time to bring the population down. And so that time may be too long, where the grape clusters are infested with the mealybug. And you don't allow that to happen. So you use the technique called an inundated release, where you release many more than the natural population would be in hopes of bringing down the climbing population because the key to control is actually the second generation of these insects that are released whether wasp or beetle, not the first generation. A wasp can lay 100 to 150 eggs, a beetle can lay up to 400 eggs. So that's 400 times the control in the second generation than the first.   Craig Macmillan  6:39  And how do we distribute these in the field? What's the what's the method by which both the beetle and the Wasp are introduced?   Brett Chandler  6:46  Many methods can be used. Drones are much more popular now and being used. The drone pilots are quite quite adept at getting them where they need to be when they need to be. We work with companies like Parabug, who are quite familiar with working with the beetles and depositing them quite a bit in the Central Valley forests and other growing locations and the Wasp as well. Hand releasing can if you have a clumped distribution, where you only have pockets, hand release is probably better if you have it broadly where the vine mealybug is broadly throughout the vineyard, a drone is helpful. But drones can be expensive to come for just five or 10 acres, you need to get a large acreage to make it effective where several neighbors get together and the neighboring vineyards all working together to allow it to happen. Drone pilots have to travel, their time. So to be cost effective, you need a larger acres for the drone. But at the same time, you need manpower available to release by hand as well.   Craig Macmillan  7:43  So for dropping a beetle, we're dropping as an adult?   Brett Chandler  7:48  Yes, we ship the beatles as adult their wings and they can fly. So when they come out, they'll drop a little and start flying and working towards the vine. And settle on the line, if there's any mealybug in the area, they will immediately be olfactory stimulated to search for them. They smell the mealybug and that's one of the driving things that attracts them and keeps them in the vineyard. Feeding as long as the population is is active.   Craig Macmillan  8:49  Is that true for the Wasp as well?   Brett Chandler  8:49  The Wasp is more of a solitary searcher, they like very small numbers when the vine mealybug are just emerging from under the bark or maybe on the edge. When high numbers of vine mealybug come out, they unfortunately attract the ants and the ants are the downfall of the Anagyrus. Anagyrus goes from very effective to about 2% effective when the ants are active in the in the vineyards. It is a big limiting factor of theirs. Whereas the Beatles because of their mimicry, they even smell like the mealybugs, and the ants will ignore the juveniles. Once the adults have laid the eggs, the ants will ignore them. And they can feed and control the mealybug with no disturbance from the ants.   Craig Macmillan  8:55  Interesting. Is there an advantage to using both types of organisms?   Brett Chandler  8:59  You can if you're properly timed in high numbers mid season, the beetles are definitely better because they're more effective. As far as bringing down high numbers and a little more tolerant of active spray programs. If you're using mating disruption that works very well. A recent study showed that beetle feeding is actually stimulated by the odors of mealybugs by the female pheromone and it actually stimulates their feedings. So it not only collaborates but it's actually a synergistic effect if you're using pheromone systems like the CheckMate or something like that. And if you're using trapping, that also helps you to time your initial releases of your parasitoids where you want to get them out there very early and as about a week after your first flight is a good time to plan to release. The problem is you don't know exactly when that is and that's the biggest problem is the lead time to get these insects grown. It's about 80 days for the Wasp and about 105 days for the beetles where we have to have those on hand and have started growing them 100 days before you need them. And that's that's the limitation, they don't have a long shelf life.   Craig Macmillan  10:10  So tell me more about the rearing, I think this is really fascinating.   Brett Chandler  10:13  The rearing system is actually rearing on live mealybug host, we rear ours on citrus mealybug, which is a similar host to vine or grape mealy bug, but not problematic if it should escape. So we have large colonies of millions of mealybugs in enclosed spaces, where we raise them to high densities, let the beetles go in the rooms, the adults lay their eggs, feed, reproduce, those 500 400 eggs hatch out, and then we harvest them out of the room, put them in bottles, and ship them to growers. And we've got about five to 10 days from harvest to use them so that they're still strong and vital. That's why we can't hold them over really from more than a week.   Craig Macmillan  10:55  So do you have like phases, you have different different populations that are kind of different stages, so that you can kind of hit the windows as you're going forward? Because otherwise you'd have everybody coming online at 105 days. That'd be like, okay, we got five days to do all the business in the world. Let's get them out there now. You must must wrap it up somehow.   Brett Chandler  11:15  Yeah, you're exactly right, we start logistics in January, and start talking to growers all the way up as far as Napa is down as far south as Delano, and everywhere in between. And if you'll notice, the vines come on at different times along that gradient as well as you run north to south. So that staggers it a little bit. But May and June are we're swamped. We're selling every one we can grow and working to grow more each year. So we do have to stagger them. And we do have almost 50 rearing rooms, where we have cycles coming off every couple of days. So we have fresh every couple of days. So it's continually going on a year round basis. And interesting thing this winter has been we sold tripled the number of beetles this winter than we normally have. And it's just taxing our staff to the maximum. So unfortunately, this year, we are not going to be rearing the Anagyrus Wasp, we simply don't have the manpower for it this year. I believe there's another source for those that's available. But the beetle demand is so strong, we're doubling our population from last year and thinking we're going to need to double it again to make it available because demand is so high.   Craig Macmillan  12:24  So this is really been adopted?   