New Spin: Pest Identifier Wheel

If you’ve ever planted something, you know that there aren’t many things that are more incredible, or which will put a bigger smile on your face, than watching that life sprout and grow!

Of course, there’s always the dark side.

You gnash your teeth and curse as you watch some weird, unidentifiable bug or blight eat, deform, wilt and otherwise destroy your pretty plant right in front of you!

Well, take hope. The UC Cooperative Extension-San Diego County has created a “Pest Identifier Wheel,” a simple, easy-to-carry-and-use, interactive tool — complete with pictures, info and a link to more resources — that can identify what’s ailing your plant and offer tips to help! (The UC Cooperative Extension, AKA the Farm and Home Advisor Office, is a University of California program, a County department and a partner with the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture.)

And the Pest Wheel just might save the world! OK, maybe not the world, but at least, our streams, beaches and bays and that’s a heck of a start.

You see, helping gardeners was only part of the motive when the Cooperative Extension (with funding help from the Dept. of Public Works Watershed Protection Program) created the wheel. They really wanted to encourage all of us to cut water pollution by using something other than pesticides to control garden problems. They wanted to see more of us use things like beneficial predator bugs, hand care and keeping gardens healthy in the first place to control yard problems and keep our pretty plants thriving.

See, the pesticides we spray on our plants often end up washed off our lawns and gardens and floating down gutters, into storm drains and to the water — the beaches bays and streams. (Did you know that about 65 percent of all the pesticides bought in the county are used in and around homes by residents — not by agribusiness or professional exterminators?)

Make no mistake, the Pest Identifier Wheel is still primarily a cool tool to use around the garden. Here’s how it works. It’s actually made up of two “wheels,” a small one in the middle and a larger one that spins around the outside. The outer wheel’s circumference is lined with pictures of 12 common plant-plaguing fungi and pests, with small lines to show their relative size. (OK, some, like ants, are easy — but do you really know what mealybugs or armored scales look like?) The inner wheel has three cutout windows lining from top to bottom. All the information is printed in English on one side of the wheel and in Spanish on the other. At about 10 inches across and paper-thin, the wheel’s a lot easier to carry around your yard than lugging your dog-eared, 600-page copy of the Sunset Western Garden Book! Spin the outer wheel and line up the photo of the pest or fungi in the top window, and the second window lines up to show the pest’s name and where you might find it on your plants. At the same time, the bottom window lines up to show what kind of damage they typically do (such as “extract sap and reduce pant vigor”) and the least toxic way to control the problem.

In addition, the middle of the inner wheel displays photos of five commonly-found “beneficial bugs” — predators that will eat the bad guys, such as ladybugs and lacewings — and the website address of UC Davis’ Integrated Pest Management information page.

The UC Cooperative Extension has printed up 5,000 Pest Identifier Wheels and is distributing them at County seminars for growers and at Healthy Garden-Healthy Home gardening workshops and seminars. 

If you’d like to know more about the Pest Identifier Wheel, contact Scott Parker at (858) 694-2184 BEFORE July 25, and (858)614-7629 AFTER July 25, or at saparker@ucdavis.edu.