18 Feb
By Marcia Wood,
Olives basking in sunny California groves might find that their new best friend is a small brown wasp. Known to scientists as Psyttalia cf. concolor, the little wasp can help foil the olive fruit fly, a powerful natural enemy of olives.
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) entomologist Victoria Y. Yokoyama and colleagues have imported [...]
Posted in California, Ecology | Environment, Health by: Olives101
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28 Oct
last week, Sarah Palin gave her first policy speech, urging the federal government to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Along the way, she too attacked science earmarks by claiming that the shortfall needed to fully fund the act was less money than was allocated to projects that have “little or nothing to [...]
Posted in California, Ecology | Environment, France, North America, Olive Oil, Olive Tree by: Olives101
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15 Oct
By Alastair Bland,
At Bernardo Winery, one of the oldest olive oil producers in California, oil flow has come to a standstill. While the Rancho Bernardo company has historically produced 300 to 400 gallons of olive oil per year from its 1200 trees, the olive fruit fly, an invasive pest that’s native to Mediterranean Europe and [...]
Posted in California, Ecology | Environment, Olive Oil, Olive Tree by: Olives101
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25 Feb
A pest is harming one of Northern California’s most important crops….and the problem seems to be growing.
By Steve Milne,
It’s a fruit fly that plagues olives. The bug first appeared in California 10 years ago and has spread across the state. Hannah Burrack is an expert on the olive fruit fly. She teaches entomology at North [...]
Posted in California, Olive Tree by: Olives101
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03 Nov
By Julie Kaufmann (Mercury News)
Our stories about home-cured olives and the widespread infestation of the olive fruit fly in our area (Food & Wine, Oct. 24) brought a phone call from Phil Cosentino, who retired from the family grocery business and now grows and sells fruit from more than 500 trees on two acres in [...]
Posted in Articles, California, Ecology | Environment, Olive Tree by: Olives101
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24 Oct
By Holly Hayes
For generations, many gardeners in California were accustomed to growing olives for oil or table fruit. Then came the invasion of the olive fruit fly, which was first discovered in the Los Angeles area in 1998 and quickly spread throughout the state’s olive-growing regions.
Commercial growers fairly quickly had tools to control the pest. [...]
Posted in California, Ecology | Environment, Olive Tree by: Olives101
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