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Turf Team Times, 03.15.2024
Prescribed Burn in Erie County a Great Success
Now is a Fine Time to Scout for Poison Hemlock
Nature Note: Skunk Cabbage is in Bloom
Growing Degree Days (GDD) and Plant Phenology, Summary February 2024
Huron Elementary 3rd and 4th graders get firsthand experience with Spotted Lanternfly
It's Time to Start Seeds
As I sit here writing this article, looking out at the cold rainy day, I’m dreaming of warm days in the garden. March 19th will be the first day of spring. With that being said, it’s time to start thinking about planning vegetable gardens. If starting a new garden, soil testing the site where the garden will go is a good idea. If it is an existing garden and the soil has never been tested, now would be a good time to think about testing it. Your local OSU Extension office can help you with soil testing.
...March Virtual Book Club - What A Plant Knows
Growing Degree Days (GDD) and Plant Phenology, January 2024 Summary
The Plant Phenology and Growing Degree Day (GDD) posts and impacts have been a Buckeye Yard and Garden onLine (BYGL) staple for years. GDD will continue to be an important part of the blog written to assist green industry professionals, Extension professionals, Extension volunteers, and people with a passion for plants and pests too.
While there isn't usually a lot to report as part of the January summary, members of the OSU Buckeye Environmental Horticulture Team (BEHT) have been discussing the...
Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs (BMSB)
Another exotic insect ?? in Ohio???… Olive Bark Beetle (OBB) – Phloeotribus scarabaeoides
Don't Miss the 2024 Tri-State Green Industry Conference (GIC)
Title: The C. Wayne Ellett Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic: a resource for dealing with plant and pests related issues.
Taxonomic challenges in the identification process, an example - Alder Sawfly, Nematus erythrogaster
Winter Virtual Book Clubs For Gardeners, Nature Lovers and Those With a Passion for Plants
Woodland, Water and Wildlife Conference - Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Join us for an Owl Prowl on January 9th
Christmas is over. What should I do with my tree, wreath, or swag?
New FactSheet - It's a Bird, It's a Plant, It's a Moth: The Sphinx Moths of Ohio
A Partridge in a Pear Tree. So, what’s wrong with that?
Collecting Baldfaced Hornet Nests: BE CAREFUL
I bought a “Live” Christmas tree. What’s the best way to take care of it.
Fall Lawn Care – Putting your lawn to bed for Winter.
Turfgrass Team Times, 11.20.2023
Living With Wildlife: Raptors, Snakes & Canids - Oh My!
USDA Updates the Plant Hardiness Zone Map in 2023
Strafing Starlings and Callery Pears
Christmas! Too early to start thinking about a “Live” Tree? Maybe not!
SLF Update - Ohio's Spotted Lanternfly Quarantine Expanded and More
Friday's Escape to the Forest - How Does Ohio Get So Many Invasives - December 1, 2023, 10 am - 12 pm
Flying on Gossamer Wings.
When you think of Tree Trimming, Think Safety First, Cost Second!
OSU Extension Collaborates with the North American Pawpaw Growers Association at Mansfield Correctional Institution
Don't Miss This TOTAL Landscape Learning Experience
Time and again I have heard, “I miss the old OSU Nursery Short Course where we could talk about landscape plants, bugs, diseases and what might impact our industry next!” Well, stop dreaming of the good old days and get back into understanding potential future landscape plants and challenges!! A great landscape educational experience can be discovered at the Ohio State University Short Course. Why call it the OSU Short Course?? Because the OSU Short Course is exactly that— a short, intensive course of educational classes and updates that are all landscape related!...
Autumn Beauty Abounds
Ohio Invasive Plant Council hosts Annual Research Conference
White Pine Aphids: Is it the Last Hurrah for the “Year of the Aphid”?
Fall Invaders are Trickling In
Peony Clean-Up in Landscape Aisle 1
Turfgrass Team Times (TTT), 10.20.2023
My evergreens are turning brown. Are they Dying?
Fall Leaf Colors Intensify in NE Ohio
One of my favorite times of year has arrived and the colors of leaves have begun to change. Some trees are a riot of colors while others are just downright… blah-blah. So, let’s review the science behind why leaves change colors and then maybe you can forecast your own potential fall spectrum of color chances!
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Local Tree Care Company keeps Worker Safety First!
Turfgrass Team Times, 10.06.2023
They’re Not Giant, Mutant Mosquitoes: They’re Crane Flies
Corso’s staff gets trained to scout for Spotted Lanternfly
Emerald Ash Borer University (EABU) - Talking More Than Just EAB
Bat Week, October 24th - 31st
Pits of Doom and Despair
Armed by Nature: Thorns, Spines, and Prickles
Box Tree (Boxwood) Moth: New Detection, What to Look For, and Management
Turfgrass Team Times, 09.22.2023
OGIA concludes the last Walk-about of the Season for 2023
Ponds, Wildlife, Woodlands…Oh My! Join us at the Gwynne Conservation Area, September 19-21
Beech Blight Aphids Got Talent
Look Closely at Flowers for a Tiny Threat to Pollinators
OGIA/OSU Greater Cincinnati BYGL! Diagnostic Walkabout Highlight: The Redbud Leaffolder
Ohio Diagnostic Workshop Highlight: White Masses on the Stems of Redbuds
Visiting Angels enjoy Walk-about at Miller Nature Preserve
Kentucky Coffeetree
Calling All Pawpaw Producers and Partisans!
Turfgrass Establishment Series - Planting & Mulching
Check out the latest edition of the Turfgrass Establishment Series from the OSU Turf Team. Dr. Ed Nangle outlines planting and mulching practices when establishing turfgrass from seed.
Turfgrass Team Times (TTT), 09.01.2023
OGIA / OSU: Greater Cincinnati BYGL! Diagnostic Walkabout at the Boone County Arboretum
Dodder's Tangled Tale
Spotted Lanternfly found in Erie County
From Basin to Banks: Wetland Restoration
Woodland Owners and Maple Production: Is It An Income Opportunity for You?
Turfgrass Team Times (TTT), 08.25.2023
A Selected Assortment of Oak Galls
Fall Webworms are Conspicuous by Their Absence
Ohio Green Industry Association Announces Midwest Green Conference Dates and Early Registration Deadline
USDA Publishes Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) Update
Spotted Lanternfly. THEY DON’T BITE!
The Buzz on Rough Oak Bulletgalls
Turfgrass Establishment Series - Seedbed Preparation
Before establishing turfgrass from seed, the soil must be properly prepared to promote adequate seed-to-soil contact. The most recent edition of the Turfgrass Establishment Series overviews how to modify, grade, and prepare the soil surface for seed.
Hold the Latte and Pass Me a Maté
Is my Evergreen Dead? Can I save it?
Kissing Bugs in Ohio Homes
A Wheel (Bug) of Misfortune is Afoot
Turfgrass Team Times (TTT) Goes Live - Friday, August 18, 2023 at 10:00 am
Turfgrass Establishment Series – Species/Cultivar Selection
This edition of the Turfgrass Establishment Series covers selection of species and cultivars that are suitable for lawns in Ohio.
Ironweed part 2: An Ironweed Specialist Bee
You can never have too much IRONWEED! Part 1.
Squash Vine Borer: Nature’s Way of Saying You’ve Had Enough Squash!
The Tiger Bee Fly: A Carpenter Bee Nemesis
A Stroll Along The High Line in NYC
What the ‘HAIL’ happened to my tree?
Turfgrass Team Times, 08.11.2023
Lucy In The Sky With….FERNS?!
Rainwater Mitigation – Is it effective?
Sneak A Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Porch Day
Turfgrass Team Times, 08.04.2023
Spotted Lanternfly Continues To Spread Across Ohio
One of Ohio’s Most Beautiful Beetles
What to Know About Chiggers
Floral Fear Returns... JUST RELAX!!
This is the time of year that concerned citizens call into the office asking what they can do to help magnolias or rhododendrons in their landscape to not die. When asked what is happening to lead them to believe the plants are going to die, the plant symptoms indicating imminent death turn out to be exactly the same. Concern is expressed for plants that previously bloomed this Spring and are right now beginning to bloom again! This behavior has somehow evolved into a mythical belief that it is a last-ditch effort by the plant to make seeds so that its progeny can...
August is "TREE CHECK MONTH" - USDA Announces
Be Alert to European Paper Wasps
An Early Abundance of Stingers
Introducing the Turfgrass Establishment Series
We are rapidly approaching the time of year to establish turfgrass from seed. Over the next seven weeks, the OSU Turf Team will outline the steps for successful establishment through the Turfgrass Establishment Series.
Check out the first post: https://buckeyeturf.osu.edu/news/introducing-turfgrass-establishment-series
Turfgrass Team Times, 07.28.2023
Why do Trees Bleed?
Lousy with Lace Bugs
Northwest Ohio Green Industry Summer Session - August 9, 2023
Christmas in July!
Seeing Spots in Ohio
Last week, Jonathon Shields with the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) reporting seeing the first spotted lanternfly adult in Ohio this year. The observation was made in Cincinnati, Ohio in an already identified infestation in southwest Ohio.
Photo Credit: Amy Stone, OSU Extension - Lucas...
Turfgrass Team Times, 07.21.2023
A Complex Story: Disappearing Tomato Leaves, a Tiny Wasp, and a Virus.
Spotted Lanternfly 4th instar nymphs present at St Joseph Cemetery (Cleveland).
What’s happening to the plants under power lines?
Re-Visiting Volutella and Browned Boxwoods
Turfgrass Team Times, 07.14.2023
Weird Galls on Willow
Ohio Green Industry Association Hosts Walk-about at Schedel Arboretum and Gardens.
Cedar Point Thrills! Not just Roller Coasters.
What The Yell-Ow... I've Been SLIMED!
As I pulled into my driveway and glanced around the Drapescape, I noted brilliant yellow patches of flowers had appeared. They seemed to be scattered around, extremely low to the ground and close to the base of a rose bush. As I got closer to the yellow patches, I started laughing because I realized that had just been SLIMED! I had what is commonly referred to as dog vomit fungus slime mold on the mulch. To be accurate, this slime mold, Fuligo septica, is commonly known as “scrambled egg slime” and I could definitely see how it got its name. Fuligo...
Annual Cicadas and Their Intimidating Wasp Nemesis
Coneflower Conundrums: Spiky Hairdos, Freaky Flowers, and Dangling Heads
Box Tree (Boxwood) Moth: Latest Observations
Turfgrass Team Times, 07.07.2023
What to Look for with Box Tree (Boxwood) Moth
Growing Degree Day Summary, January - June 2023
Turfgrass Team Times, 06.30.2023
Saucers, Spangles, and Jumpers on Oaks
Turfgrass Team Times, 06.23.2023
Box Tree (Boxwood) Moth Confirmed in Southwest Ohio
Slug Sawfly on Oaks in the White Oak Group
Blue Spruce showing sign of the ‘Blues', top to bottom!
Ohio Woodlands, Water and Wildlife Summer Newsletter
Beech Leaf Disease Update
The Hydrangea Leaftier Has Left the Building
Turfgrass Team Times, 06.16.2023
Fern-Ball Leaftiers are Rolling Along
The Year of the Aphid: Is Help on the Way?
More abuse of Trees……………………….You’re Killin’ me Smalls!
Where Are The Lightning Bugs? Soon Friends!
Is Emerald Ash Borer on the Rebound in Ohio?
Springtails Springing into Homes
Rain! Finally! Never so happy to see it!
Sweetshrub Is So Sweet
Growing Degree Day (GDD) Summary, May 2023
Mating Disruption Treatments for Spongy Moth Scheduled for Ohio
Turfgrass Team Times, 06.09.2023
Cottonwoods are Living Up to Their Name in Ohio
I Spy……………………….Poison Hemlock.
Naked Sycamores! Are they OK?
Turfgrass Team Times, 06.02.2023
Drought Stress on Turf is Underway
Sticky, Dripping Tuliptrees
Ohio's “Bagworm Season” Starts Now
Turfgrass Team Times, 05.26.2023
First Round of Yellow Poplar/Magnolia/Sassafras Weevils
Sawfly Strip Scots Pine.
Bothersome Birch Blighters
Oak Treehoppers are Good Mothers
Turfgrass Team Times, 05.19.2023
Leaflet Drop on Ash
Leaf Drop on Sugar Maple
Sticky, Dripping European Beech
Sticky, Dripping Oaks and Ghost Scales
Hemlock Woolly Adelgid(HWA) and Elongate Scale(EHL) – A 2023 update
Oak Apples, Woolly Catkins, and Leaf Blisters
No Mow May in Full Swing………So what’s wrong with ‘No Mow May’?
