insects

Taking advantage of statewide moisture in the forecast, the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest will conduct prescribed fire operations across several portions of the forest this week as part of the forest’s hazardous fuels reduction effort and active forest management program. Also, weather and conditions permitting, the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team will continue widespread prescribed fire operations this week in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

The 2020 pine nut harvest season kicks off on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. Both agencies are working together to ensure the public is safely harvesting pine nuts and aware of the regulations.

They wore pajamas, were wrapped in blankets, and carried cups of Dutch Bros and Starbucks as they gathered to celebrate the beginning of their senior year and the almost end of the soothing summer weather. The Class of 2020-2021, while practicing social distancing and wearing the latest fashion in face masks, gathered together at 6:00 a.m. Sept. 4 on the bleachers of the CHS football field to watch their sun rise.

Recently, I received a photo of a stink bug that I suspected was the invasive brown marmorated stink bug. However, the insect seemed to be more charcoal gray than the typical brown color. Insects can look very different not only at different stages of development but also when found in different areas.

Look under your fruit trees. You might see dozens of tiny fruit on the ground. Don’t worry; it’s the June drop. Since trees often set more fruit than they can support, each June they shed an abundance of underdeveloped fruit.

Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team member, Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District, is planning to conduct understory burns in Glenbrook on Tuesday, May 12 and in Zephyr Cove on May 20, 2020, weather permitting.

An expansion is underway at Carson City’s own The Greenhouse Project, which will provide more learning opportunities to those who are inclined toward agricultural science.

I don’t know about you, but the one thing I hate about Spring and Summer are the return of the dastardly mosquito. I’ll be having a perfectly lovely time out in my garden or with my family around the grill, and later when I’m getting ready for bed I’ll find a thousand itchy bites all over my legs and arms.

Gardening is a great activity that can be done at home, and University of Nevada, Reno Extension is offering online courses to teach gardening basics. This April, Extension's Grow Your Own, Nevada! Program will live stream eight classes statewide to help those who want to get on a path to more sustainable, local, healthy living by growing more of their own food.

Learn about the theories of how life formed on Earth and the possibility of life on other planets during aquatic ecologist Marianne Denton’s presentation “Astrobiology: We’re Still Figuring Out How Life Started on Earth” this Saturday, Jan. 25 at Western Nevada College's Jack. C. Davis Observatory.

The Nevada Division of Forestry is currently seeking pre-proposals for two competitive grant programs: Landscape Scale Restoration and State Fire Assistance.

The first of a series of 12 educational gardening classes presented through the collaboration of Carson Tahoe Health and The Greenhouse Project begins this Friday, Jan. 24. Site managers Cory King and William Pierz have put together the monthly series of classes.

Weather permitting, the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team will continue prescribed fire operations over the next several weeks in the Tahoe Basin.

Winter sun and drying winds can damage not only our skin, but the bark of trees and shrubs. It seems obvious that plants might get sunburned in the summer, but less intuitive that it also happens in the winter when it is called winter sunscald.

North Lake Tahoe and Tahoe Douglas fire protection districts, along with California State Parks, California Tahoe Conservancy and the USDA Forest Service may continue prescribed fire operations over the next several weeks in the Tahoe Basin, weather, conditions and staffing permitted.

This Thanksgiving holiday has given us a lot to be thankful for. Let us be grateful for the recent precipitation. Let us be grateful for a climate with minimal plant diseases. Let us be thankful for all the other gardeners out there working to provide habitat for pollinators and other beneficial insects. And, let us be grateful for soils teeming with life, filled with organic matter that hold water without drowning plants.

The last Thursday of November means a big gobble gobble, Happy Thanksgiving to all. Enjoy in the games, festivities, activities at home and outdoors. Events are at a minimum, for obvious reasons, but the two big ones are traditions for us in the capital city. The Carson City Turkey Trot at the Governor's Mansion and the free Carson Nugget Thanksgiving community dinner. Enjoy your day and any slight break in the weather. More winter storms are on the way.

With snow overnight into the morning, the eve of Thanksgiving will bustle with last minute food shopping and, for many, preparing for an extended holiday weekend. There's a few activities around Carson City on Wednesday, Nov. 27 including a "Get Fit with Fight Camp" at Yaple's Ballroom, art showings, classes and more.

With the season's first big winter storm expected to arrive later Tuesday evening into Thanksgiving, you can still get in activities around the capital city before the snow flies. There's a morning walk and evening hike with Muscle Powered, a job fair at the Carson Nugget, fitness and swing classes at Yaple's Ballroom, a Carson City School Board meeting and more.

Enjoy any sunshine Monday as our first significant snow storm of the season is ahead this Thanksgiving holiday week. Activities and happenings on the first day of the work week, Nov. 25, 2019 include a free yoga class offered through Partnership Carson City, a discussion on the Julian Castro campaign hosted by the Carson City Democratic Men's Club, art events and more.

North Lake Tahoe and Tahoe Douglas fire protection districts, along with California State Parks, California Tahoe Conservancy and the USDA Forest Service may continue prescribed fire operations over the next few weeks in the Tahoe Basin — weather conditions and staffing permitted.

Santa will be appearing at St. Nick's Village, located at Casino Fandango between the Sky Bridge and Galaxy Theater, each Saturday and Sunday between Thanksgiving and Christmas from 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. The first 4X6 photo with Santa is free, and donations will be accepted to benefit The Greenhouse Project.

North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District and California State Parks may continue prescribed fire operations over the next several weeks in the Tahoe Basin, if weather and conditions permit.

Good yard sanitation in the fall is as important to year-long plant health as proper planting, watering, fertilizing and pruning are. This is particularly true for next year’s crop of vegetables and fruit. Remove or cut back all the plants in the vegetable garden that are done for the season.

Weather and conditions permitting, North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District and California State Parks may continue prescribed fire operations over the next several weeks in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

The theme for the Carson City Photo Club this month was Insects and Macro, and the club has announced the winners.

The Carson City Photo Club meets at 6:00 on the fourth Tuesday of every month (except December) at the Carson City Sheriff's Office (use west entrance). All levels of photographers are welcome.

One of the things I used to do at University of Nevada Cooperative Extension was diagnosing plant problems. When people brought in samples, I, other Extension staff and volunteers would examine them to see what the problem was and what might be causing it.

Skunks are back in our neighborhood. Twenty-five years ago we had skunks here regularly, sometimes living under our shed. Our dogs would run through nearby fields and get sprayed. When the golf course was built across the creek from us and numerous houses went in, skunks disappeared.

The word “pest” means different things to different people: weeds that are never-ending, insects on plants or in houses, plant diseases of all types, mushrooms in a lawn or critters digging up a garden or yard. Gardening is not for the faint of heart. Some people spray or use a chemical for everything, whether it is called for or not. This is not necessarily an effective approach.

I bumped into my friend Cat at a nursery buying marigolds to solve a problem her lilacs were having. She said something was eating the leaves along the edges leaving sharp-edged cutouts. She said someone swore that marigolds planted around the base of the shrubs would solve the problem.