Brett Chandler  12:25  Very much very much. We've been doing it for about 10 years up in Napa and about eight years in the Central Valley and then scattered through that in the Central Coast. And it's becoming more and more driven by the the customers the end customers that want to see a sustainability component to the grapes going into the system. And also a big problem shifting towards the Beatles is the big problem has been for the Anagyrus has been the loss of Lorsban. Chlorpyrifos was actually a very good IPM tool that could be sprayed at the base of the vines to keep keep the ants at bay and allow the Wasps and the Beatles to do a better job. And with this loss, and not a great replacement on the horizon, people are having to use more and more than they did at the past. I mentioned about the Anagyrus dropping off, it drops about 75% and effectiveness when ants are present. So as ants come up, you need many more Anagyrus to get the same concentration in the past. And same thing with the beetles which were treating a lot more acres than we had but also more per acre.   Craig Macmillan  13:32  So there's no overwintering of either of these organisms?   Brett Chandler  13:37  There actually is. As far up as as in Tracy and Lodi area, we've had some overwinterings in most winters. The problem is the numbers are so low, that it's hard to get them going in the spring. You kind of have to kickstart it, but we do get carryover particularly along the coast, we get a lot more carryover. But the wasp, the populations dropped so low, it's very, very difficult to get much carryover with that. So seasonal inundative releases, which is what we've used in citrus for almost 100 years. We've been growing these beetles here for just about 95 years, and they're a great supplement to your pest control. You can't expect classic, practical,complete biocontrol in a crop that is not a naturally occurring ecosystem. There's not an ecosystem somewhere with 100 acres of perfectly uniform vines all coming in at the same time.   Craig Macmillan  14:27  Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. And so this is not a refugia issue. It's not like oh, if I just had the right you know habitat for them they would establish and hangover it's that isn't that's not really a strategy that would work either populations in place.   Brett Chandler  14:42  In most areas you can get a few but the refugia is, can be problematic. They like soft bodied pests, the beatles particular and the mealybug you're not going to get mealybug to produce over the winter they go underground or under the bark so there's simply no food available for the wasp. But the beetle will feed on many soft bodied insects, reproduce on several species of mealybugs. But truthfully, there's not much activity during the winter months, and they have to kind of settle down and it takes them a while to get up to numbers and the pests being, taking advantage of that get jump started in the spring. So if you could get caught up, but you may be on your economic threshold, and they may be in your bunches by the time you get that done.   Craig Macmillan  15:29  What is the integration of cultural control, cultural practices, biological control, chemical control? So the, you know, the classical IPM framework. What do you see growers doing in terms of that integrated approach that's working well, not just for the control the mealybug, but it's also making it possible for these other practices to work well?   Brett Chandler  15:51  Well, the control of the ants through either minor cultivation, or banding with sticky, sticky materials on on the poles and on the lines to exclude the ants. Cultural practices as the're pruning to flag where it was a problem last year, you got those black vines, you've got sooty mold residues so that it combines to catch your eye particularly at this time of year at budbreak. And early in the season. flag that. That's going to be where you're going to see your activity first. And you can have a reward to your pruners to your irrigators to weed people working. Give them the flag and they come back and show you how many they did and you buy them lunch, something like that. Anyone can notice the black stains, you don't have to be highly educated. Then you concentrate your scouting on those black spots rather than having to canvass the entire vineyard. Where the black spots are is where you're gonna see the problem emerge first. Later in the season for spread, you'll have to spend more time. But that's a good economy of time, is to allow everyone that goes through the vineyard to have a part in monitoring.   Craig Macmillan  16:59  And then I can target what I do, whether it's a release or, or whatever. How to pesticides come into play here? Because I think there's always a conflict between biological control agents and pesticides.   Brett Chandler  17:12  We found a good solution in the citrus which seems to work in the grapes just as well. Particularly with newer products like Movento, Spirotetramat, very soft on beneficials, goes into the tree provides long control, goes into the vine provides long control, is not particularly disruptive, has very low surface residue. We found the mealybug and the Cryptolaemus aren't too disrupted by sulfur sprays either. And they do pretty well there. Abeamectin sprays for mites seem to do pretty well. Some of the plant growth regulators though can be quite hard on the beetles. Like Esteem. They will impact them as well. So that is something although it's considered safe for parasitoids, it's not safe for predators. And so we want to watch those when you combine those. Imidacloprid doesn't seem to do too much of a problem with when that's chemigated in or even applied on on a surface surface treatment. We just tried to time the releases to say a week after after your application of something like that, or a few days before a sulphur spraying. By timing it allows the beatles to find it, lay their eggs, which they will almost immediately, same with  the wasps. Having something blowing dust. Even if it is just sulfur dust is highly disruptive, no one would want to have a bag of dust blown on them. And so just the disruption breaks down their activity. So giving them a few days of free time to get used to the odors, detect the mealybug find them do their feeding or their egg laying before you have to pass through again. So the calibration and the timing and the synchronization between your scheduled sprays is is it's usually not too hard to do but it does take a little forethought.   Craig Macmillan  18:53  You might have mentioned this but I'm not positive, we're talking about a release in the spring. They're not additional releases after that, it's a one release per year.   Brett Chandler  19:02  Actually not. The Anagyrus are so expensive to rear the high numbers aren't practical and so many are lost for various reasons that they release about every two weeks up to eight times a year. The Cryptolaemus we do an initial release at a base number and then a follow up release if it's if it's needed by by scouting and and about 50% of the time it's needed. So Cryptolaemus maybe once maybe twice, antivirus up to eight times. So there's a lot more work involved in the Anagyrus. So and they're more expensive. So you want to make sure you're using an expensive tool like that to its best effect. So if you have ants, Anagyrus are not recommended.   Craig Macmillan  19:45  Now we talked about the fact that overwintering isn't really practical, but what things can I do during the season to encourage protect, promote the beneficial insects that I've released?   