The OGIA/OSU Extension Hands-On Diagnostic Walkabouts for Green Industry professionals are a comprehensive, hands-on training. Participants examine and discuss plants, plant pests, plant diseases, landscape designs, and other points of interest.

Frost warnings have been issued for parts of Ohio this weekend, May 1st and 2nd 2026, according to the National Weather Service with chilly temperatures in the low 30’s for Friday night, especially North-central Ohio. Will this hurt my plants?

Spring has sprung! Warmer weather leads to outdoor activity and that can mean exposure to ticks. Ticks are active YEAR-ROUND and tick reports are ramping up for spring. Even with some colder days in the forecast, those ticks will be alive and kicking. 

Swarms of crane flies (order Diptera, family Tipulidae) are bellowing up from lawns in Ohio. These large mosquito-like dipterans are also buzzing porch lights and may occasionally find their way into homes to terrorize the occupants.

Overwintered Calico Scale females have fully "inflated” and are pumping out copious quantities of sticky, sugary, honeydew; the calling card of phloem-sucking insects. This is a type of soft scale, with females covering themselves in a soft shell that can be mashed.

Box Tree Moth (BTM) (Cydalima perspectalis) has stolen the thunder of another non-native boxwood nemesis: Boxwood Leafminer (Monarthropalpus flavus, family Cecidomyiidae). However, the European expat remains a significant boxwood pest and should not be ignored.

Participants in the Diagnostic Walkabouts held as part of the Ohio Chapter ISA Field Day last week in Heritage Park, Westerville, OH, observed high populations of Buckeye Lace Bugs (Corythucha aesculi) feeding on their namesake host (Aesculus sp.). Their characteristic “leaf stippling” damage was becoming evident.

 

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Participants in the Diagnostic Walkabouts held as part of the Ohio Chapter ISA Field Day last Friday in Heritage Park, Westerville, OH, observed woody stem galls on hickory (Carya sp.). The galls were observed on the main stem and branches of two mature hickories growing just inside a forest next to a paved trail.

There’s a venerable axiom with plant problem diagnostics: Plants seldom have only one problem. This truism can muddy the waters on multiple levels.

Boxwoods have been in the news. A new invasive insect, Box Tree Moth, has been found in parts of Ohio. But with over 40 years in the industry, I have never seen this organism among Boxwoods, a snapping turtle.