Yep. Particularly for me--- SoCal and indeterminate tomatoes. I'm doing "ok" with my beneficials but I'm still working on the diversity of plants to attract the pirate bugs and such. I'm still trying to figure out how to get some buckwheat and/or alfalfa into my tiny backyard. And I don't ever see yarrow or tansy seeds/seedlings at the garden centers. I was hoping that lacewings would be able to take care of these pests because I definitely am going to purchase some in the next week. I just don't want to shell out more money for the "other" beneficials if I don't have a nice home for them to put out future generations. Looks like UC IPM isn't as thorough for the tomato bug as they are for other pests. You never had to deal with them when you lived down here jean? Thanks Kevin

I really appreciate your help. Thank you so much for your replies. I can't believe in all these years I've never noticed that female Mallards have those lovely blue and white wing feathers. I had only noticed they were female Mallards when I'd seen them with a male. And when they're swimming about, those colors don't show. You've helped me to see something special and beautiful about a bird that I never noticed before. It is a huge curiosity why there were no males in the group.

Thanks, momj47! It is indeed beautiful. It was in the South American birds enclosure, although there were other native fowl there as well. Shyamala

I passed the info on with some sites about control strategies. It sounded to me that she was pulling them out after flowering. She tried mowing while they were small but they came back from the roots early in the year.