Brett Chandler  19:54  Very simply the some of the broadleaf plants, some of the lupins and things like that will, if allowed to grow near the vines, will offer a little alternate nectar and a little food if the numbers are getting low for the beetles. The wasps, they will host feed. Like I say they're much more delicate, and it's hard to keep them around. That's why the constant releases during the year because of multiple overlapping generations, they're only feeding on about four days out of 30. Of a 30 day lifecycle for the mealybug, only four days that mealybug appropriate to be stung. So trying to get that you're releasing constantly to provide some loss there at every stage of the life. So that one wasp finds its mealybugs every couple of weeks. The main thing is to keep the disruption of the harsh chemicals to a minimum, or at least timed and coordinate with your insectary. The other thing is coordinating with your insectary and getting to know your supplier. Ask them do you have you know, customers already booked for this time. You know, historically, when when you've first seen it each year. You know historically, when your bunches normally close up, and when you want to get it in there. Follow the the history of vineyard and have it in your mind when you speak to them and give them a target window as early as possible. And they will work with you. You may have to shift a week or two, like I said one way or the other because of availability, but we're constantly expanding production to try and supply everyone as needed. But it's the growth of this. It's grown 30 40% In the last two years in demand, and it's just quite a quite a tough talent to find people that know how to grow insects to hire them. There's not a job board you put up and say, recruiting insecr rearing people, come on over.   Craig Macmillan  21:37  What is your experience? What are growers telling you? This sounds like this is a grower to grower explosion. Talking to people and I'm like. So what are you hearing back from growers that's making them so excited or making them really recommend this to their neighbors?   Brett Chandler  21:52  It seems that they see results. But it's very difficult to quantify an exact percentage, but they're they're satisfied with it. We had one grower who started out and promised he would buy from us if we wouldn't tell anyone he was using them. He thought it was a competitive advantage. And he wanted to keep it a secret from his neighbors because he thought he had one up on them.   Craig Macmillan  22:16  Meanwhile, the pressure of spread from across the fence line continues. I can see that I get you know I can I can see the mindset there. It makes sense. It makes sense. That's one thing I've always loved about this industry, and I've learned about Ag in general is how kind of collaborative it is. Insane things in the wine side, people ask me, you know, oh, or you know, how cutthroat is it? And it's like, well, there is competition, but also everybody's in the same boat. We're all facing the same problems. It's all the same time. You know, I mean, we're kind of a community regardless. With that idea, are you finding, is the spread of information, is this via meetings? Is it just one to one? Is there press stories that have made a difference? I, I'm just really curious about this as a model for other kinds of sustainable technologies.   Brett Chandler  23:01  It I think it's a combination of both. But the onside demonstration, the Lodi, grape growers have have had onsite demonstrations of drone releases for everyone to see. Things like the the Ag Expo, it's been going on and talking about that Kena Daane's been talking about it for several years. But now the practicality of it is really coming forward because people were scared that it was a lot more work. And it's not really. But it is it is a different kind of work, and it is practicable. But it does produce good results. And that's why the growers are coming back year after year to us and buying more each year. I don't think they'd be wasting their money if if they didn't think it was effective. And it seems to be that they're quite satisfied with with the results they're seeing in all aspects of it.   Craig Macmillan  23:48  Are there new things on the horizon? Or things that have just kind of happened recently that are exciting? Are there other organisms that have potential or there are other methods that are starting to show us potential? Do we have new information about the fine mealybug we didn't have before?   Brett Chandler  24:02  You'll have to talk to Dr. Daane about that. Kent knows all the details. I know he's working very hard on it. And he has been for many years. As I say, I think the drone technology and the practicality of the drones is making it more practical to people. Because whether it's an insect or a vineyard, you don't have people standing around, you're usually short handed, especially now. And the drones allow them to also to cooperate them with themselves and their neighbors and work among themselves to have the drone come in and do large scale releases. And that frees up the labor and they may take a few and do some a couple spot releases, but overall they can do broad releases and introduce them to an area, frankly the way we have done with the scale parasites in the citrus for 65 years. And the innondative, area wide approach brings it down and tends to expand overall control. While it's hard to tell on an individual vineyard block or orchard the overall regional control, you'll see it effectively as the numbers begin to drop. As long as we can keep good control of the ants. The ants are a plague in the citrus as well and a huge problem for us. And we use the Lorsban as well and founded quite an effective IPM tool, and we're looking forward to some useful replacement on the near horizon.   Craig Macmillan  25:18  Is there a biological control agent for their Argentine Ant?   Brett Chandler  25:22  They've tried. The thing is a super colony, believe it or not, in other parts of the world, two colonies from 50 yards apart, will fight each other. But most of Western California is one super colony of Argentine Ants that cooperate and feed. They actually keep the Fire Ants out. Where they have controlled them. The Fire Ants come in and they reduce the control and the Fire Ants are decimated by the Argentine Ants in Southern California.   Craig Macmillan  25:49  That's interesting. That's really, really interesting. Well, I want to thank you for being our guest today. This has been great, a lot of great information and some kind of hope, I feel. It's exciting when we get biological control success. At the beginning of the philosophy, like you said, going back 100 or more years ago to classical approach, we had a couple of successes that were really, really exciting. And then people kind of discovered how difficult it was. And I really appreciate folks like you and the rest of the community that keep sticking to this idea, and finding ways to make it work, because it's a fantastic strategy, and it has its place may not be perfect, but man, it makes a huge difference. And I think that's really great. I want to appreciate that. So I want to thank our guest, Brett Chandler, President and General Manager of Associates Insectary for being on the show today. I look forward to seeing you again. It's been a few years before just bumping into you in person again.   Brett Chandler  26:40  I hope so. Craig, look forward to seeing you soon. Thank you.   Transcribed by https://otter.ai