“Concrete” Mites: A Threat to White Clothing
Heavy Hawthorn Leafminer Damage
Hatch of Spotted Lanternfly Observed in Cincinnati
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year……If you love Spring Flowering Plants!
Twisted Leaves Rock American Elms
New FactSheet - Native Trees: Creating Living Landscapes for Birds, Butterflies, Bees and Other Beneficials
Roly-Poly Galls are Rolling Along
Sticky, Dripping Maples
My Evergreen that was Dead, is coming back to life! Maybe because it’s NOT an Evergreen!
Are You Celebrating Trees Today?
Seeing Spots - Spotted Lanternfly and Spring Egg Hatch
Miner Bees are Major Pollinators. So, Bee Nice.
Drooping Buckeye Leaves: It’s Not Freeze/Frost Damage
Turfgrass Team Times, 04.21.2023
Horned Oak Galls are Living Up to Their Common Name
Two trees in one? What’s going on? One word….Reversion.
If I Have Peach Blooms Now- I'll Have Fruit...Right?
After that brutal punch of cold weather ripping through Northeast Ohio this past December 23rd through December 27th, inquiring minds want to know if we’ll have peaches. How cold it was that night depends upon location, but official records indicate that Cleveland, Ohio dropped from the daytime high of 43°F to -4°F on the 23rd !! Then on December 24th the daytime high was 13°F and the low that night was -1°F!! There were two nights in January that had lows of 16°F, followed by two nights in February with lows of 12°F and one night in March with a low of 18°F. So, will...
Sneaky Winter Annuals
Diagnostic Support for Ohio Specialty Cut Flower Growers
Zippy Green Beetles
An Ohio Kissing Bug
Flowering Ornamental Pear. How invasive is it Really?
Virginia Bluebells: Turning Heads Every Spring
More Crimes Against Trees
Return of "The Blob"
Wild Parsnip: Look But Don’t Touch
Growing Degree Day (GDD) Summary, March 2023
Poison Hemlock is No Joke
Spring has arrived. Will the Spring snows hurt my plants? It All Depends on Where You Stand! Literally!
Lesser Celandine: An Aggressive Non-Native Spring Ephemeral
A Pantry Pest “Morphs” Into Bark Beetles
Turfgrass Team Times, 03.24.2023
The Annual Return of the Grim Mulcher
Reminder - Tick Update, Part of Emerald Ash Borer University, March 23 at 11 am
Pruning Oaks? Time may be running out!
Alternatives to Callery Pear
Spring must be near. Cornelian Cherry Dogwood is beginning to bloom in Northern Ohio.
First Turfgrass Team Times of the Season, 03.10.2023
Bad Looking Boxwoods
Growing Degree Day (GDD) Summary, February 2023
No Grapes last year on my Concords. What should I do?
My Spring Bulbs are Emerging. Will frost or snow hurt and cause damage?
Ohio Green Industry Association (OGIA) Presents 2023 Ohio Diagnostic Walk-Abouts for Green Industry Professionals
Evergreen that Everyone will Envy.
2023 Woodland, Water and Wildlife Conference - Early Bird Registration Ends February 10
Growing Degree Day (GDD) Summary, January 2023
A staple in the Buckeye Yard and Garden Line (BYGL), The Plant Phenology and Growing Degree Day Posts will continue to be a part of this year's Alerts as promised in a January Alert (January 2, 2023).
As temperatures warm, we will begin accumulating growing degree day (GDD) units. You will see those updates in the BYGL, but there is no better way to track GDD and ultimately the plant blooms and insect activity on your own. Be sure to save this website ( https://weather.cfaes.osu.edu/gdd/default.asp ) as a...
Spotted Lanternfly Walk-About for Green Industry Professionals
Time to Tap Maples.
Scouting for Scale in Winter
Crimes against Trees.
Don't Miss the 2023 Tri-State Green Industry Conference (GIC)
Spotted Lanternfly Field Trip trains attendees to “SPOT” egg masses
New Year Brings Beginning of the 2023 Plant Phenology and Growing Degree Day Calendar
Right Plant, Right Place.
The Ball Drops on Callery Pear in 2023!
OK to prune OAKS. Now’s the time to schedule!
Attention Green Industry Professionals - Register for the OTF Conference & Show and OSU Green Industry Short Course Next Week!
Buying a Live Christmas Tree this year! What to do before I put it in the stand?
Turfgrass Team Times, 11.10.2022
Feeling a Little Parched, Anyone?
If your part of the state is anything like Fairfield County (southeast of Columbus), it has been quite some time since your last good soaker. In fact, in Lancaster, Ohio, where Fairfield County OSU Extension is headquartered, we haven’t had a single shower measuring greater than 0.2” since October 13th! It’s hard to walk outside without kicking up a bit of dust.
How long has it been since you’ve had rain? One good tool you can use to figure this out is a database called the ...
Seven-Son-Flower is Still STUNNING!
Seven-son-flower or Heptacodium miconioides (HM) can be a large, rangy, irregular appearing, multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub, but it can also be trained into a delightful, single-trunked tree. HM typically grows 15-25 feet in height at maturity with a 10' spread. As stems and trunks mature, the light brown to tan bark begins to peel off and shed in long strips creating plant interest, especially in the winter. This incredible plant is in the Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family and its name is derived from the flowers it bears; specifically, Hepta...
Box Tree Moth Identified In 'The State Up North', Information Shared From Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD)
Christmas! Trees! Too Early?? Not if you are a grower! Or an Early shopper!
Seeing is Believing: Ohio State University Extension Embarks on a Spotted Lanternfly Study Tour
Like many other states in the Midwest, Ohio is preparing for imminent infestations of Spotted Lanternfly (SLF). This invasive planthopper, first detected in Pennsylvania in 2014, poses a threat to the fruit production and plant growth of valuable specialty crops, most notably grapevines. Though infestations have already been confirmed in several counties throughout Ohio, history tells us that additional infestations will continue to appear and grow. Many eastern states have already been contending with this nuisance for the past few years and possess...
An Oil Beetle is on the move in Lucas County, Ohio
Where has all the fall color gone?
Should I stake my trees for Winter? It depends…...
Gorgeous Fall Leaf Colors Dominate NE Ohio Views
Once again, almost like a fall ritual, everyone wants you to predict if it will be a good year for leaf colors and when will leaf colors change. As always, I offer solid scientific responses to their questions…“Yes, it could be a good year for colors” and “Leaf colors will change when they are good and ready!” So, let’s review the science as to why leaves change colors and then maybe you can forecast your own spectrum of “fall color” chances.
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Seasonal Jaw-dropping Needle Drop
Thinking Inside The Box - Growing CSAs Across The Tri-State Region
Emerald Ash Borer University Kicks-Off Fall Season of Invasive Species Topics
Virtual Program - Spotted Lanternfly and the Potential Impacts on the Maple Syrup Industry
Forecasting Frost and Freezes
Save the litter for the beneficials!
Weather Experts Are Cautioning Our First Frost (Freeze) May Arrive This Weekend
Plant of the Week - Pokeweed
What’s Eatin’ Sedum?
Peonies Have Measles... What The Heck??
I was outside strolling through the Drapescape enjoying the colors and scents of flowers, when suddenly, I noticed there appeared to be spots on the leaves of the peonies. I just had to take a closer look, of course, being the plant diagnostic devotee that I am! The symptoms were so classic and marvelous that I had to take a few moments to just admire them! This disease is called a plethora of names, like peony blotch, red spot, stem spot, leaf blotch disease and finally, peony measles! The causal fungus, Graphiopsis chlorocephala, was formerly known as ...
Tribble Troubles?
Stink Bug Hunters Provide a Landscape Twofer
Ambush Bugs: A Pollinator Peril
Turfgrass Times, 09.09.2022
Buckeyes……………..Don’t Pass the Buck!
Spotted Lanternfy - If You Detect It, Collect It!
It's the Season for Yellowjackets, Paper Wasps, and Baldfaced Hornets
“Bagworm Season” is Wrapping Up but Bags Will Remain
Ailanthus Webworms and a Nod Towards Spotted Lanternfly
Honeydew…….What’s it telling you?
Nectar Robbing Criminal Activity
Treating Spotted Lanternfly in Cleveland
Searching for Spongy Moth (Lymantria dispar) Egg Masses
It’s Dogbane Webworm, Not Fall Webworm
Red-Barked Sycamores at 55 MPH
Keeping Sweetcorn Sweet
Fall Webworm Update
Chrysanthemum Lace Bugs Abound on Asteraceae
Frilled Leaves Add Aesthetic Value to Black Tupelo
A Minor Leafminer with a Major History
An Odd Leaf Gall on Oaks
City of Cleveland trains staff to scout for Spotted Lanternfly
Bulletgalls Targeting Oaks
Oleander Aphids and Monarchs
Tree of Heaven Identification – Now’s the time to LOOK!
Turfgrass Times, 08.05.2022
Turfgrass Times, 07.29.2022
Be Alert to Grass Lace Bug
Science Saturday Spotlights Spotted Lanternfly
A Most Unusual Cricket
Be Alert to the Redbud Leaffolder
“Torched” Honeylocusts (NOT Black Locusts!)
Fall Webworms Rise
Merry Christmas in July!
Conehead Beheadings Begin
Bagworm Damage Becoming Obvious
Turfgrass Team Times, 07.15.2022
Lace Bug Damage is on the Rise
Ghostly Insects? Let's get back to basics with insect molting.
The Birds and The Bees of Cucurbit Flowers
Trapping for Spotted Lanternfly on Kelleys Island and South Bass Island! Why?
Buzzing-Bombing Beetles on the OSU Campus
Annual Cicadas are Here. What About Their Killers?
During this week’s Tuesday morning BYGL Zoom Inservice, Curtis Young (OSU Extension, Van Wirt County) reported that he heard the first Annual Cicadas (family Cicadidae) this season singing in northwest Ohio over the 4th of July Weekend. Likewise, I heard my first cicadas in the southwest part of the state this past Friday.
Annual cicadas share several behavioral traits with their periodical cicada (Magicicada spp.) cousins. The nymphs of both types of cicadas develop...
Sweet Magnolias in NEOhio... Blooming!
Most individuals associate magnolias blooming with early Spring but those are not magnolias that are currently in bloom. The magnolias blooming which are capturing the attention of NEOhio plant lovers are the lesser noticed Magnolia virginiana commonly called Sweetbay, Laurel or Swamp Magnolia. Sweetbay Magnolia (SBM) is an excellent native tree that is not nearly as well-known or used as often in landscapes as other magnolias. The native range of SBM extends mostly along the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains beginning at Long Island and heading south all the...
Scouting and Spraying for Spotted Lanternfly in late June 2022
Japanese Beetles are Becoming Evident
Word of the Week - Fasciation
Growing Degree Day (GDD) Summary, June 2022
“Pine Cones” Rise on Willows
Coneflower Rosette Mite: Tufted Seed Heads are on the Rise
Be Alert to White Pine Weevil Larval Damage
Ohio Maple Bootcamp 2022
A Kissing Bug in Ohio: Don’t Panic!
Why Are My Apples Falling Off?
This is the time of year that is both disappointing and exhilarating for any fruit grower because of the phenomenon called “June drop”. It is disappointing because of what you thought would be your best apple crop and your dreams of apple crisps and pies galore… suddenly begins to drop off the tree. But it’s okay because as a fruit grower, you know that most fruit trees will produce many more blooms than are actually needed by the tree to produce a full fruit load.
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Ash “Broccoli” Galls
Eriophyid Galls on Poison Ivy and Fragrant Sumac
Turfgrass Team Times, 06.17.2023
Wild Parsnip: Too Late to Control, Not Too Late To Identify
Poison Hemlock: TOO LATE!
It Pays to Care for Trees – Part 2 – Plan ahead!
Bronze Birch Borer Remains a Threat
Holey Havoc... Munched Magnolia Leaves!
I enjoy sitting out on the deck just absorbing the sunshine, watching leaves flutter on my wife’s favorite magnolia, Magnolia X brooklynensis 'Yellow Bird'. This deciduous tree has an upright, pyramidal form with beautiful three inches high, vase-shaped blooms with butter-yellow petals, which emerge in late spring. The large elliptical-shaped leaves are 4-8 inches long and 4-6 inches wide. Suddenly, I was struck by the thought… Hey, just a minute, I can see blue sky through the leaves! What the heck is going on here?
...
It Pays to Care for Trees!
Common Milkweed and its Doppelgänger
Turfgrass Times, 05.27.2022
Growing Degree Day (GDD) Summary, May 2022
Kousa Dogwoods in Full Flower. A plant worth considering!
