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By For The Madera Tribune

From California's farms to suburban lawns, the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management program provides the latest research for controlling nuisances and profit-killing invasions of insects, plant diseases, birds, gophers and squirrels. A compilation of recent progress is chronicled in the program's 2009 annual report, now available.

The vine mealybug is an example of the program's success. This pest first appeared in Southern California's Coachella Valley in the mid-1990s threatening the state's $2.3 billion wine, table and raisin grape industries. A native of the Mediterranean regions of Europe and the Middle East, Argentina and Mexico, it steadily spread northward to vineyards in the San Joaquin Valley, and the Central and the North coasts.

Over the last decade, UC researchers conducted studies on insecticides and natural enemies to put together an effective and long-lasting vine mealybug control program. To stop the spread of the pest to new vineyards, they developed a hot-water immersion protocol for vine cuttings that is nearly foolproof.

The report also contains articles about residential pests. For example, homeowners plagued by tiny black ants have, during the last decade, turned in droves to over-the-counter insecticides that contain pyrethroids. However, scientists determined that pyrethroid runoff from urban neighborhoods was making some natural waterways toxic to aquatic organisms.

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