Ms. Teresa,

I'd like to have some of the seeds you offered on last Tuesday's program 22 May, 2012.

Also, do you know a natural bug deterrent to enjoy outdoor backyard. I've read that rosemary is a good deck/patio plant.

Thanks for your show, In Your Backyard.

Linnett

Linnett,

Please send me your home address so I can send the rain lily seeds, too.

There really is no vegetative bug deterrent for mosquitos. Rosemary has flowers that can attract bees so I don't see it as a "bug deterrent." But rosemary is a wonderful fragrant plant for a deck container. Mosquitos need water to lay eggs, so I would make sure there is no standing water anywhere in your backyard vicinity. including bird baths, mulch, gutters, pots, children's toys. DEET is an excellent, safe product to repel mosquitos.

Mosquito myths

Mosquito repellents

Thank you for writing and listening to the show!

Teresa

California Scientists Release Citrus Psyllid Predator

Tamarixia radiata

California scientists just released the Tamarixia radiata - a predator wasp that attacks our dreaded Asian citrus psyllid.

UC Riverside Executive Vice Chancellor Dallas Rabenstein and Mark Hoddle, the director of the Center for Invasive Species Research, released Tamarixia radiata – tiny, stingless parasitic wasps that lay eggs in ACP nymphs – in a citrus grove near the UCR Botanic Gardens. A total of 281 wasps (95 males and 186 females) were released.



Over the next several years, UCR and California Department of Agriculture Food and Agriculture (CDFA) scientists will raise thousands of Tamarixia for release throughout California. The Tamarixia larvae will eat the ACP nymphs, killing them, and emerge as adults about 12 days later. Adult female Tamarixia also eat other ACP nymphs, killing many in the process.

Read more.

Management of Asian Citrus Psyllid - IFAS

Tamarixia radiata - life cycle - Cornell

Why Are My Citrus Leaves Curling?