Wheel Bug Nymphs and Other Assassins are on the Prowl
Be Alert for Magnolia Scale AND its Predators
Birdsfoot Trefoil is Foiling Ohio Lawns and Landscapes
The Japanese Maple Scale Challenge
Stranger Things in the Woods
Stranger Thistle Things
Spotted Lanternfly Nymphs hatch in Amherst, Ohio
White Oak Slug Sawfly Damage
Hydrangea Leaftier
Monitor Now to Stop Bagworms!
Hammerhead Hysteria
Get Your Buckeye On Too... Peony Style!
While I was outside taking pictures of the Red Buckeye, my wife asked if I wanted to see another “gotta’ have it… Beautiful Buckeye”. Intrigued because I thought I knew every plant in the Drapescape, I said “Sure, show me”. I was literally stunned when she showed me an incredibly gorgeous, jaw dropping Paeonia officinalis x P. lactiflora ‘Buckeye Belle’ (BB) that she had snuck in amongst her other peonies. It was truly the “Belle of Buckeyes”… alright, alright, it is not a woody ornamental tree, which is why I claimed that I...
Red Thread Signs and Symptoms are Afoot
European Elm Scale Create Dripping, Sticky Elms
Seeing Scarlet in NE Ohio- Get Your Buckeye On!
Last week, Tom deHaas and Ann Channon wrote a great BYGL article titled “Not all Buckeyes are Created Equal. Which is Which??” https://bygl.osu.edu/node/1970. The writing intent was to help identify the different species of Aesculus; naturally, these trees are all lumped together under the common identifier of “Buckeyes”- because after all, who doesn’t love Ohio or the Ohio State Buckeyes or Brutus Buckeye? One true “buckeye” that is in my landscape and I absolutely love is Aesculus pavia or Red Buckeye (RB) or as it...
Oak Lecanium Scale is Producing Sticky Oaks
Spotted Lanternfly Eggs Hatch in Cleveland, Ohio
Not all Buckeyes are created equal. Which is Which??
Look Before You Sit: Particularly if You’re Wearing White Pants
Fourlined Plant Marauders
Holey Oaks and Chestnuts
Holey Elms
Major Miner on Elm
Turfgrass Times, 05.18.2022
Queen European Hornet Sightings Stir the Pot
Another Interesting Oak Gall: the Roly-Poly
Oak-Apples are Growing
Island Maple Syrup Project has a Sweet Outcome
Extra Eyes Needed to Look For Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) During the Upcoming Season
Biggest Week in American Birding
Wilted Buckeyes
Maple Seed Development Versus Leaf Development
The Splendors of Spring - Part 2
Growing Degree Day (GDD) Summary, April 2022
Woolly Aphids on American Elms
Turfgrass Times, 04.29.2022
Periodical Cicada Brood X: Gone But Not Forgotten
Key Management Event: Boxwood Leafminer Pupation
Calico Scale Poo-Drip
Soil Mining Bees: All Buzz, No Sting
This Symbiotic Organism took a “Lichen” to this Tree!
Western Conifer Seed Bugs Don't Kiss ... People
The Splendors of Spring - Part 1
Lesser Celandine: Greater Problem
Turfgrass Times, 04.15.2022
Do Cover Crops Really Help Soil?
Herbaceous Plant of the Week - Stinking Helleborus (Helleborus foetidus)
Woody Plant Of The Week - Winter Hazel (Corylopsis spicata)
There is just something about flowers in the spring. It is that sign of hope that many of us need after a long the winter season. Flowers can be even more striking against the blue sky as shown below.
Photo Credit: Amy Stone, OSU Extension - Lucas County...
Not A Typical Horticultural Update, But An Important One - Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Update
Growing Degree Day (GDD) Summary, March 2022
Sick Spruce? It might be Rhizosphaera Needle Cast
Earlier this week, Rachel Capouya, Research Assistant and Interim Director of OSU's Plant and Pest and Diagnostic Clinic (PPDC) presented a program on rhizosphaera needle cast, the clinic, and how to properly submit samples to the clinic for diagnostics.
The session was recorded and can be viewed by clicking on the link: https://osu.zoom.us/rec/share/m6JD6EJurKIzDhAaA_8XkF7IR4VaV6aVsA8VYOFBSzljtgvdrdnjLgD1M9zLqg2T.xDa-0quGmqMKxF6p
...
Turfgrass Times, 04.01.2022
Get a Head Start on Controlling Poison Hemlock and Wild Parsnip
Spotted Lanternfly! How do I Scout for it?
Spotted Lanternfly Egg Masses found in Amherst, Ohio in Winter of 2022.
Growing Degree Day (GDD) Summary, February 2022
Mulch Madness!
Winter out – Spring Ahead!
Spotting the Signs of Spring: A Vernal Pool Exploration
It’s Maple Syrup Season……But which one in a Sugar Maple?
Plant Disease & Pest Diagnostic Clinic Sample Summaries Weeks Beginning February 7 and 14, 2022
Will Ice Hurt Trees? The answer is Yes, No and Maybe!
Trees and Power Lines – How close is Too close?
New FactSheet - Efficient Lawn Care Practices to Help Protect Ohio’s Waterways
Virtual Educational Opportunities Through Emerald Ash Borer University (EABU)
Growing Degree Day (GDD) Summary, Janaury 2022
Plant Disease & Pest Diagnostic Clinic Sample Summaries for January 2022
What's "Cracking" in the yard and woods?
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
...Winter Tree ID – Part 2 – Deciduous Trees
Winter Tree ID – Part 1 – Evergreens
Insect Word of the Week: Diapause
Love Letter to Paperbark Maple
Plant Disease & Pest Diagnostic Clinic Sample Summary, Week Beginning January 3, 2022
Fall Armyworm Conquered by Cold
Winter Annual Weeds Wipeout!
As I was strolling along looking at landscapes, a curious thought suddenly popped into my mind… “Hey, Hey, STOP and look closely at the ground!” I stopped, squatted down and was astounded to see the incredible number of weed seedlings that had germinated and were happily harvesting sunlight! What was so stunning to me about that particular landscape, which I know was gone over 2-3 weeks ago, thanks to a fall grounds cleanup party!
...
Merry Invasive Christmas Eve!
Plant Disease & Pest Diagnostic Clinic Sample Summary, Week Beginning December 12, 2021
Plant Disease & Pest Diagnostic Clinic Sample Summary, Week Beginning December 6, 2021
Rounding up 2021
Mesmerizing Murmuration
Plant Disease & Pest Diagnostic Clinic Sample Summary, Week Beginning November 29, 2021
Live Christmas Tree Selection and Care
Plant Disease & Pest Diagnostic Clinic Sample Summary, Week Beginning November 22, 2021
Plant Disease & Pest Diagnostic Clinic Sample Summary, Week Beginning November 15, 2021
OSU Green Industry Short Course, Formally the OSU Nursery Short Course, To Be Held in December
Plant Disease & Pest Diagnostic Clinic Sample Summary, Week Beginning November 8, 2021
Plant Disease & Pest Diagnostic Clinic Sample Summary, Week Beginning November 1, 2021
Spotted Lanternfly Update – November 2021
Time To Straighten Out Peach Leaf Curl
As I was out and about in orchards seeing which apples have yet to picked and simply enjoying the colors of ripening fruit; suddenly, I was stopped in my wanderings to be absolutely stunned and amazed by the fall leaf colors of peaches. I had NEVER noticed the subtle colors and beauty of peach leaves that I observed for the first time this year. There were purples, reds, oranges, yellows and every shade or tint in-between and how beautiful they looked as they were starting to fall. I was savoring the moment, when my mind immediately jumped to- “Hey, peach leaves are...
Plant Disease & Pest Diagnostic Clinic Sample Summary, Week Beginning October 25, 2021
Emerald Ash Borer University Kicks-Off Fall Season of Invasive Species Topics
ODA Issues Quarantine for Spotted Lanternfly
Turfgrass Times, 10.28.2021
Late-Season White Pine Aphids
Plant Disease & Pest Diagnostic Clinic Sample Summary, Week Beginning October 18, 2021
Oak Wilt Update From The Clinic
Woolly Bears and the Winter's Tale
Seasonal Needle Drop in Full Swing
True Colors of Leaves Being Revealed in NE Ohio
Up here in sugar maple land, everyone wants to know when the leaf colors will change and if it will be a good year for colors. Like always, I give them the solid scientific response to their questions of “When they are ready”… and “Yep, it could be a good year!” So, I thought I’d review the science as to why leaves change colors and then maybe you can forecast your own “fall color spectrum” chances.
...
Bois D'Arc
They're BAACK... The Hairy Bittercress Horde!
As I was outside soaking up the glorious October warmth and sunshine, I suddenly noticed little flecks of green scattered out in the landscape beds. Intrigued and forever curious, I wandered over, saw what was growing and I got a twitch in my eye. I remembered receiving an email from a reader telling me that I should remind everyone about seasonal timing and control of this despicable landscape curse. I wrote this Spring (April 23, 2021) in an attempt to stem the tide of the prolific green horde of wicked plants taking over the garden world...but of course, they have...
Tips on Oak Tips
Fungi of the Field and Woods: Do You Really Know Who They Are? - Friday, October 15, 2021
Time for Peony Clean-Up
Late-Season Ornamental Cherry Defoliation
Orb Weavers in the Morning Dew
Tis the Season... For Fresh Picked Apples!
I love this time of year in Northeast Ohio because it is apple picking time! Just a little over a week ago, the customer favorite ‘Honeycrisp’ apples were being picked and sorted. Due to the May 25th & 27th freeze/frost events creating light to non-existent crops, the ‘Gala’, ‘Jonamac’, ‘Holiday’ and ‘Macintosh’ apples were quickly picked in the previous three weeks. I’m looking forward to tasting the purplish-burgundy colored ‘Macoun’ apples with their brilliant white flesh and unique flavor.
...
The Trouble with Tribbles
Turfgrass Times, 09.24.2021
Spotted Lanternfly – Getting the Word Out to Young and Old!
Resurrecting Lazarus Lizards
Blister Beetles Make Their Late-Summer Appearance
Beech Blight Aphids are Jitterbugging Across Ohio
Turfgrass Times, 09.17.2021
Update - Mysterious Bird Illness
Spotted Lanternfly infestation found in Ohio at 3 different locations. What can you do? SCOUT!
Re-Alert: Fall Armyworm, Part II?
“Bagworm Season” is Wrapping Up
The Return of the Elm Leaf Beetle?
Magnolias Looking Mangled
As I was mowing the lawn, I noticed that there seemed to be an inordinate number of leaves on the ground near my wife’s favorite magnolia. Immediately, my red flag warnings went off and I was on the hunt for what had caused the leaves to turn yellow, then brown and then fall off. This tree is Magnolia X brooklynensis 'Yellow Bird' with elliptical leaves 4-8 inches long and 4-6 inches wide.
...
Sedum Flea Beetle Mystery Continues
Bladdernut Slug Sawfly Mystery Solved
ODA Confirms Spotted Lanternfly in Cuyahoga County
Earlier today, September 2, 2021, the Ohio Department of Agriculture announced a population of the invasive Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) has been found on the east side of Cleveland. The information in this alert is from the announcement that ODA distributed today.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) was notified of the initial discovery by a tree care professional on August 26, 2021.
ODA Plant...
Destroyed: the Second Asian Giant Hornet Nest Found in the U.S.
Fall Armyworms March Across Ohio
Jumping Spiders Abound
Sheetweb and Funnel Weavers Create Early Halloween Decorations
Looking for Fall renovation plants for your landscape? Consider some ‘Native’ shrubs.
Hort Shorts - Horticulture Highlights
Anti-Ant Farms
Turfgrass Renovation
Hemlock Woolly Adelgid - A 2021 Summer Update - New Find in Kent, Ohio - Portage County
IR-4 Survey for Specialty Crop Growers
Rusty Shoes (and Toes) Syndrome
Rising Bulletgalls
Wasp (Paper Wasps, Yellowjackets, and Baldfaced Hornets) Nest Expansion
Extraordinary Fall Webworm Outbreak
Periodical Cicada Damage Look-A-Like
Turfgrass Times, 08.13.2021
Coneflower Conundrums
Creeping Slime Molds
Turfgrass Times, 08.06.2021
Itchy Alert
White Masses on the Stems of Redbuds, Wafer-Ash, and Other Trees
Know your plants with PURPLE berries
Mimosa Webworm: It’s Time for “Torched” Honeylocusts
Turfgrass Times, 07.30.2021
Do Aphids Really Spoil the Monarch’s Party?