In this episode we talk with Dr. Emily Kraus about biological control. We go over what biological control is and how it is used in the state of Florida. Dr. Kraus tells our listeners about some of the current biological programs Florida is using, as well as what other methods go along with biological control. Thank you for tuning in to Plant Industry News! --- Show Links: Plant Pests and Diseases Biological Control Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Division of Plant Industry Don't Pack a Pest DPI Blog --- Social Media: Facebook: @fdacsdpi Twitter: @fdacsdpi Instagram: @fdacsdpi YouTube- FDACS DPI

This week we are joined with Shannon Michael, an Operations Manager at BioCon International LLC. He has worked more than 20 years in the Safety/Security industry. He is a Biohazard Specialist, an instructor for bloodborne pathogens, and an instructor for drug lab decontamination. He has his BS in occupational health and safety as well.Tune in as we dive into biological control with Shannon! He has extensive knowledge on this topic and provides us with a lot of valuable information. To learn more about our Risk Management Department visit --> https://ibcins.biz/risk-management/ or call 712-277-2424. 

12 rabbits that turned a nation crazy. Cue: a plague, the founder of immunology, a famous actress, and ten million dollars.

If you're looking for a sustainable way to control garden pests, delve into this episode on the weird and wonderful world of biological controls. RHS expert entomologist Andy Salisbury explores the fascinating history of how certain bugs and beasties were introduced as pest controls (with many successes... and some disasters), and food and nature writer Eugenia Bone explains how fungi have a potentially vital role. Plus, RHS scientist Magdelena Boshoff explains how to successfully apply nematodes to control pests in your garden.

