I came across several multiflora roses while walking in a county park last Friday that were being hammered by Rose Rosette Disease (RRD). It was a reminder that this non-native invasive rose serves as a significant source of the rose rosette virus that is responsible for producing Rose Rosette Disease (RRD), as well as the eriophyid mite that is responsible for spreading the virus.

The bladder-like galls produced the Sumac Gall Aphid on the leaflet midveins of its namesake host are almost fully expanded in southwest Ohio. They currently measure between 1/2" to 1" in length; however, despite their size, their light green color can make them difficult to detect.

The English novelist, Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton, actually said, "Love thou the rose, yet leave it on its stem." I adjusted his quote to illustrate how to control bizarre looking mossy rose galls. The hairy-looking galls are produced under the direction of a gall-wasp.  Ridding roses of the galls rids them of the wasp.

The Cypress Twig Gall Midge Fly is now producing second generation galls in southwest Ohio. The spongy, snow-white galls are most commonly found on baldcypress where heavy galling may occur year-after-year on highly susceptible trees. Galls may also arise to a lesser degree on pond cypress.

Earlier this week, a team from OSU Extension judged Christmas trees at the 2018 Ohio State Fair. All the trees were grown in Ohio. Trees were judged on shape, fullness, color and overall appearance. Trees needed to be between 6 and 8 feet tall, have a handle between 6 and 12 inches, and have a correct range of taper based on the species.

I received an e-mail message today from an arborist in southwest Ohio who included images that showed damage caused by White Pine Weevil. Main shoots (terminal leaders) on white pine and Norway spruce were wilted and brown. Some of the shoot tips were curved into "shepherd’s crooks;" the curling occurs when tender new shoots dehydrate while they are still pliable.

Summertime: And Diagnosis is never easy.  Even with something as dear to my pathological brain as apple scab and cedar-apple (or hawthorn) rust on crabapple. I was on a walkabout at a northeast Ohio commercial landscape two weeks ago and came upon side-by-side crabapples – and the different symptoms of these two diseases on crabapple.

 

On one crabapple, apple scab infections caused some affected leaves to turn yellow before dropping; on the other crabapple the leaves turned orangish-red (the cover photo). As for rust, the lesions on the upper leaf surfaces of one crabapple...

Adult gypsy moths are active in NW Ohio. The males are brown to tan in color, fly during the day in a zig zag pattern and have feather-like antenna. The females are white and do not fly. The male moths seek out the females, they mate and she lays an egg mass that can contain up to 500 eggs. It is those eggs that will produce the next generation.

We held our OSU Extension Nursery, Landscape, and Turf Team (ENLTT) meeting yesterday at Dawes Arboretum. Among the beautiful landscapes and impressive collections was clear evidence that Yellow Poplar Weevils had made a return appearance in central Ohio. The adults feed on leaves and the larvae feed within leaves as leafminers.

Few carnivorous insects can match the amazing acrobatics and predatory proficiency of robber flies (family Asilidae) in their pursuit of prey. Adults of all species are predators and they will attack a variety of insects; even "armed" prey and insects much larger than their own body size.