Spotted Lanternfly Update, 07.30.2021
This Lily Has Everyone Seeing Stars
Every year in NE Ohio about this time, my wife and I anticipate being able to sit out on our deck and gaze upon the stars in the middle of the day. How is this possible? Did I tip over backwards on a chair and hit my head? Nope, we just sniff and see stars! The answer is easily detected with the emergence of one of our favorite species of lily blooming in the Drapescape. This unbelievable bloomer, Lilium orientalis ‘Stargazer’, is most commonly called by its moniker of Stargazer lily. Oriental lilies are renowned for their huge bloom size, intense and eye-...
Ants and Fungi work together to weaken the tree! And then..........
Turfgrass Times, 07.23.2021
Indiana Department of Natural Resources Announces First Find of Spotted Lanternfly in Indiana
Be Alert to Redheaded Pine Sawfly
What's Eating My Tomatoes!
Lacewings (= Good)
Lace Bugs (= Bad Bugs)
Ants Cry Uncle!
Plant of the Week - Daylilies
Adult Gypsy Moths Evident in Ohio
Coneflower Decapitations Commence
Magnolia Massacre
Turfgrass Times, 07.09.2021
Periodical Cicadas Depart and Dog-Day Cicadas Arrive … with Their Killers
“Pine Cones” on Willow? Most Unusual
Fuzzy White Planthopper Nymphs
All-American Beech Anthracnose and Erineum Patches
Assassins are on the Loose!
Asian Giant Hornet (a.k.a. "Murder Hornet"): It’s Not in Ohio, but Remain Vigilant
Turfgrass Times, 007.02.2021
Fall Webworm Nests
Olethreutes has Left the Building
Yucca (Yucky?) Bugs and Beetles
Turfgrass Times, 06.25.2021
Gyspy Moth Update, Part 2
A recent BYGL Alert (June 17, 2021 - https://bygl.osu.edu/node/1802) has prompted some emails coming from the following counties: Wayne, Medina, Lorain, Erie, Williams, Lucas and Wood.
Caterpillars are gaining in size, their appetite is increasing, and their frass is falling. Last evening, I went to check out a site in Lucas County, in Toledo's Ottawa Park. The park includes many oaks, in the turf areas, and in the wooded area between the open areas and the adjoining golf course. There is plenty of food for these hungry...
What is Going on with the Birds??
Turfgrass Times, 06.21.2021
Look Up for Cottony Maple Leaf
Elms with Holey Leaves
There’s Corn in My Lawn!
Be Alert to Magnolia Scale
Gypsy Moth Damage Becoming Evident
Gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) caterpillars are becoming evident in areas where populations are present. Citizens are reaching out to local Extension offices to identify the caterpillar and determine what is the best course of action.
The caterpillars are voracious feeders and as their numbers build, their appetites expand and plant foliage disappears rather quickly. While they prefer oaks, their host preferences are quite expansive. They seem to enjoy the needles of spruce, especially as larger, or later instar caterpillars.
Wisconsin has a "...
Turfgrass Times, 06.15.2021
Maple Leaf Blister
Turfgrass Times, 06.04.2021
Annual Sugar Maple Leaf Drop From Petiole Borer
Breaking News: Oak Shothole Leafminer on Chestnut
Holey Oak Leaves
Bagworm Eggs are Hatching: The Game’s Afoot!
White-Splattered and Corrugated River Birch Leaves
Gooey, Sticky Resin Droplets On Norway Spruce Foliage Leads To The Discovery Of Spruce Bud Scale Infestations.
Box Tree Moth Alert
Turfgrass Times, 05.28.2021
Halloween Decorations in May?
Buckeye? Horse Chestnut? Which One is Which?
Viburnum Leaf Beetle Activity Becoming Obvious in NW Ohio
Plant of the Week - White Fringe Tree
An Oak-Apple Gall Ex Expert
The Japanese Maple Scale Challenge
Sticky Oaks
Dripping Calico Scale
Poison Hemlock and Wild Parsnip are Bolting and Blooming
Periodical Update: We’re Still Waiting …
ODA To Begin Treating For Gypsy Moth This Week
Turfgrass Times, 05.07.2021
Woolly Aphids Add Interest to American Elms
Horns are Popping
Maple Leaf Development and Heavy Seed Production
Crabapples are for the Birds!
Extrafloral Nectaries, Myrmecophiles and Other Trivial Pursuits
Periodical Update: Cicada Observations and Educational Opportunities
Hairy Bittercress Busting!
How many of us have gone outside to smugly look at our gardens that looked pristine and in excellent shape heading into the winter? Then in the Spring, as we emerge from our winter hibernation to survey our domain… We are shocked! What the heck happened out there because there are tufts of green weeds everywhere! A gardening friend asked me what this green thing was, because he had already pulled or dug up two wheelbarrow loads of them! The prolific green demon belongs to the mustard family (Brassicaceae) and is known as Hairy Bittercress (HB) or Cardamine hirsuta...
Wilted Buckeye Leaves May Not Be Freeze Damage
Proper Pruning Pays Off!
Boxwood Leafminer is for the Birds?
Hawthorn Pod Galls Arise
Turfgrass Times, 04.09.2021
What is Your Growing Degree Day (GDD) Number?
Don't Let This Warm Weather FOOL YOU!
Poison Hemlock and Wild Parsnip: Control Them Now!
Lesser Celandine: A Beautiful Plant with an Ugly Nature
Bee Aware: Soil Mining Bees are Active
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde … Mulch
Periodical Cicadas are Poised to Emerge
Don't Leave CFAP 2 Payments on the Table
Word of the Week - Oomycetes
Spotted Lanternfly Quarantine Information
Turfgrass Times, 03.19.2021
Emerald Ash Borer University (EABU) - Upcoming Spring Sessions
Word of the Week - Growing Degree Days (GDD)
Word of the Week - Damping-Off
This week's word of the week is DAMPING-OFF. Dictionary.com defines damping-off as a disease of seedlings, occurring either before or immediately after emerging from the soil, characterized by rotting of the stem at soil level and eventual collapse of the plant, caused by any of several soil fungi.
As gardeners eagerly await the official beginning of the spring season, there will be lots of seeds being sowed at home, or commercially in greenhouses across Ohio to support gardeners efforts in growing food, supporting pollinators and creating beauty in gardens and...
Wonderous Witch-hazels
What is a Witch-hazel?
A witch-hazel (Hamamelis) is not a true hazel, Corylus, though the foliage and fruit do resemble true hazels. The two genera are not related and belong to different families (Hamamelidaceae vs. Betulaceae).
...Word of the Week - Marcescent
This week’s word of the week is MARCESCENT (mar·ces·cent) and was suggested by not just one, but two BYGL readers, Sue Cook and David Sprague. Keep the suggestions coming. We have a nice list of words that keeps on growing.
MARCESCENT defined by dictionary.com is the withering, but not falling off, as a part of a plant. Marcescent comes from marcescere, and in Latin, means “to fade”.
So have you ever noticed...
Home Garden Vegetable Trial
Word of the Week - Allelopathy
Word of the Week - Extension
Street Trees Part 12 – Platanus, Prunus, Amelanchier, and Tilia
2021 Woodland, Water and Wildlife (WWW) Conference Opens Registration
Word of the Week
Tri-State Green Industry virtual Conference (GIvC)
Street Trees Part 11 – Nyssa-Black Gum and Liquidambar- Sweet Gum
Street Trees Part 10 – Ostrya - Hop hornbeam , Chionanthus - Fringetree and Carpinus - European Hornbeam
Street Trees Part 9 – Cornus-Dogwood, Viburnum, Syringa-Lilac, Cercis-Redbud
Street Trees Part 8 – Elms, Ulmus and Zelkova
Emerald Ash Borer Update for the New Year
Kicking off the new year with an update on a not so new invasive species, the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) (EAB).
EAB was first detected in summer of 2002 in Michigan, near Detroit, and in winter of 2003 in Ohio, outside of Toledo. It has since spread through the buckeye state and has made its home in 36 states. As indicated on the map, some states have felt the wrath of EAB from north to south and east to west, while some have what we would call 'isolated infestations' - at least for now.
While the EAB map that is updated on a...
Invasive Buckthorns
OSU Green Industry Short Course and Ohio Turfgrass Foundation Conference Goes Virtual Next Week
Once again, the OSU Green Industry Short Course and the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation Conference are partnering up to bring you two outstanding educational events combined into one program. This year the program is - yes you guessed it - going virtual.
You can join us for this historic virtual event that offers over 60 hours of education! The on-demand sessions are available now if you want to begin learning today! Credits will be offered for many of the live sessions being...
Street Trees Part 7 – Quercus, Oaks
Street Trees Part 6 – Metasequioa, Dawn Redwood and Taxodium, Bald Cypress
Visit New Website for the Buckeye Environmental Horticulture Team!
Plant Introductions: Meet Invasive Species Common Barberry and Japanese Barberry
Common barberry or European barberry, Berberis vulgaris, is a non-native invasive woody shrub. Intentionally brought to North America by early settlers in the 1600s, it has escaped cultivation and is widely distributed in the northern U.S. Common barberry is also an alternative host for the disease, black stem rust, a severe pest of grains. As a result, large scale eradication efforts began in the 1900's to remove this reservoir of disease. However, populations still exist in the Great Lakes states, including Ohio, and the northeastern United...
Chadwick Arboretum's Virtual Winter Solstice Program
Street Trees Part 5 – Gymnocladus, Kentucky Coffee Tree, Gleditsia, Honeylocust, and Koelreuteria, Goldenrain Tree
Waking Up To Mother Nature's Beauty
Street Trees Part 4 – Eucommia (Hardy Rubber Tree), Ginkgo (Ginkgo), Maclura (Osage Orange)
Invasive of the Week - Phragmites (Phragmites australis)
Street Trees Part 3 – Betula (Birch)
Turfgrass Times, 11.20.2020
Seasonal Scouting for Viburnum Leaf Beetle Eggs
Virtual Session on Invasive Jumping Worms - Thursday, November 19, 2020
Street Trees Part 2 – Aesculus (Buckeye)
Street Trees Part 1 – Acer (Maple)
Street Trees of Ohio – What’s your Favorite?
2020 BYGL Reader Survey Ends Monday
Destroyed: the First Asian Giant Hornet Nest in the U.S.
Upcoming SLF Educational Opportunities
Forgotten Favorite Flaunts Fabulous Fall Foliage
Are Woolly Bears Weather Prognosticators?
Warm fall weather brings out strange creatures in Northeast Ohio!
Another Fall Feeding Caterpillar
Intelligent Sprayer Reduces Pesticide Use and Saves Money!
Milkweed Seed Pods Hanging in the Air
A Direct Link to Our 2020 BYGL Reader Survey
"Giant Mutant Mosquitoes" Abound
We Need Your Input! The 2020 BYGL Survey is LIVE
I was excited to see there was leafcutter bee activity on my walk at Toledo Botanical Garden earlier this week. The activity was on a redbud (Cercis canadensis) seedling. I observed the activity occurred on the lower leaves, closest to the ground. I also noticed leaf cutting bee activity on a redbud at home, and again the activity was near the ground.
Most of the common leafcutter bees (Megachile spp.) are similar in size to the common honeybee, usually a little darker with light bands on the abdomen. Their actions or habits differ from the common...
Stripes of a Different Kind - The Zebra Caterpillar
Tree of the Week - Sweetgum
Perennial Plant of the Week - Alleghany Pachysandra
Study at Penn State to Examine Potential for Birds to Eat Spotted Lanternfly
Turfgrass Times, 10.02.2020
Garden Peony Clean-Up
Are Oaks Raining Tribbles?
This Friday's Escape to the Forest - Birds of Ohio Shores: Diversity, Ecology and Management of Shorebirds in Ohio
Spotted Lanternfly Traps Deployed In Ohio
Lawn Renovation Video Series by OSU's Zane Raudenbush
Antlions Roar Again!
Act Now to Prevent Fall Invaders!
Goldenrain Tree Bug
A Million Maximilian Sunflower Display
Stinging Cats
They're Wheel Bugs, NOT Kissing Bugs
Rappelling Mimosa Webworms are Repelling
In Your Face Spiders and Other Orb Weavers
Turfgrass Times, 09.11.2020
Spot the Spot – Efforts Continue to Look For Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) in Ohio
Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) Webinar Next Tuesday
Weaving the Dodder's Tale
Oak Bulletgalls are Rising
Bagworm Season Drawing to a Close
Asian Jumping Worms a Threat to Gardens and Woodlands
Robber Fly Born Identities
ODA Operation Clean Sweep a Huge Success in Lake County Ohio
Spotted Lanternfly Update
Ohio Victory Gardens - Let's Grow Ohio
Turfgrass Times, 08.21.2020
Robber Flies: Their Name Says it All
Wasp Nest Expansion Enters Hyperdrive
Spectacular Fall Webworm Nests
Ambush Bugs: A Pollinator Peril
Is It Oak Wilt, Or Not?
