Let us call this A Case of Gallignostics. Plant galls are defined as abnormal plant growths caused by a gall-maker; the gall-maker being certain insects, mites, fungi, and bacteria. From horned oak gall to bacterial crown gall, from maple bladder galls to cedar-apple rust galls, there are many galls of interest to horticulturists. Relative to all this, Joe Boggs recently got an e-mail from Michael Goldman of the Grange Insurance Audubon Center:

 

  I'm a big fan of the BYGL, and found something here that might be interesting for it.  The pictures I took look like some...

Paper Wasps, Yellowjackets, and Baldfaced Hornets are beneficial insects. Just keep repeating that to yourself when you're being chased or stung by these hymenopteran marauders! They’ve been with us since the beginning of the season. However, this is the time of the year when their ever-expanding nests become large enough and contain enough individuals to make their presence sometimes painfully known.

Aug 3, 2017, 8:00am CSAW Level 1 - A full 8 hour class with a lecture portion in the morning and a hands-on portion in the afternoon.

Workshop Name:  Tree Diagnostic Workshop - What’s Wrong With My Tree?

 

Workshop Date:  Friday, August 4, 2017

 

Event Location:  Ohio State University Mansfield, 100 Ovalwood Hall, 1760 University Drive, Mansfield, Ohio

 

This Ohio Woodland Stewards Program spends the day with Extension specialists to diagnose some common and not so common tree problems. Learn what trees need immediate attention from what is just cosmetic and won’t compromise the health of the tree. 

 

Ask questions and get answers and find...

Look closely at the leaves of ornamental sweet potatoes, morning glories, or bindweed for flecks of gold creeping across the lower leaf surfaces; those would be Golden Tortoise Beetles (Charidotella sexpunctata). They are also called “sweet potato beetles” because of their common occurrence on both cultivated and ornamental sweet potatoes and “goldbugs” because of their appearance.

The bright yellow floral display currently blanketing some lawns and roadway right-of-ways is being produced by Birdsfoot Trefoil. The yellow flowers are smaller than dandelion flowers, bigger than those of black medic, and resemble buttercups from a distance. This non-native plant was imported with good intentions, but is now gaining weed status in lawns, landscapes, and naturalized areas in Ohio. Yet another example of unintended consequences with introducing non-natives.

Annual Dog-Day Cicadas emerging in southwest Ohio are being “welcomed” by their nemesis, Cicada Killer Wasps. This is the largest wasp found in Ohio and the annual cicadas are their select prey. An abrupt halt in the buzzing of a cicada, often punctuated by a high-pitched screech, usually means a wasp has committed an insecticidal act

Tale of Two Bagworms

  As the BoggMan writeth, early bagworm damage is oft overlooked, with skeletonization injury passed off as Japanese beetle injury or other chewing insect damage. This was driven home to me last week as I checked out some elm street trees in Orrville.

 

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Participants at yesterday’s S.W. Ohio Diagnostic Walk-About viewed two problems on purple coneflowers; one potentially more calamitous than the other. The first was the handiwork of the Sunflower Head-Clipping Weevil (Haplorhynchites aeneus) which included dangling seed heads and stems that looked like soda straws. The second were stunted plants and deformed plant parts caused by the phytoplasma disease known as Aster Yellows.

Quarantines are a primary tool in preventing the spread of Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) (Anoplophora glabripennis) in Ohio and elsewhere in North America. They stop the beetle from hitchhiking to new locations in infested materials such as logs, firewood, pruned branches, etc. Yesterday, the ODA, ODNR, and USDA APHIS announced an expansion of the ALB quarantine in Clermont County, OH.