What's up Plant People? Todays episode is another one I've been looking forward to for a long time! Emily Bell and I have been twitter friends for a little while and I've thought for a long time that she'd be a perfect guest for Planthropology. Emily is an anthropologist, an ecologist, a public educator, an avid outdoor enthusiast, a photographer, and so much more! We talked about invasive species, living in Florida, biological control, good science communication, being kind, and so much more! I could have talked to Emily for hours about all this stuff, and I know you're really going to love this conversation! Emily's LinksTwitterInstagram*************************As always, thanks so much for listening! Subscribe, rate, and review Planthropology on your favorite podcast app. It really helps the show keep growing and reaching more people! Also, check out Planthropology on our website and various social media pages, all listed below. As an added bonus, if you review Planthropology on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser and send me a screenshot of it, I'll send you an awesome sticker pack!Listen in on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, or wherever else you like to get your podcasts.Website: www.planthropologypod.comPodchaser: www.podchaser.com/PlanthropologyFacebook: PlanthropologyFacebook group: Planthropology's Cool Plant PeopleInstagram: @PlanthropologyPodTwitter: @Planthropology_e-mail: Planthropologypod@gmail.com Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/planthropology)

https://www.wur.nl/en/Persons/Gerben-prof.dr.ir.-GJ-Gerben-Messelink.htm (Dr. Messelink )is a Special Professor in Biological Pest Control in Greenhouse Production Systems and Senior Research Entomologist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He has an extensive background in conducting research using predators and parasitic wasps to manage common pests in greenhouse production. We discuss one of his recent publications looking at using a generalist predator to manage two key pests (whiteflies and thrips) on gerberas. Leman et al. (2020). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30549212/#:~:text=In%20laboratory%20studies%2C%20we%20found,whiteflies%20but%20not%20by%20thrips.&text=pygmaeus%20is%20a%20good%20candidate,of%20both%20pests%20in%20gerbera (The omnivorous predator Macrolophus pygmaeus, a good candidate for the control of both greenhouse whitefly and poinsettia thrips on gerbera plants). Insect Science, 27: 510 - 518.

Last time Jessica Walliser was on the show, she talked about biological controls, or allowing the ecosystem to “pest control” itself. Today, she talks about how you can use companion planting to bring in beneficials. Connect With Jessica Walliser: Jessica Walliser is a horticulturist, founding partner at Savvy Gardening, and the author of multiple books including the upcoming Plant Partners: Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for the Vegetable Garden. Buy Birdies Garden Beds Use code EPICPODCAST for 5% off your first order of Birdies metal raised garden beds, the best metal raised beds in the world. They last 5-10x longer than wooden beds, come in multiple heights and dimensions, and look absolutely amazing. Click here to shop Birdies Garden Beds Buy My Book My book, Field Guide to Urban Gardening, is a beginners guide to growing food in small spaces, covering 6 different methods and offering rock-solid fundamental gardening knowledge: Order on Amazon Order a signed copy Follow Epic Gardening YouTube Instagram Pinterest Facebook Facebook Group