CFAP Federal Assistance Available for Nursery (including Greenhouse) and Specialty Crops
Bark Beetles and Ambrosia Beetles: the Big Picture
Ohio Commercial Online Recertification
Mimosa Webworm on Honeylocusts
Passion Flower in Bloom
Cornelian Cherry Dogwood Putting On a Fruity Show
The Ins and Outs of a New Commercial Pesticide Sprayer
Seasonal Fruits and Veggies Shine - Three Cheers for Locally Grown Produce
This Friday's Escape to the Forest - Virtual Program
Additional Information From ODA About The Mystery Seeds
ODA Asks Public to Not Plant any Unsolicited Packages of Seeds
Be Alert for Prowling Walnut Cats
Be Alert for Yellownecked Cats
Friday In the Forest - Beech Leaf Disease History, Treatment and Surveys
Dog-Day Cicadas, Cicada Killers, and Other Big Stingers
First Generation Catalpa Hornworms
Rust Never Sleeps I: Cedar Quince Rust on Hawthorn Stem
Turfgrass Times, 07.10.2020
An Abundance of Eriophyid Mite Galls
Greening of the Industry I
First Generation Redbud Leaffolder
Sycamore Anthracnose Redux
Midge Fly Galls on Baldcypress
Entwined by Vines
Dogbane Beetle: A 4th of July Treat!
Magnolia Scale: Puffing-Up, Dripping Honeydew, and Drawing Flies
Flocculent Planthoppers Arise
Off With Their Heads!
Aster Yellows
Turfgrass Times, 07.02.2020
ODA Partners with OSU Extension to Provide Online Pesticide Recertification Opportunities
Updated Emerald Ash Borer Map Distributed by USDA APHIS
Gypsy Moth Caterpillars Becoming Obvious in Some NW Ohio Areas
Spotted Lanternfly Continues to Develop
Good Beetle: Fiery Searcher Caterpillar Hunter
Bad "Bugs"
Good "Bugs"
Cottony Maple Leaf Scale Hiding in Plain Sight
Turfgrass Times, 06.26.2020
Winterberry Gender Reveal
"Is my winterberry a male or female?" "I thought I bought a female and a male but I don't have any berries."
Comments and questions like the ones above usually come during the fall or winter when the bright red berries begin to show up on Ilex verticillata, winterberry. But at that point in the season it is too late to tell. If you purchase a female but don't have a male (or the right male) and end up with no berries, you may think that you bought a male and go out and buy another female.
Winterberry is dioecious, meaning there are separate male and female plants...
Woolly Alder Aphids
Tree of Heaven and Sumac Blooming: A PERFECT Time to Differentiate!
Butterfly Weed Bursting Into Bloom
Squash Vine Borer Adults
Orange "Dust" from Callery Pears
Diagnostic Case Study: It's Another Impala Moonrise
Dandelion Detectives
Ugly Oaks
Itoh Hybrid Peonies
Itoh peonies, also known as intersectional peonies, are a group of hybrid peonies that have become more popular in recent years. In 2012, Ken Cochran planted two Itoh hybrid peonies at Secrest Arboretum (‘Kopper Kettle’ and ‘Bartzella’). The plant was a novelty for staff an volunteers and is still adored by many visitors to Secrest. Over the last two years Secrest Curator, Jason Veil, has greatly expanded the Itoh hybrid peony collect at Secrest.
...Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) Confirmed in South Carolina
Fall Webworm
Oddball Fern-Balls
Calico Scale Crawls
Bagworm "Season" Begins
Johnsongrass in Turfgrass
Early-Bird Periodical Cicadas
Reverting Back to "Normal"
ODA to Begin Gypsy Moth Mating Disruption Treatments in Ohio
This is a media release distributed by the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) on June 8, 2020.
GYPSY MOTH MATING DISRUPTION TREATMENTS TO BEGIN IN OHIO
Delaware, Franklin, Hardin, Hocking, Knox, Licking, Marion, Morrow, Muskingum, Perry, Union, Vinton and Washington counties to receive treatments
The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) will begin...
Rhododendron Heaven
Maple Cuisine
Poison Hemlock and Wild Parsnip are Blooming in Southern Ohio
Sneaky Four-Line Plant Bugs are Finished for the Season
Don't Be Fooled by Dame's Rocket
Why Are My Trees Blowing Bubbles?
After some hard rains this past week, I received a call from a very concerned citizen, wanting to know if their tree was in trouble. The citizen was frightened that this had happened and didn’t want to lose the trees, because there was a pile of soap bubbles coming from the base! My first thought and initial response was… YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS ABOUT TREES BLOWING BUBBLES?? Of course, the only thing I could do was ask if they could send me pictures to see what was going on with the tree!
...
Buckeye Leafmining Fly is "Unknown" No Longer
Point Counter Point: HortiQuoteUre Redux
Camp Canopy Goes Virtual - Check It Out!
Aphid Galls Rising on Elms: True Identity Update
The Lovely Season of White Fringetree
Turfgrass Times, 05.22 and 05.29 - A Two For One!
"Concrete Mites" Are Out: Look Before You Sit!
Annual Leaf Drop from Maple Petiole Borer
Aphid Galls Rising on Elms
American Beech: Anthracnose and Erineum Patches
Yeasty Beasties, Slim Flux, and Other Natural Wonders
Friday, June 5 - Virtual Escape to the Forest - Forest Insects: Native and Non-Native
The OSU's Ohio Woodland Stewards Program in the School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR) is offering online Friday's in the Forest during this pandemic.
Next Friday you can join OSU’s Amy Stone and Joe Boggs as we look at some native forest insects and some non-native forest insects. Insects that create ‘tents’, insects that dance, along with insects that create galls and insects that suck sap – something for everyone. The virtual session will be offered on Friday, June 5, from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm.
...
COVID-19, Ralstonia and Contact Tracing - Updated July 1, 2020!
In Flanders Fields: Poppies Remind Us of Those Lost
Nostoc commune: From "The Blob" to Crusty Black Stuff
Beautiful Oak Flowers
Flowers! That is one of many things horticulturalists think of when we think spring. We think of the beautiful flowers of things like Malus, Forsythia, Viburnum, and Quercus. I know, you might be asking, “Quercus, really?” Indeed oaks. Oaks have spectacular flowers! These often-overlooked flowers and quite intricate and showy in their own right...
Ant Wars
Holey Elms
Holey Oaks
Fernleaf Beech to Nostoc, Weekend Wonders, Part Deux
The Right Redbud For You
Eastern Redbud, Cercis canadensis, put on a show this spring! It did not matter where, the redbuds were simply outstanding. Most of the flowers on Cercis canadensis even survived the cold of May 8-11 with little or no injury. Perhaps it was the shelter-in-place order that made spring flowers seem especially brilliant this year, or maybe they really were better than usual. Whatever the case, I am not going to complain!
...Have No Fear, Even When a Honey Bee Swarm Is Near!
Weekend Wonders I: From Violet Jelly to Further Frost Bytes
Boxwood Leafminer Adults
Wilted Buckeye Leaves
Woodland Wonders: Understory Edibles
Hydrangea Leaftier: Oddball Plant Structures
Home Is Where The Heart Is..And The Lungs, and Toes, and...
Roses Are Red And Violets Are Blue Or Are They?
Secrest: Apres le Gel
Checking the Germination Rate of Old Seed
We Speak For The Knees?
Correction 5.20.20
An article published in the International Journal of Plant Sciences was brought to my attention by Bob Polomski, Ph.D., Extension Associate, Clemson University, indicating that Baldcypress knees do indeed function as pneumatophores.
See citation below for article text:
Martin, C. E., & Francke, S. K. (n.d.). Root aeration function of baldcypress knees (Taxodium distichum). International Journal of Plant Sciences, 176(2), 170–173...
Woodland Wonders: Spring Ephemerals Sing the Blues
The spring ephemeral season is nearing its end in Northwest Ohio as the woodland trees and shrubs leaf out. Temperature largely dictates the pulse of when wildflowers bloom and fade on the forest floor. Our rather cool spring allowed dozens of white blossoms to linger for several weeks. These flowers are now mostly gone aside from a stray spring beauty here and there, replaced by a show of blue and purple blooms. Two warm, sunny days above 70°F pushed the fast-forward button on flowering last week.
These are the tail end of...
Woodland Wonders: A Tale of Two Vines
Vines are trailing plants that use stems, tendrils or adventitious roots to help them “climb” up surfaces like walls, bricks, stone, plants and trees to reach new heights. The curious nature of two vining plants – Virginia creeper and poison ivy - came to light this past week. Both plants are native, herbaceous perennial vines with compound leaves commonly found throughout the woodlands of Ohio. Often, they grow near one another or even intertwined on the same tree. Can you tell these two plants apart?
...
Crabdronia II: A Peak Peek
Woolly Aphids on American Elm
Secrest: Calm Before The Frost
Marsh Marigold Madness
On one of our jaunts through the woods and parks in NE Ohio, my wife was thrilled to see glorious blooms of intense yellows created by Caltha palustris or Marsh Marigold (MM). The genus name “Caltha” is derived from the Latin meaning “yellow flower” and the specific epithet “palustris” means marsh-loving. Therefore, the Latin binomial for this plant literally means “yellow flower marsh-loving”!! This North American native plant thrives in bogs, ditches, swamps, forested swamps, wet meadows, marshes, and stream margins from as far east as...
Shrub of the Week: Exochorda
The Rosaceae is the most influential plant family in our landscapes (and the angiosperms), from Spiraea to Physocarpus, Prunus to Alchemilla, and most notably for us at Secrest, Malus. While crabapples are showing their beauty at Secrest another member of the Rosaceae, Exochorda, is also putting on quite a display.
Over the last week I have received several inquiries from people wanting to know...
Japanese Maple Scale (JMS)
Orioles, Grosbeaks, and Warblers, Oh My!
Turfgrass 101 by Scott Zanon
Crabdronia: BYGL Readers Ask and Receive
Heavy Maple Seed Production = Slow Leaf Development
Part Deux: Secrest Arboretum, Early May, 2020
Turfgrass Times, 05.01.2020
Gypsy Moth Caterpillars Begin Hatch in NW Ohio
Secrest Arboretum: Early May, 2020: Part I
Asian Giant Hornet (a.k.a. "Murder Hornet") Update
Check Out the Spotted Lanternfly FactSheet
Soil Testing
Ohio Department of Agriculture to Begin Treatments for Gypsy Moth in Southern Ohio
Asian Bleeding Heart
Redbud Cauliflory
The Crabapples Are Coming! The Crabapples Are Coming!
Emerald Green Tigers Prowling Forest Trails
A Woodland Wildflower Wonderland
It wasn't too long ago that we had snow flurries across Ohio. This week, the woodlands in Northwest Ohio were covered with a different kind of white - (mostly) white blossoms! Many of Ohio's spring woodland wildflowers are in full bloom this week. These are ephemeral bloomers, meaning they only bloom for a short period each year. So if you have a chance to walk through the woods this week, see if you can spot a few of these beauties...and more!
Claytonia virginica. Spring wouldn't be spring without spring beauties! These delicate and prolific harbingers of...
Is it Time to Plant Your Vegetable Garden? Check the Soil Temperature!
This time of the year everyone is anxious to get out and begin planting their vegetable garden. You may have spent the last few months browsing the seed catalogs and dreaming about fresh tomatoes from your garden. Also you may have recently noticed vegetable transplants at your local retailers however this does not necessarily mean it is time to start planting. Few gardeners check the soil temperature before planting, yet it is probably the most important factor affecting seed germination and plant growth. Planting too early, before allowing the soil to warm up,...
A Little Whiff of... Voodoo!
My friend Nick Reiter calls me up and says a plant-loving friend, Karen Jeric, has a plant that I MUST see and experience. Okay, I thought, I’m always ready for a plant discovery experience and besides, I can write a BYGL Alert about it! We arrange a way to social distance and pick up my “plant experience”. I sneak a peek at the plant wrapped up and as I do, I get SMACKED right between the eyes… in my olfactory!
...
