Virtual “Tent Talks”

In lieu of our traditional, in-person “Tent Talks” at the field, we held a Virtual “Tent Talks” on Wednesday, August 19, 2020. The event was well-attended with wide array of topics including, precision planting experiment on cotton, planting a new alfalfa crop, plant growth and development information in cotton management decisions, hemp diseases, predator thresholds in cotton insect management decisions, and management of sugarcane aphids in Arizona sorghum. The event was also livestreamed on Facebook.

In response to the many requests, we made the presentations and videos of the event available online through the following links:

CLICK HERE for a Zoom link to the whole 2020 Virtual “Tent Talks”


Here’re links to the videos shared during Pedro’s presentation. There’s description within the link of each video:

CLICK HERE for Pedro’s presentation as streamed on Facebook


CLICK HERE for Mike’s presentation as streamed on Facebook


CLICK HERE for Randy’s presentation as streamed on Facebook


  • Industrial Hemp Diseases (Dr. Alex Hu)

CLICK HERE for Alex’s presentation as streamed on Facebook 


CLICK HERE for Peter’s presentation as streamed on Facebook


CLICK HERE for Ayman’s presentation as streamed on Facebook


Here’s a reminder of our “Tent Talks” last year in Goodyear and Buckeye.

I hope we will have such in-person UArizona Cooperative Extension Field Crops event soon.

Stay well!

Wild Honey Bees in Community Environments – Identification, Biology, and Reducing Risks

The goal of this publication by Shaku Nair, Dawn Gouge, Ayman Mostafa ,Shujuan Li, Kai Umeda, and Hongmei Li-Byarlay is to provide readers with basic information about wild honey bees in Arizona. The document includes information on identification, biology and behavior of wild honey bees, the risks they pose outdoors, and how to safely deal with bees encountered in the environment.

Mistaken Identity: The Cicada Killer Wasp and the Asian Giant Hornet

The recent conjectures about the Asian giant hornets (AKA murder hornets) have been a topic of several news stories. Extension team and I have received several calls and inquiries for identification of wasps confused with the Asian giant hornet. While there have been no confirmed sightings of the Asian giant hornet in Arizona, we do however have cicada killer wasps, which are also very large, at first glance can be confused with the Asian giant hornet, and can be found in large number due to the recent emerging of cicadas. Gene Hall, Peter Ellsworth and Naomi Pier have developed a new Short publication to set the record on differentiating between the two wasps.