Over the past few days, I’ve received several e-mails about the backsides of pants being stained with red dots after people have sat on concrete park benches or other concrete surfaces. A few messages referenced benches made of wood or recycled plastic.

Fourlined Plant Bugs are one of the sneakiest, quickest hitting spring pests found in Ohio. Hordes of hungry nymphs and adults descend seemingly out of nowhere to cause extensive leaf damage, then they just fade away leaving behind their foliar wreckage.

The holey handiwork of the Oak Shothole Leafminer (Japanagromyza viridula, syn. Agromyza viridula) is appearing on its namesake hosts in southern Ohio. Similar damage may be seen on Chinese chestnuts (Castanea mollissima). The leafminer is a small fly belonging to the family Agromyzidae; the leafminer flies.

Elm Flea Weevils (Orchestes steppensis) produce three types of damage on their namesake host: holes in the leaves, distorted leaves, and blotch-type leafmines. The three symptoms are currently on display in southern Ohio.

The leaves of elms may be turning brown in southern and central Ohio thanks to the leafmining activity of the Elm Leafminer Sawfly, Fenusa ulmi (= Kaliofenusa ulmi). The sawfly larvae undergo rapid development, so damage occurs quickly.

Check out the latest edition of the OSU's Turfgrass Team Times!

It's the time of year when queen wasps and bumble bees have emerged from hibernation and are seeking cavity sites to build their nests. An increase in wasp calls this past week means its time for a BYGL ALERT about European Hornets near the home.

One of the most unusual galls found on oaks is the light green, ball-like Roly-Poly Galls produced under the direction of the gall wasp, Dryocosmus quercuspalustris (family Cynipidae). The specific epithet reveals one of the most common hosts of this gall-making wasp: Quercus palustris is the scientific name for Swamp Spanish Oak (a.k.a. Pin Oak) with palustris being Latin for “swampy” or “marshy.”

There are somewhere around 800 different types of arthropod galls found on oaks in the U.S. About 700 are produced by tiny wasps (order Hymenoptera) belonging to the family Cynipidae. Of those, only a handful represent a serious threat to the overall health of their oak hosts.

Kelleys Island, located in Erie County but surrounded by Lake Erie is a micro-climate. It also is home to number of Sugar Maples. It was an intriguing site for a sweet experiment.