Celebrate Arbor Day with Horned Oak Galls
Shrub of the Week: Yellowroot
Yellowroot, Xanthorhiza simplicissima, is a member of the Ranunculaceae that few people in Ohio are familiar with. When I began working at Secrest Arboretum in 2010 I learned Xanthorhiza from Ken Cochran as a plant that could be grown in dry shade beneath white pines. After the 2010 tornado we moved clumps of the plant to new areas to help cover open areas. At the time I wasn’t impressed with it, except for the...
We Stand on the Shoulders of a Giant
Virtual Program Reminder - April 21, 2020, 9 am, 12 pm and 3 pm
Calico Scale Poo Showers Commence
Green "Ramping Up" All Over NE Ohio Forests
As I was out walking and checking our phenology sequence here in Northeast Ohio, I couldn’t avoid noting massive patches of green scattered across the forest floor. The more closely I looked, the more I noticed it was EVERYWHERE in the woods. Well, I couldn’t let an opportunity for some plant investigation go untouched, so I tramped off the beaten path… proclaiming social distancing rights! I was astounded to discover that as far as the eye could see, it was Allium tricoccum (AT) or more commonly called “ramps” by foraging aficionados....
Plant More Pachysandra
Pachysandra. We should be planting more of it. Many of you reading this are repulsed by the thought of someone wanting to plant Pachysandra. And you should be. Before you close your browser I want you to know I’m talking about the good kind, Pachysandra procumbens, Allegheny Pachysandra, not the non-native species that you’re most familiar with, pachysandra terminalis, Japanese Pachysandra. Jim Chatfield mentioned Allegheny Pachysandra in a BGYL article a couple weeks ago and inspired...
Invasive of the Week - Japanese Knotweed Popping Up
Growing Degree Days, Part 3
Tree Benefits Analysis of Maple by Claudia Winslett
Dandelions for Dinner by Zoe Eads-Scofield
Seeing Coltsfoot?
From afar, COLTSFOOT (Tussilago farfara) may be confused as a dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) due to its yellow fluffy flower. Both are herbaceous perennial members of the Asteraceae family. Both non-native plants are thought to originate in Eurasia and are now naturalized species to North America.
However, where dandelion has a deep taproot and grows a single plant (shown below)...
...
Personal Protective Equipment Shortages for Pesticide Applicators
The OSU C. Wayne Ellett Plant & Pest Diagnostic Clinic Will Reopen April 15, 2020
Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) Update: A FREE Zoom Webinar
Observations on Phenology
A Sand County Almanac Book Review by Kendall GIlmore
Turfgrass Times, 04.10.2020
Plant Profile: Magnolia campbellii
BYGL MailBag: April 10, 2020
April 2020 is our FIRST Ohio Native Plant Month and the 50 Anniversary of Earth Day!
On July 18, 2019, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed House Bill 59 into law designating the month of April as Ohio Native Plant Month. This legislation makes Ohio one of the first states in the country to have an entire month dedicated to our native plants!
The COVID-19 virus has canceled all group activities across Ohio, though there are still things you can do to participate in Ohio Native Plant Month. These activities for you and your families to share during these difficult times can be found at the following...
Crackling Boxwoods! From The X-Files?
Ticked off by Ticks, Part 2
Tick Awareness is important. In part 1, we covered the tick reports received that week: American Dog Tick and Deer Tick. Today, we will dive deeper into other the other medically important tick, the Lone Star Tick (Amblyomma americanum). While I haven't received a report of them yet this year, don't count them out.
LONE STAR TICK
The Lone Star Tick, as other ticks, is a blood-feeding, parasitic, 8-legged arthropod. Lone Star Tick gets its name from the...
Name That Pathogen
Be on the Lookout for Wild Parsnip!
Treemergency: Mulch Volcanos are Erupting in Landscapes!
The Year of Mas... Cornus Mas That Is!
In Northeast Ohio, it really has been the year of the Mas… Cornus mas (CM) to be exact and colloquially known as Corneliancherry dogwood. This bright, golden-yellow welcome burst of Spring color has been showing for a little over two weeks now! Corneliancherry dogwood is one of the first of the new season, easily noticeable, blooming trees and is truly a harbinger of Spring.
...
Shrub of the Week: Lindera benzoin
Backyard Beauty and Beyond
Emerald Ash Borer University (EABU) - Upcoming Sessions
Plant Profile: Chinese/Saucer Magnolia by Claudia Winslett
My Forsythias are shaped beautifully…...but few flowers!
Virtual Programming with OSU Extension, Agriculture and Natural Resources Program Area
Secrest Arboretum: April 4 Version
Mining Bees Can Cause Minor Panic
"Bleeding" Sycamores: The Red Bark Phenomenon Continues
Ticked Off by Ticks
A Sentinel Plant Pathologist: Enrico Bonello
Turfgrass Times, 03.27.2020
Here is your link to the video update from the OSU Turfgrass Team. Updates are from Dr. David Shetlar, aka The Bug Doc; Dr. David Gardner; Dr. Ed Nangle; Dr. Pamela Sherratt; Joe Rimelspach; Dr. Zane Raudenbush; and Mike O'Keefe. This is the first one of the season and packed full of great information for all - homeowners to turf professionals.
These updates give us a pulse of what is happening in turfgrass across the state from OSU experts. You will get a taste of insects, diseases...
Late Winter & Spring Turfgrass Diseases
The Rose Garden: And It's Not About The Genus Rosa
Common Mullein- Mother Nature's Answer to Our Toilet Paper Shortage?
Common Mullein Article- Authored by David Marrison
Coshocton County Extension Educator
When the news broke that we would need to retreat to our homes due to Coronavirus-19, the run on milk, eggs, bread and toilet paper began at our local grocery stores. I have been especially fascinated by the hoarding of toilet paper. Every time I have been out to get food and supplies, the toilet paper shelves have been completely bare.
As my wife Emily and I were out taking a...
Point Counter Point: What's In a Name - Dutch Elm Disease
Callery Pear: the Jekyll and Hyde Tree
Loebner Magnolias Bloom in Columbus
Loebner Magnolia Article
Authored by Claudia Winslett
This is the first bygl-alert over the next several weeks from students in the Horticulture and Crop Science 3410 class, “Sustainable Landscape Maintenance”, now meeting virtually. This alert text and images are by Claudia Winslett (the posting indicates the author is Jim Chatfield; we are working on changing this as students begin submitting these articles). The pictures are from Columbus, Ohio with its Growing Degree-Days of 99 as of this Sunday. Magnolia stellata, one of the...
Squirrely - and Other Behavior
Secrest Arboretum: Marches On
Eastern Tent Caterpillar Hatch: Bring on the Ants!
Mysterious Mukdenia
Many among us have found ourselves confined to quarters over the last few weeks. During times like these, I find I have more time to be observant in my yard and garden, resulting in the inevitable shout of, "WHAT IS THAT????" Perhaps some of you too are noticing new plants or critters as you soak up the sun on days like today! While out walking my cat, Mew Mew, (a superstar plant-lover in her own right) we got ourselves tangled up in some winter annual weeds, Hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) and Catchweed Bedstraw (Galium aparine).
...
Holy Hellebores!
Everyone anticipates spring’s arrival and subsequent awakening of plants from their winter slumber. If you’re like me, every plant exhibiting signs of life is exciting: from the complex flowers Acer saccharinum to the showy flowers of the magnolias, all are welcome. At Secrest Arboretum you can find many plants that remain unknown to the average gardener, but there is one plant that seems to remain in obscurity-Helleborous, or...
Daffodils or Jonquils...Are They One in the Same...Which Are They?
BYGL Mailbag
Bark Stripper Squirrels
The First Disease of the Year is... PINK!
I was so thrilled that finally here in NE Ohio we have a FIRST report instead of our typical lagging behind the rest of the state! The first detectable disease of the year is noticeable on turf as a necrotic area with an apparently PINK border! The fungal pathogen involved is Microdochium nivale and the disease is commonly called Pink Snow Mold (PSM).
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Planetree Questions II: The Final Five
Snowdrops: Beauty in the Midst of Chaos
Ten Questions About Planetrees: The First Five
As Predicted: Leaf-Browning by Boxwood Leafminer is Extensive This Spring
Secrest Arboretum: Spring Has Sprung
Beetles Emerge from Firewood
Crocus By Other Names
Start Planning for Pre-Emergence
Spring….The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Infectious Disease Host Range: How Wide Can It Be?
Growing Degree Days, Part 2
Asian Giant Hornet in the Northwest U.S.
Secrest Arboretum: Just Before Spring
News from OSU Extension - COVID-19
Pathogen vs. Disease: Why Terms Matter
White Pine Weevil Report
Growing Degree Days (GDD) - What Is Your #?
The Rise of Poison Hemlock
The Rise of Lesser Celandine
OSU Sports Turf Management Update
Spotted Lanternfly Quarantine Expanded in Pennsylvania - What Does That Mean For Ohio
Tree of Heaven vs. Staghorn Sumac. How can you tell the difference in Winter?
2020 Ohio Vegetable Trials
The Ohio State University is conducting vegetable trials with home gardeners. We want your opinion as to what grows well in Ohio and what Ohioans prefer (including the taste). There will be two sets of trials this year; spring trials and summer trials. Each will have five vegetables to choose from. You may choose how many of these that you would like to try in your garden. For each vegetable there will be two varieties to test side-by-side. Each vegetable trial will cost $3 and will include enough seed to grow a 10 foot row of each variety, growing instructions with garden layout...
Spring is In Sight
A Super Time to Scout for Bagworm! (Cone in the middle)
Woodland, Water and Wildlife Conference - Registration Open for March 4 Conference
How To Keep Your Poinsettia Looking Its Best
Is It A Pine, Spruce, or Fir?
Scouting for Scale at Solstice
Plants From All Over Program
See You at the 2019 Ohio State University Green Industry Short Course
Boogie-Woogie Aphids are Still Dancing
2020 Tri-State GIC: Save the Date!
Putting Ash Wood to Good Use - Lessons from the Urban Wood Network
Hemlock Woolly Adegid – A 2019 update
Weird Willow Galls
Last Hurrah for Willow Sawfly
White-Haired Alders and Meat-Eating Caterpillars
The National Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) Eradication Program Scores a "Win"
Workshop on Treating for Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) and Elongate Hemlock Scale (EHS)
Fall Color may Indicate MORE than the approach of Autumn!
Bees love the SON!
The Rise of Lazarus Lizards
Cars Sport a White-Speckled Color Scheme
An Odd Webworm and a Helpful Caterpillar ID Publication
Last Hurrah for Catalpa Hornworms
Venomous Caterpillars
Say Hello to My Little Friends
Flower Flies: A Landscape Twofer
Turfgrass Times, 08.30.2019
White Masses on Stems of Redbud
Redheads Roll
Check Trees for ALB
The Bagworm Season is in the Bag
Turfgrass Times, 08.23.2019
Turfgrass Times, 08.16.2019
Mimosa Webworms Producing Flaming Honeylocusts
Redbud Leaffolder Ruffles Redbud Aesthetics
Sustainable Landscape Workshop: September 3
Ohio Plant Diagnostic Workshop, September 6
Turfgrass Times, 08.09.2019
Humboldt Sestercentennial
Remontant Recurrence Again
Plant blooms are the typical focus as we progress through a growing season, but people become panicky when plants don’t perform how they normally do. It’s the time of year that concerned citizens call in wondering whether or not their magnolias or rhododendrons are signaling they are going to die. When asked why they think that the plants are going to die, the response is always the same, “because they are blooming again and they already bloomed this year!”
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Unholy Sacred Lotus
Oh, What a Tangled Web …
Be Alert to Elongate Hemlock Scale
Fall Webworm: Second Generation
Red "Lipstick" Rust on Crabapples
As I was strolling through the crabapple fields in Wooster at Secrest Arboretum, I began to notice that something was significantly different than the last time that I had evaluated the trees. Since I was evaluating the trees for apple scab, it suddenly struck me that I was also looking at a lot of polka-dot covered trees! What in the world was going on? As I looked closer at the foliage, the thing that stood out the most were the number of yellow-orange dots.
...
Vultures
Stink Bug Hunters Provide a Landscape Twofer
Bladdernut Slug Sawfly Conundrum
Sedum Flea Beetle Conundrum
Pavement Ants Have Stingers?
Phytoplasmas, Elm Yellows, and the Complete Diagnostic Process
Oriental Lilies Overwhelm Our Senses
As Oriental lilies are about halfway through their “bloombastic tour”, simply walking near them causes one to be stunned visually and in the olfactories too! After drawing in the noticeable, spicy scent wafting all around and through the air nearby the plants, it gives the feeling that breathing the regular, old normal air seem stale! That was just one of the differences between Asiatic and Oriental lilies, which I alluded to in an earlier BYGL article this year.