“Gene bank” may sound like something out of a Sci-fi movie – but they are actually really important in the real world! Gene banks are a type of biological repository where genetic material is stored. When it comes to crops, gene banks hold the future of food, and include seeds, plant cuttings and more. Join Dr. Quave this week as she chats with Dr. Ren Wang, the Director General of the China National GeneBank, based in Shenzhen, China.      *** ABOUT OUR GUEST Dr. Ren Wang obtained his Ph.D in Entomology in 1985 at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.  He was a researcher (Assistant Research Professor, Associate Professor and Professor) at the Institute of Biological Control of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) during 1985-1993, and pioneered China’s program of managing invasive exotic plants using the classical biological control approach. He was the funding Director of the joint Sino-American Biological Control Laboratory between USDA and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture during 1987-1993. From 1993 to 1995, he was the Deputy Director, Programme Development of the International Institute of Biological Control (IIBC), CAB International, UK.    He served two terms as Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences during 1995-2000 and 2010-2013, respectively. During 2000-2007, Dr. Wang served as Deputy Director General for Research at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) based in the Philippines. In July 2007, He became the Director of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) based at the World Bank in Washington, DC, USA.  During Feb 2013 to Mar 2018, Dr. Wang served as Assistant Director General of FAO’s Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department, based in Rome, Italy. In Mar 2018, he retired from FAO, and joined BGI as the Special Advisor to the Chairman of BGI. In April 2019, he was appointed as Director General, China National GeneBank, Shenzhen.     Dr. Wang served on a series of high level international boards and committees in the area of agriculture and agricultural research, and was invited speaker in numerous conferences and forum in both China and the world. He is currently a board member and chair of the Program Committee of the International  Center for Biosaline Agriculture, Dubai. *** ABOUT FOODIE PHARMACOLOGY  Now in Season 2 with more than sixty episodes! Tune in to explore the food-medicine continuum with Dr. Cassandra Quave as she meets with award-winning authors, chefs, scientists, farmers and experts on the connections between food and health. New episodes release every Monday! Like the show? Please leave us a rating on Apple Podcasts and share your favorite episodes with your friends!    *** PODCAST DESCRIPTION: Have you ever wondered where your food comes from? Not just where it’s grown today, but where it originally popped up in the world? Have you ever bit into a delicious ripe fruit and wondered, hey – why is it this color? What’s responsible for this amazing flavor? Is this good for my health? Could it even be medicinal? Foodie Pharmacology is a science podcast built for the food curious, the flavor connoisseurs, chefs, science geeks, plant lovers and adventurous taste experimenters out in the world! Join American ethnobotanist Dr. Cassandra Quave on this adventure through history, medicine, cuisine and molecules as she explores the amazing pharmacology of our foods.    *** SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW:  Subscribe to Foodie Pharmacology on Apple Podcasts for audio and the TeachEthnobotany YouTube Channel to see full video of new episodes. You can also find more than 50 episodes of the show at https://foodiepharmacology.com/ Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @foodiepharma or on Facebook at "Foodie Pharmacology with Cassandra Quave"    *** PODCAST REVIEWS:  “Professor Cassandra Quave brings quality Science to the public. She covers a wide range of topics in-depth in a seemingly effortless way. Learn from a passionate researcher, and be inspired!” – Ina on Apple Podcasts Reviews   “You are what you eat — and what you listen to. Dr. Quave combines science with food, culture and history in this enjoyable, educational podcast.”--Carol on Facebook Page Reviews    “We have needed this podcast for a long time. Dr. Quave's willingness to share her knowledge of plant usage and history make these podcasts interesting and helpful. The interviews from around the world are always loaded with information. Waiting on a new episode every week.”--Alan on Apple Podcasts Reviews    “Great podcast about favorite foods! If you love food, you will love this podcast! Dr. Quave makes the science behind the food approachable and easy to understand. Love it!”--Liz on Apple Podcasts Reviews    “Dr Quave is amazingly informative. I could listen to her talk all day. And thanks to these podcasts I can! Thank you!”-- Wendy on Facebook Page Reviews    “Fascinating and entertaining! Dr. Quave is not just one of the foremost experts on the subject, she is also an incredibly gifted teacher and storyteller. I highly recommend Foodie Pharmacology to anyone with any interest in the subject.”-- John on Facebook Page Reviews    “Dr. Quave is a brilliant scientist and storyteller, which makes this program both entertaining and accessible!”-- Ernest on Facebook Page Reviews    “Dr. Quave is my go to source for all things Ethnobotany. Her new podcast is a great way to learn about plants and their many uses, ranging from food to medicine and so much more. I can’t wait for the newest episode!”--Paul on Apple Podcasts Reviews

Anna chats with newly minted PhD Nicole Quinn (previously Virginia Tech, now USDA-ARS) about her work studying BMSB dispersal and the dispersal of its natural enemy, samurai wasp.

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Plant Industry News. This episode begins with Director Dr. Trevor Smith as he announces the recipient of a significant Division award, promotes the Arboretum grove in Winter Haven and shares updates on various events and programs happening around the Division. Enjoy our interview with Dr. Leroy Whilby, Bureau Chief of the Bureau of Entomology, Nematology and Plant Pathology, as he shares about his role as Bureau Chief, as well as his job with the Medical Corps in the U.S. Army. Leroy discusses how both his civilian and military careers compare and relate to each other. Stay tuned to the end of the podcast to hear our Division Digest. This month we introduce a new employee in the Public Information and Outreach office and celebrate an upcoming retirement in the Bureau of Methods Development and Biological Control. Follow us on social media @FDACSDPI. As always, you can find updated versions of our latest publications and papers on our website https://www.fdacs.gov/Divisions-Offices/Plant-Industry . Subscribe and rate us! If you have any questions or suggestions for topics feel free to submit them to DPI-blog@FDACS.gov and we will reference them in the next episode.

Dr. Jenny Cory is a Professor and Thelma Finlayson Chair in Biological Control at https://www.sfu.ca/ (Simon Fraser University) in British Columbia, Canada. She is also the Director of the Masters in Pest Management Program; a research-based masters that has slightly more numerous and focused coursework in the area of integrated pest management. We have an interesting conversation about insect viruses and how they may relate to the current global pandemic (SARS-CoV-2). Citation for the scientific paper discussed: Redman, E.M., K. Wilson and J.S. Cory. 2016. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27155461/ (Trade-offs and mixed infections in an obligate-killing insect pathogen). J. Anim. Ecol. 85:1200–1209.

I read from biogenesis to biological control to Tom M. Here are Tom's various project links: What's Going Down in Downtown J-Town The Local Music Bonanza String Theories (music lessons) Colonel Chloroform Otter Finn End Transmission   The word of the episode is "bioinformatics". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioinformatics     dictionarypod@gmail.com Facebook Twitter Instagram Patreon 917-727-5757

Your backyard is full of antibiotics. What they're there doing might surprise you. Special Guests: Linda Kinkel and Soledad Benitez Ponce.

