A mound has also been found in Fresno County. Scientists say they hitchhiked on beehives brought from Texas for almond pollination. The imported ant is a close cousin to an ant already found in the state, the Southern Fire Ant. He and other UC entomologists are working with the California Department of Food and Agriculture to ensure an effective, full-scale program is implemented immediately to eradicate Imported Fire Ants. New Control Measures for Lygus Under Study Lygus have long plagued San Joaquin Valley farmers, frustrating their efforts to reduce pesticide use.
Few pests are so abundant, so content to feed on a variety of crops and so difficult to control.
Facing another year of high lygus populations, all farmers can do now is spray, says UC agronomy farm advisor Shannon Mueller. But she is collaborating with USDA scientists to find alternatives for the future. This year Mueller is surveying Fresno County lygus populations for evidence of parasitism. If we can find a parasite in the Valley, commercially rear them and release them into fields, we'll have another tool in lygus control. Making the system work, Mueller said, would require cooperation among the growers of crops that lygus like to feed on, including cotton, alfalfa seed, dry beans and safflower.