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Diagnostics: It's the Environment, Man
Bagworms Reveal Themselves!
Turfgrass Times, 07.26.2019
Be Alert to Boxwood Blight
Intriguing Little Barklice
The Problem with Monarchical Rule
Is it a Sawfly Larva or a Caterpillar?
Be Alert for Dogwood Sawfly
Gypsy Moth Adults Take Flight
Perspectives on Sudden Oak Death (SOD)
Walnut Petiole Gall
Plant of the Week - Purple Beautyberry
Walnut Cats on the Prowl
Buzz-Bombing Beetles are on the Wing
An American Tail: the Lotus and its Caterpillar
Tree of Heaven vs. Sumac: How can you tell the difference?
Diagnostic Workshop - Friday, August 2, 2019
Burgeoning Japanese Beetles and Basswood Leafminers
Asiatic Lilies Blooming Like Crazy in NE Ohio
As I was driving around, I kept seeing out of the corner of my eyes some brilliant flashes of color in various landscapes. I kept wondering what I was seeing so I had to stop and identify what was creating those brilliant flashes. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the intense colors were plantings of Asiatic lilies. The colors were so vivid and so diverse that it was almost impossible to walk by them and not notice them!
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Boxwood Leafminer 2020 Prediction
Aesculus Disease Genetics: Buckeye (D)NAtion
Assassins are Roaming Around, but Don't Panic
Dog-Day Cicadas and Cicada Killers
Planthoppers Abound
Turfgrass Times, 06.28.2019
Sumac Gall Aphid: An International Story
Ailanthus Webworm: Hope Springs Eternal
A Most Beautiful Beetle
Fruit Cracking of Cherry
First Generation Galls Appearing on Baldcypress
Tuliptree Drawing Flies to the Demise of the Flies
Gypsy Moth Caterpillars Killed By Fungus and Virus
Decapitated Cone Heads
Perennial of the Week - Prickly Pear Cactus
ODNR Celebrates 40th Anniversary of Urban Forestry Assistance in Ohio
Turfgrass Times, 06.21.2019
Japanese Beetles are on the Wing
White-Marked Tussock Moth Caterpillar Outbreaks
A Walk in the Arden...
Blistered Oak Leaves
Poison Hemlock and Wild Parsnip are going to Seed in Southern Ohio
Crabs, Scab and then So Sad... Drab!
On the BYGL conference call, I shared that I am amazed at how the foliage of the greatest landscape small tree, the breathtaking crabapple, has remained relatively clean here in NE Ohio. I was expecting with all of the rain this year, that we would quickly see what we Crabarians affectionately term “year of the scab dog”. This “scab dog” effect is due to the fungal pathogen (Venturia inaequalis) causing extensive apple scab lesions on susceptible crabapple tree leaves. Given our perfect environmental conditions for this fungal disease, I expected it to quickly...
The Natural...and Unnatural History of Trees
Dogwoods Are Dazzling
While on our BYGL conference call, I shared the glorious status of Kousa dogwoods (Cornus kousa var. chinensis) right now in NE Ohio. Only one word can describe them, “OUTSTANDING”!! Then Joe Boggs from the southern reaches of the state, asked me to repeat what I said about the Kousa’s here. I told him that they were just reaching their full glory and were unbelievable due to the cooler weather and moisture.
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Periodical Cicada: Rounds 1 and 2
Magnolia Scale is Puffing-Up and Dripping Honeydew
Be Alert to Fletcher Scale on Baldcypress
Yucca Plant Bug
Are Garlic Scapes Edible...YES!
Herbaceous Plant School at Secrest: June 27
Erineum Patches on American Beech Leaves
Woody of the Week - Kousa Dogwood
Veggie of the Week - Sugar Snap Peas
Sharpening Your Skills on Invasive Species
Tree Diagnostics Workshop
Fascinating Woodland Fungi Workshop
Seasons Don't Fear The Reaper: Sycamore Resurgence
Downy Leafspot on Hickory and Walnut
More Oddball Leaf Structures: the Hydrangea Leaftier
Oddball Fern-Balls
Gypsy Moth Mating Disruption Treatments Scheduled to Begin Next Week
This is a press release from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, distributed on June 5, 2019.
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Turfgrass Times, 06.07.2019
Basswood Lace Bug on Silver Linden: Harbingers of the Lace Bug Season
Be Alert for Scarlet Oak Sawfly
Be Alert to Bagworms!
Scuzzy Looking Oaks
Watch Out Four-Line Plant Bug - She Means Business (For Real This Time!)
Snipe Hunting
Turfgrass Team Times Kicks-Off For the Season
Look Before You Sit on Concrete
Rise of Fall Webworms
Summer forecast for Lake Erie NOT so bright!
Weed of the Week - Japanese Knotweed
Plant of the Week - White Fringe Tree
Bedraggled Elms: Galling Conditions
Bedraggled Elms: Elm Leafminer Sawfly
Bedraggled Elms: the Weevil
Yellow Poplar Weevils Not Very Popular in NE Ohio
Whilst kicked back on my deck pondering the black clouds rolling in, I marveled at the ‘Yellow Bird’ magnolia that has been blooming for about 3 weeks now. I was smugly congratulating myself on selecting a great plant for the Drapescape view, when suddenly my “diagnostic spider senses” went on full alert!
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Calico Scale Egg Hatch
Galls on Azaleas
What are Your Plant Pest, Disease, and Weed Management Challenges?
Picking Up Pawpaws.. Blooming
As I was in the throes of cutting and baling my overgrown lawn last week in Northeast Ohio, I was pleasantly surprised to see a profuse flower display on my Pawpaw (Asmina triloba) trees! I can’t recall ever seeing so many buds and blooms on the tree, especially the numbers which were noted this season. Now some may opine that the green, brown fuzz covered bud scales are the reason most people ignore and consequently, miss the real floral display, because the buds seem so uninspiring.
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From Woodlots to Landscapes: The Impressive Dryad’s Saddle Polypore Fungus.
The Wrath of Grapes
Dripping Tuliptrees
Annual Maple Leaf-Drop
Be Alert for "Mud Chimneys"
Wilted, Rolled, and Mined Buckeye Leaves
Rhododendrons – Azaleas; Reality Art!
Yellow Fields Forever
Fiery Eye-Candy
The European Paper Wasp Conundrum
Tree of the Week - Carolina Silverbell
Bladdergall Enlightenment
Slugged Rose Leaves from a Bristly Pest
Sycamore and Ash Anthracnose
Be Alert to Wild Parsnip!
Blue Week in Northwest Ohio
Bug Museum Eases Fears
Dogs Gone Wild!
Woody Phomopsis Galls
Interesting Oak Leaf Insect Galls
Asian Longhorned Tick Confirmed in Kentucky
The Inside Story on Obnoxious Nostoc
Boxwood Leafminer Flies Fly
Biggest Week in American Birding
How Plants Mate: Upcoming Program
Violets in Lawns a Pro? or Con? UPDATE
Land of the Bizarre: Tree Moats and Volcano Mulch
Annual of the Week - Lantana
Calico Scale is Puffing Up: Scale Poo is Raining Down
Secrest Spring Sojourn
SADD Garden brings Happiness!
A Bright Spot with Spotted Lanternfly
Be Alert for Pine Needle Scale Crawlers
Helicopters Fly over Lake County in May!
Cold Case Cracked: Crime on Crabapple Exposed?
It's the Most WONDERFUL Time of the Year............... If you're a Gardener
Rusts Arise!
Kissing Bug Hysteria Rises Again
Grafting Gone Wild!
Red Bark on Sycamore and London Planetrees
Research is Revealing!
Be Alert for Four-Line Plant Bugs!
Heavy Maple Seed = Sparse Leaves
Floweringquince in Bloom
Growing Degree Days (GDD) in Ohio
Imperial Fritillary
Leaking Trees
Insecticide Options for Protecting Ash Trees from Emerald Ash Borer
What's Your GDD?
Has anyone every asked you, "what's your GDD?" While many of you may have responded "yes," or may have even thought, "I ask others all the time"; I know there are some that probably yelled out their current GDD when simply reading the title of this alert. If you are still wondering what the heck is GDD - keep on reading, you won't be disappointed and will hopefully click on the link below to find out your GDD to date.
GDD stands for growing degree days. GDD are a measurement of the growth and development of plants and insects during the...
Be Alert for Boxwood Leafminer
How To Hire An Arborist
Green Tigers Prowling Forest Trails
Magnificent Magnolias
Eastern Tent Caterpillars, Extrafloral Nectaries, and Ants
Soil Mining Bees on the Wing
Weed of the Week - Purple Deadnettle
Painted Hickory Borers Flare-Up from Firewood
Spring has Sprung.... APRIL FOOLS!
Name That Insect . . .
Learn More About Ash Hazards
The Yellow of Winter Aconite Warms Gardeners Heart - Even Though the Temperatures Remain Cold
Be Alert to Poison Hemlock
Be Alert for White Pine Weevil
Ash Breakage: the Hazard Continues
The Girdle you HATE to see!
Dawn of Squirrelly Bark-Stripping!
Lesser Celandine is on the Rise
National Invasive Species Awareness Week, February 25 - March 3, 2019
Emerald Ash Borer Update
Cold Temperatures Blow Into The Buckeye State
Pay Attention to the Footprint of Snow
Don't Miss the 2019 Tri-State Green Industry Conference (GIC)
Open Comment Period Following New Additions to the OIPC Invasive Plant List
ODA Announces 2019 Gypsy Moth Open Houses
Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire...
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?
...
Winter ‘BERRY’ Wonderland
You're a Mean One... Mr. Recluse?
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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2019 Commercial Applicator Recertification Conferences
An Unusual Insect-Killing Fungus
An Icy Awakening
Strengthen Your Diagnostic Skills Through Learning
Ohio Turfgrass Conference and Tradeshow and OSU Short Course - December 4 - 6, 2018
New Ohio State App Helps Users Identify, Prevent and Control Bed Bugs
Keep the Vampires away this Halloween with GARLIC
A Diagnostic Dilemma Reveals an Unusual Plant Disease
Kissing Cousin Bugs
A Society of Unsung Heroes
My Pine tree is dead; what should I do? Maybe Nothing!
Get Ready for a Little Breaking and Entering
Calico Scale Crawlers Move to Stems
Fall Color: It’s not just for leaves anymore!
Great Lakes Apple Crunch Day - October 11, 2018
Why Trees Matter - October 24, 2018
A Spicy Surprise
Time to Clean-Up Garden Peonies
A Most Unusual Grub
Bullet Galls and Their Guards
Small but Mighty Fly
ArborEatYumm: OSU's College of Food...
What Lies Beneath
Diagnostics of Beech Leaf Disease: The Ultimate Beech Read
The Saga of Prickly-Ash...And Giant Swallowtail Butterflies...And
Cucumber Beetles Wreaking Havoc - IN THE FLOWER BEDS!
Annual of the Week - Popcorn Plant
Lesson Learned
That's gold, Jerry! GOLD!
Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative - Annual Milkweed Pod Collection
Rare and Unusual Caterpillar on Poplar
The Impatient Gardener
Blue-Winged Wasps Cruising Lawns
A Non-Native, Native Lizard
Tune In - What You Need To Know About Spotted Lanternfly (SLF)
Redbud Leaffolder Damage
Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) Cooperative Eradication Program in Ohio Scores Another "Win"
Monarch Migration
Beech Blight Aphids Shake Their Booty
Season Finale for Catalpa Hornworms
Thousand Cankers Disease (TCD) Update – Don't Rush to Cut Walnut Trees!
No Asian Hornets in the U.S.
Invasive Plant Species Alert - Japanese Stiltgrass
Broom of the Week; 'Cody's Feathers' Baldcypress
Eastern Filbert Blight on Hazelnut
Annual of the Week - Cotton
Bagworms are Wrapping Up
Diagnostics: Coloring Outside The Lines
The Best Herbaceous Plants for My Garden Are...
Have you been thinking about renovating your flower garden? Trying to decide which perennial and annual flowers would grow best in your garden? Well, guess no longer! Come spend a day with Pam Bennett, OSU Extension Horticulture Educator, and find out for yourself. In Clark County, Pam and her volunteers specialize in herbaceous ornamental plant trials and evaluate more than 200 varieties of annuals and two genera of ornamental grasses yearly!
