A diagnostic sample this week had me thinking about this yuletide carol.  A visitor brought a bowl of chestnuts to the Extension Office this week.  This tree has been producing for many years, but the nuts within never fill out into the round tasty treats associated with the holidays.  What is going on?

 

 

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Winterberry, which is a deciduous form of Ilex (Holly), is a fantastic accent to Christmas arrangements. With a variety of colors of berries, the stems make excellent accents to evergreens.

 

It's the holiday season (the holiday season...) and many are digging in attics and basements for decorations and bows, stored sweaters, coats and yes... SNOW boots.  Inevitably, Extension offices receive calls about the unfortunate spider (or stink bug) that was found, dead or alive, while sifting through packages, boxes or bags that haven't seen the light of day for a year.  The question is, "Is it a brown recluse?"

 

 

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Commercial pesticide applicators may now register for the 2019 Commercial Pesticide Recertification Conferences at pested.osu.edu, or by clicking the links below.

I received an e-mail message this past Wednesday from Tom Macy (ODNR) concerning efforts to discover locations of the non-native elongate hemlock scale in Ohio and other states. His message included two attached images taken by Bill Laubscher (Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry) on November 20 that showed both the scale as well as odd looking blackened accretions on hemlock needles.

The Tri-State region in southwest Ohio experienced an ice storm overnight this past Wednesday. Although the official accumulation of ice due to freezing rain reported at the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport was only 0.22", the number of homes and businesses in Greater Cincinnati without power yesterday morning exceeded 200,000. Why such a high impact from only 1/4" of ice?

I recently heard "snowflakes" are in the forecast. As temperatures drop, it is a great time to get indoors, increase knowledge, network and earn credits. One of those opportunities in December is the OSU Green Industry Short Course held in conjunction with the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation's (OTF) Conference and Tradeshow. It is one registration that covers three days of training broken out into different educational tracks.

The season is winding down and now is the time to plan your educational opportunities - learn the latest, earn credits and network with others in the industry. The Ohio Turfgrass Foundation and Tradeshow in cooperation with the Ohio State University Green Industry Short Course will be held on December 4 - 6 at the Columbus Convention Center.

Not sure if the dark speck that crawled across your desk at work was a bed bug? Wondering if the tiny insect you saw on the seat next to you at the movie theater or on the bus was a bed bug? How about that fleck you thought you saw on the corner of the mattress the last time you stayed in a hotel? A researcher at The Ohio State University has created a free new app to help you figure it out.

Garlic has been used centuries for culinary, medicinal, and religious purposes.