Homeowners in southwest Ohio were surprised yesterday to awake to find sidewalks, cars, and streets beneath Callery pears (Pyrus calleryana) covered in a fine sprinkling of orange dust. The unusual event spawned rampant speculation on social media and captured the attention of the local news media.

Check out this week's Turfgrass Times - lawncare, weeds, diseases and insects oh my! 

Leaf scorch on plants may be caused by many factors. Here is a case study of an "unusual" cause that will be properly diagnosed only through questions asked by the diagnostician.

The Gardiner Lab at The Ohio State University's Department of Entomology has launched Dandelion Detectives, a youth-focused community science program aimed at measuring the distribution of weeds in US lawns and their value for insects. The lab is seeking individuals, school groups, and other youth organizations to participate in this collaborative project!

BYGLers are reporting that four unrelated springtime problems are causing some oaks in Ohio to look pretty ugly. None of these problems cause harm to the overall health of their oak hosts. However, singly or collectively, they certainly affect the tree's aesthetics.

Itoh peonies, also known as intersectional peonies, are a group of hybrid peonies that have become more popular in recent years. In 2012, Ken Cochran planted two Itoh hybrid peonies at Secrest Arboretum (‘Kopper Kettle’ and ‘Bartzella’). The plant was a novelty for staff an volunteers and is still adored by many visitors to Secrest. Over the last two years Secrest Curator, Jason Veil, has greatly expanded the Itoh hybrid peony collect at Secrest.

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Clemson University's Department of Plant Industry (DPI) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced today that Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) has been confirmed in South Carolina. This the latest ALB infestation to be found in North America and emphasizes the need to remain vigilant for the non-native tree killer.

During a recent BYGL Zoom Inservice, Ken Chamberlain (OSU CFAES, Photographer and Multimedia Producer) showed participants pictures he'd taken in Brown’s Lake Bog of ferns with tightly curled tips. A casual observer could possibly mistake the odd structures for emerging frond fiddleheads.

Calico scale (Eulecanium cerasorum) eggs located beneath helmet-shaped females are just about finished hatching in southwest Ohio. As soon as the 1st instar nymphs (crawlers) appear, they make their way to the undersides of leaves where they settle along leaf veins and use their piercing-sucking mouthparts to tap into the phloem vessels.