That's right, we're talking bug poop.

Yesterday afternoon, our weather went from 50 degrees Fahrenheit down to 30 degrees F and rain which began turning to Ice. It made me ask myself this morning as I walked out to ice-coated trees: “Will Ice Hurt Trees?”

The Ohio Tree Care Conference, sponsored by the Ohio International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) was held in Cleveland, Ohio on February 8-10, 2022. At the conference, I saw a presentation on trimming trees and power lines by Joe Jimmo from Pennline Tree Service. I got to thinking how many homeowners try to trim trees close to power lines.

Check out this new Ohio State University FactSheet, Efficient Lawn Care Practices to Help Protect Ohio’s Waterways. The FactSheet authors include: Ashley Kulhanek, Educator, Ohio State University Extension; Eugene Braig, Program Director, Aquatic Ecosystems, School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University; and Zane Raudenbush, Turfgrass and Herbicide Specialist, Davey Tree.

The next 'semester' of Emerald Ash Borer University (EABU) kicks off today, February 3, 2022. As always, these sessions are recorded and available on the EABU YouTube Channel at: http://www.emeraldashborer.info/eabu.php

Years ago, a Growing Degree Day (GDD) article was a reoccuring staple in what was the weekly Buckeye Yard and Garden Line (BYGL) e-newsletter. While the newsletter evolved into a real time, blog-like, format, GDD information still had a presence as an occasional summary, and of course was included in many of the insect alerts. In 2022, you will be seeing monthly summaries, and we will continue to tie in GDDs into other alerts as well.

Each week, the Clinic receives plant and pest samples to be diagnosed in a timely manner. The month of January tends to see less samples than the other 11 months. Even though we are in the coldest part of the year, samples continue to trickle in.

Have you ever heard a loud bang or pop when you're outside in the winter?  It might have been a tree shivering during the brutally cold winter.  The past several weeks have been very cold and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get warm and stay warm anytime soon.  The very low cold temperatures that we experience during winter months can cause trees to crack.  This is called frost cracking.

Photo by: Carri Jagger

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As looked out the window on Monday morning, on January 24th, 2022, after an additional 8 inches of snow that fell Sunday in addition to the 30 inches from last week, I began thinking about items of interest to the avid gardener and thought, “Why not consider tree id in the middle of winter?” This week we will look at deciduous tree identification. Deciduous or woody ornamentals can present a greater challenge, since they lose their leaves or needles in the fall.

As looked out the window on Monday morning, on January 17th, 2022, at the 30 inches of snow that fell Sunday over to Monday morning, I began thinking about items of interest to the avid gardener and thought, “Why not consider tree id in the middle of winter?”