Listen to this article from West Coast Nut by Kathy Coatney.

Grape vine trunk diseases are prevalent in mature vineyards, shortening the vineyard’s life and productivity. Akif Eskalen, Cooperative Extension Specialist and Plant Pathologist at the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California Davis, is researching naturally occurring microorganisms to use as biocontrol against these fungal pathogens. Antagonistic microorganisms already live in the plant tissue without causing damage to the plant but may become depleted. Akif and his team working to deliver beneficial bacteria back into the plant both at the nursery and in established vineyards. There is evidence that these beneficial microorganism not only increase the plants defense mechanism, but also improves the health of the plant and potentially increases yield. References: 2: The Goldilocks Principle & Powdery Mildew Management (podcast) 47: Fungicide Resistance in the Vineyard (podcast) Eskalen Lab "Eutypa" A.K.A. Grapevine Trunk Disease Gubler-Thomas Model Managing Trunk Diseases During Vineyard Establishment with Dr. Kendra Baumgartner PMapp: A Mobile App for Assessing Grape Powdery Mildew SIP Certified Self-Assessment SIP for Scholars Get More Subscribe on Google Play, iHeartRADIO, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources. Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Plant Industry News. This episode begins with Director, Dr. Trevor Smith as he discusses pest introduction on Christmas trees and craft materials this holiday season as well as in pet trade. He also discusses his recent trip to Hawaii and the different projects happening there. Enjoy part 2 of the interview with Eric Rohrig and Sedonia Steininger from the Bureau of Methods Development and Biological Control as they share more about the new biological control for Brazilian peppertree. Stay tuned to the end of the podcast to hear our Division Digest. This month we welcome new employees to the division and recognize a promotion. Follow us on social media @FDACSDPI. As always, you can find updated versions of our latest publications and papers on our website https://www.fdacs.gov/Divisions-Offices/Plant-Industry . Subscribe and rate us! If you have any questions or suggestions for topics feel free to submit them to DPI-blog@FDACS.gov and we will reference them in the next episode.

A truly awful text but totally worth it for the vocab and strategies. Learn how to answer these questions without understanding almost anything

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Plant Industry News. This episode begins with Director, Dr. Trevor Smith as he discusses the tomato brown rugose virus, growing cotton in south Florida and a new moth find in Alachua County. Enjoy an interview with Eric Rohrig and Sedonia Steininger from the Bureau of Methods Development and Biological Control as they share about the new biological control for Brazilian peppertree. Stay tuned to the end of the podcast to hear our Division Digest. This month we welcome a new employee to the division, recognize promotions and remind DPI employees of our office closure for the upcoming holiday. Follow us on social media @FDACSDPI. As always, you can find updated versions of our latest publications and papers on our website https://www.fdacs.gov/Divisions-Offices/Plant-Industry . Subscribe and rate us! If you have any questions or suggestions for topics feel free to submit them to DPI-blog@FDACS.gov and we will reference them in the next episode.

‘Biological control’ refers to the practice of controlling invasive pest populations by introducing their natural enemies into an ecosystem. Although biological control can reduce reliance on toxic chemicals and protect natural ecosystems, this approach is not without its challenges. Dr Peter McEvoy and his colleagues at Oregon State University discovered that certain biological control organisms show unexpectedly fast rates of evolution, which can lead to unforeseen impacts on ecosystems and agriculture. These scientists believe that it is time to develop an all-embracing theory to help assess the evolutionary potential of biological control organisms that may influence the efficacy and safety of future introduction programs.

Talking biological control of crop diseases with Flavio Medeiros by Nebraska Farmer

Dr. Cliff Ohmart shares insights from his career in sustainability research and education in winegrapes and other crops. He talks about how his experiences with the Lodi Winegrape Commission and grape growers in the Lodi appellation shaped how he sees IPM and sustainable winegrowing today. References: 27: 50 years of IPM | Peter Goodell (Sustainable Winegrowing) 35: Integrated Pest Management in Sustainably Farmed Vineyards | Bart Haycraft (Sustainable Winegrowing) Google search results for “Cliff Ohmart” Lodi Winegrape Commission Sign Up | Irrigation Efficiency Project “The Integration of Chemical and Biological Control of the Spotted Alfalfa Aphid: The Integrated Control Concept” (The original IPM article) View from the Vineyard: A Practical Guide to Sustainable Winegrape Growing| Clifford P. Ohmart “What is IPM” (UCIPM webpage) Get More Subscribe on Google Play, iHeartRADIO, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources. Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.

Wondering which native plants are most attractive to beneficial insects? Join Kim Eierman as she talks with Dr. Doug Landis about his latest research at Michigan State University. Dr. Landis is Professor of Insect Ecology and Biological Control at MSU and Director of the Landis Lab.

