The Situation: The potato psyllid is a major insect pest of solanaceous crops growing in Central and North America. Potato psyllid has historically been a sporadic pest in California, generally developing damaging populations for 6 months or a year and then disappearing for 20 or 30 years. However, since the year 2000, year-round populations have...

The Situation: Phytophthora ramorum is one of several species of related fungus-like water molds (oomycetes) that are pathogenic to plants. Another member of this group, P. infestans, is notable as the cause of the potato blight epidemics in Europe in the mid-1800s. More recently, P. ramorum has emerged as a major threat to California woodlands...