MOLECULAR DIAGNOSIS AND BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF PHYTOPHTHORA ROOT ROT IN PEPPER AND FUSARIUM WILT IN MUSKMELON Josefa Blaya Fernández Lectura de Tesis Doctoral Realizada en el Dpto. de Agroquímica y Medio Ambiente Directores: Dr. D. José Antonio Pascual Valero Dra. Dña. Margarita Matilde Ros Muñoz 2 de Abril de 2015 PLAN DIVULGA UMH 2015 Servicio de Innovación y Apoyo Técnico a la Docencia y a la Investigación. Vicerrectorado de Investigación e Innovación. Universidad Miguel Hernández

Learn more about how biological control methods work, as Francis Schwarze explains the process for identifying the proper antagonistic strain for a pathogen, on this episode of Science of Arboriculture.

A consortium of researchers in the north central region is coordinating research across state boundaries to bring you the best research-based information. The podcast series, "Management of White Mold in Soybeans" has seven episodes and covers these topics: What is White Mold? Understanding the Risks of White Mold in a Growing Season, Biological Control for White Mold, Foliar Fungicides for White Mold, Estimating Yield Loss Due to White Mold, Impact of Irrigation on White Mold, and Guidelines for an Overall Management Plan to Reduce White Mold.

A consortium of researchers in the north central region is coordinating research across state boundaries to bring you the best research-based information. The podcast series, "Management of White Mold in Soybeans" has seven episodes and covers these topics: What is White Mold? Understanding the Risks of White Mold in a Growing Season, Biological Control for White Mold, Foliar Fungicides for White Mold, Estimating Yield Loss Due to White Mold, Impact of Irrigation on White Mold, and Guidelines for an Overall Management Plan to Reduce White Mold.

A consortium of researchers in the north central region is coordinating research across state boundaries to bring you the best research-based information. The podcast series, "Management of White Mold in Soybeans" has seven episodes and covers these topics: What is White Mold? Understanding the Risks of White Mold in a Growing Season, Biological Control for White Mold, Foliar Fungicides for White Mold, Estimating Yield Loss Due to White Mold, Impact of Irrigation on White Mold, and Guidelines for an Overall Management Plan to Reduce White Mold.

A consortium of researchers in the north central region is coordinating research across state boundaries to bring you the best research-based information. The podcast series, "Management of White Mold in Soybeans" has seven episodes and covers these topics: What is White Mold? Understanding the Risks of White Mold in a Growing Season, Biological Control for White Mold, Foliar Fungicides for White Mold, Estimating Yield Loss Due to White Mold, Impact of Irrigation on White Mold, and Guidelines for an Overall Management Plan to Reduce White Mold.

A consortium of researchers in the north central region is coordinating research across state boundaries to bring you the best research-based information. The podcast series, "Management of White Mold in Soybeans" has seven episodes and covers these topics: What is White Mold? Understanding the Risks of White Mold in a Growing Season, Biological Control for White Mold, Foliar Fungicides for White Mold, Estimating Yield Loss Due to White Mold, Impact of Irrigation on White Mold, and Guidelines for an Overall Management Plan to Reduce White Mold.

A consortium of researchers in the north central region is coordinating research across state boundaries to bring you the best research-based information. The podcast series, "Management of White Mold in Soybeans" has seven episodes and covers these topics: What is White Mold? Understanding the Risks of White Mold in a Growing Season, Biological Control for White Mold, Foliar Fungicides for White Mold, Estimating Yield Loss Due to White Mold, Impact of Irrigation on White Mold, and Guidelines for an Overall Management Plan to Reduce White Mold.

A consortium of researchers in the north central region is coordinating research across state boundaries to bring you the best research-based information. The podcast series, "Management of White Mold in Soybeans" has seven episodes and covers these topics: What is White Mold? Understanding the Risks of White Mold in a Growing Season, Biological Control for White Mold, Foliar Fungicides for White Mold, Estimating Yield Loss Due to White Mold, Impact of Irrigation on White Mold, and Guidelines for an Overall Management Plan to Reduce White Mold.

  Host Kathy Sipple speaks with John Ervin of Primal Elegance about Synergistic Living Solutions.   In Northwest Indiana, there are over 70 invasive species of plants that threaten one or more things that we value. They impact our gardens, our farms, our woodlands, our ponds, our landscapes, and our comforts. Unlike the weeds with which we are most accustomed, like dandelions and thistles, these “super-weeds” not only dominate their habitat, but they alter it in ways that science is only now beginning to understand.   Due to their growth habits and their abilities to disperse, the techniques required to control these species are nearly as diverse as the plants themselves. In his 25 years as an ecologist, arborist, entomologist, and nurseryman, John Ervin has accumulated control methods, and sensibilities regarding invasive species.   John will discuss a few of these species, their significance, and his recommendations for the landowner.