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Slime Mold on Turfgrass
Teach Your Children Well...About Trees
Fall Webworm Update
Sneaky Stink Bugs
Morning Dew Brings Gossamer Creations to Light
A Real Sweet Dilemma
I was asked to help a vegetable grower figure out what was going on with something wreaking havoc and eating his ripening sweet corn. Typically, when someone mentions sweet corn and problems, the first demon that comes to mind are those little masked, sweet-toothed bandits, known as raccoons! When I arrived out in the field, I was surprised to see the corn stalks standing tall in nice rows. The masked marauders climb up the cornstalk to the get to the ripest, uppermost ear of corn; consequently, the corn stalks are most often snapped off or pushed over down to the...
Aphids, Host Preference, and Plant Taxonomy
A Blooming Bias
In the world of plants, most often our attention focuses on bloom color, size and timing of when blooms will make an impact in our landscape. Blooms are nice as a moving focal point during the growing season, but people become a little upset when plants don’t do what they are supposed to and only when they are supposed to do it. This is the time of year that concerned citizens call into the office wondering whether or not their magnolias or rhododendrons are going to die. When asked why they think that the plants are going to die, the response is always the same, “...
Blister Beetles Wreaking Havoc on Tomatoes
Marestail (Horseweed)
Monstrous Porcelain-Berry Barrage
Embrace the Milkweed Menagerie
Yellownecks Rear Their Heads … and Other End
Basswood Leafminer Damage Becoming Evident
'Ruby Spice' Clethra: Shrub of the Week
August 8 - Sneak A Zucchini On Your Neighbor's Front Porch Day
Annual of the Week - Dahlia
Bagworms: The Mamas and the Papas
Ohio Local Foods Week 2018
51st Annual NGLCO Summer Field Day for Nurseries, Designers, Landscape Contractors and Vendors to be held on Tuesday, August 14th.
Jumping Spider Diagnostic Challenge
Kentucky Coffeetree: Tree of the Week
Nursery Growers of Lake County Ohio promote their history 1854-2018.
New OSU FactSheet on Growing Onions
New OSU FactSheet on Hydrangeas
The Twisted Story of Rose Rosette Disease
Sumac Gall Aphid: More Than Meets the Eye
Love Thou the Rose, Don't Leave Galls on its Stem
Second Generation Galls Appearing on Baldcypress
Ohio Christmas Tree Association (OCTA) at the Ohio State Fair
The Clock is Ticking on White Pine Weevil Control
Tale of Two Crabapples: Diagnostics Is Never Easy
Summertime: And Diagnosis is never easy. Even with something as dear to my pathological brain as apple scab and cedar-apple (or hawthorn) rust on crabapple. I was on a walkabout at a northeast Ohio commercial landscape two weeks ago and came upon side-by-side crabapples – and the different symptoms of these two diseases on crabapple.
On one crabapple, apple scab infections caused some affected leaves to turn yellow before dropping; on the other crabapple the leaves turned orangish-red (the cover photo). As for rust, the lesions on the upper leaf surfaces of one crabapple...
Gypsy Moth - The Next Generation
Yellow Poplar Weevil Reared its Snout in Central Ohio
Robber Flies: The F-22s of the Insect World
Pollinator Pretense
Wheel Bugs are Rolling Along
Invasive Species Success
In recent years you have likely read more, learned more and maybe even seen more invasive species. Whether it is plants, diseases or insects, these pests should be on the radar - especially in the green industry.
I was recently reading a local paper and the headline "Border authorities find invasive beetles in a bag of seeds" of course caught my attention. The invasive species encounter was success thanks to the work of US Customs and Border Protection.
Late last week, US Customs and Border Protection announced in a release that agriculture...
Honeysuckle Leaf Blight
Sand Wasp Enemy of Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs
Asiatic vs. Oriental Lilies... Same Plants or Different?
I marveled at the incredible display of blooms and colors on the patch of lilies that I could see as I looked out from the deck over the Drapescape. Because of the intense colors, I just had to go get my camera and take some pictures. As I started reflecting on the names of these plants, I realized that I had to label the pictures and two names started to flip back and forth in my mind; namely, Asiatic or Oriental or are these colloquial terms or are these actually one in the same for one plant or were the plants different? What scary thoughts for a woody plant...
No Killers in Sight as Dog-Day Cicadas Sing
Fluffy Flatids
Magnolias Drawing Flies
Follow up on winter injury to roses
Back in the spring, I wrote a BYGL alert about winter injury to roses. THANKS to everyone for their feedback and response as to what's being seen around the state. It seems that the general consensus is that all types of roses experienced major dieback with damage clear down to around four to six inches above the graft. Some lost a few roses completely but the majority of the roses have recovered nicely according to most. Winter injury reports came from all around Ohio as well as from Detroit.
It still drives me crazy to drive around town and see the old dead wood...
Night Raiders
Sedum Erratum
Lovely American Lotus
Head Clipper Attacks Cone Heads
Cedar-Quince Rust on Callery Pear
Ohio Arbovirus Surveillance Updates
Beginning this year, the Ohio Arbovirus (arthropod-borne virus) Surveillance Update can be found on the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) website at http://www.odh.ohio.gov/arboupdate. The table will be updated each Monday through mosquito season.
Mosquito season is here. The ODH Zoonotic Disease Program, in partnership with ODH Laboratory, local public health partners and sanitary district partners, collects and tests mosquitoes from many communities in Ohio as part of statewide mosquito-borne disease surveillance...
Check Out Some Educational Opportunities
Sedum Conundrum and Passionate Plea
Some Gypsy Moth Caterpillars Have Met Their Match
While there has been an increase of gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) sightings in northwest Ohio, specifically in Lucas and Fulton Counties, late last week some of the leaf eating caterpillars appeared to be dying. Upon closer inspection, it appears that entomophaga (Entomophaga maimaiga), or the gypsy moth fungus, is doing the trick.
Gypsy moth caterpillars killed by the fungus entomophaga typically die hanging vertically from the tree trunks with their prolegs stretched out laterally. Caterpillar appear to shrink in girth and become somewhat...
Pinecones on Willow? They're Baaack!
Burgeoning Beetles
Families- A Grouping or Gathering of Similar Plants
Twisted Tale of Dodder
More Lace Bugs
A Most Beautiful Beetle
National Pollinator Week Begins Today
The Pollinator Partnership is proud to announce that June 18-24, 2018 has been designated National Pollinator Week. This week long observation is a time to celebrate pollinators and spread the word about what can be done to protect them.
Eleven years ago the U.S. Senate’s unanimous approval and designation of a week in June as “National Pollinator Week” marked a necessary step toward addressing the urgent issue of declining pollinator populations. Pollinator Week has now grown into an international celebration of the valuable ecosystem services provided...
Hawthorn Lace Bugs Affect More Than Hawthorns
Sneaky Bagworms
Scarlet Oak Sawfly Damage is Underway
Diagnosis: Bird...Or
Rusty Hawthorns
Masked Chafers and Japanese Beetles are on the Wing
ODA Announces Gypsy Moth Mating Disruption Treatment
The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) recently announced plans to begin aerial treatments designed to disrupt gypsy moth mating later this summer. Treatments will be applied to 32,526 acres in fifteen counties across the state.
The gypsy moth is a non-native, invasive species that feeds on the leaves of more than 300 different trees and shrubs and is especially fond of oak as a caterpillar as shown below.
...
Marginal Leaf Fold Galls on Oaks and Black Locust
Spring, Summer, Fall Webworms
Perceived Willow Woes
Ghosts in the Mist Thistle
Galls and Tree Identification
Ailanthus Webworms Weave Tangled Webs
Really MOOOving Along in NE Ohio
Driving along in Northeast Ohio, I came around a bend in the road and saw some tall weeds with clusters of white flowers in the roadside ditch. The flower heads had the classic shape of the Apiaceae or carrot family with the typical “compound umbels” on display. Think of an upside down umbrella with all the flower clusters radiating upward from a single point end of the stalk to form a flattened flower head about 6-10” across. So, I just had to stop and look at these plants knowing the concern that they will incite when people panic because they think they are seeing...
Be Alert for Spotted Lanternfly
Mystery Nest? Don't call 911 just yet!
Last week, a local police officer was called out to a property for mysterious “bug” activity. An unusual nest was reported on the property and the concerned homeowners did not know what it was or what to do with it. Luckily, the officer knew to call their local Extension office and soon we were ON THE CASE! (Here come the sleuthing puns!)
...
Four-lined Plant Bug Crushing Oregano (and other plants)
Perennial plants (and others) are showing damage caused by four-lined plant bug (Poecilocapus lineatus) with some plants exhibiting heavy damage. For instance, my oregano is totally obliterated. I usually say no worries to this pest as it is a one and done insect; it has one life cycle in the early part of spring. The damage is caused early enough in the season that I don't usually worry about taking action with pesticides. However, this year is anything but normal and I am altering my normal approach a bit.
...A Blistering Wild Parsnip Report
Poison Hemlock is in Full Flower and Towering over Fields and Landscapes in Ohio.
Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
Seeing Red
Calico Scale-Crawl
Bagworm Alert!
White Flower Day
Asian Chestnut Gall Wasp
Soil Temps Determine Planting Time
One of the most often asked vegetable questions during this early season is “How soon can I plant my tomatoes and peppers in the garden?” There are two reasons that the northeast Ohio gardener’s rule of thumb is “wait for Memorial Day” before planting out the tender annuals like tomatoes, peppers and green beans. The first reason is the possibility of a frost is almost eliminated by waiting until Memorial Day. Those tender annual plants like squash, tomatoes, green beans and peppers, cannot tolerate a frost event or even lower temperatures at all!...
Apples Don't Fall Far from the Oak Tree
Volutella leaf blight and stem canker of pachysandra
What's Your Number - Growing Degree Day Accumulations
This time of the year, some areas can be accumulating growing degree days (GDD) pretty rapidly, while in other areas it is a slower process. Joe Boggs reported to some ENLTers last week that the Cincinnati area broke a record and experienced a 90 degree day. It's truly a different story in Toledo. We have been on the receiving end of lots of rain and much cooler temperatures. There have been some days where our low and high temperatures added together didn't add up to 90.
To illustrate the differences that are occurring in the buckeye state, I have looked at...
Invasive of the Week - Autumn Olive
I was walking today and came upon a sweet smell. Excitement built as the fragrance intensified only to be disappointed. The fragrance was a familiar spring scent that I only remembered when I saw the plant. Its white to light yellow flowers hung against its silvery green foliage - yes you guess it - autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata). This deciduous plant can be consider a small tree or shrub. The stem, buds and leaves are covered with scales that are silver in color.
...
Wildflowers of Spring
Fothergilla Flowers: What Are We Looking At?
Unheavenly Ambrosia Beetles
Name These Flowers
Oystershell Scale Eggs Are Hatching!
Words of Wisdom
Woody of the Week - Ohio Buckeye
The Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) is the state tree of Ohio. It is a native tree to the midwestern and plain states. The tree can reach 60 feet tall and 30 feet wide in an open area, but is about 1/2 that size when growing in an understory or shaded location.
The Ohio buckeye prefers a moist but well drained site. It can adapt to drier sites, but will often exhibit some leaf scorch when conditions are too dry. It is also susceptible to a leaf blotch and powdery mildew when conditions are right.
The leaves are arranged opposite of each other...
Woody of the Week - Pawpaw
Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is found throughout the buckeye state and most of the Eastern United States. It grows naturally as an understory tree or along woodland edges, and is often found in areas that are moist.
A single tree can sometimes become a "pawpaw-colony" through root sprouts from the parent plant. The mature height of this tree is 25 feet and the mature spread is 15 feet, when not crowded by other plants. The leaves are rather large giving the plant a tropical feel.
While the plant is noted for its fruit, the flowers are beautiful but...
Ant Wars
Crabmania 2018
Mosquito Alert
Roses Knocked Back by Winter Cold
Several types of roses in Central and Southern (confirmed by Joe Boggs) were knocked back pretty good by cold winter weather. While trimming my shrub and carpet-type roses in early April I noticed quite a bit of dead wood. I had to really trim them back to a height of about six inches. They are looking great right now as the new growth is vigorous. I completely lost one climbing rose and another one was killed back to the crown. The new growth on this one is coming from the root stock.
...Night-Flying Bumbling Buzz-Bombing Beetles.
Butterweed / Cressleaf Groundsel: Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
ODA Will Begin Treating for Gypsy Moth in Ohio
The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) will soon begin aerial treatments designed to manage gypsy moth populations in Ohio. One management option includes treating young caterpillars in the spring. Counties where these treatments will be applied to designated blocks include:
- Franklin
- Fulton
- Hocking
- Lucas
- Marion
- Morrow
- Perry
- Ross
- Sandusky
- Seneca
- Vinton
- Wyandot
The treatments aimed at the larval stage will begin early to mid-...
Look Up Before Parking Under Honeylocust Trees … and Elms, Hawthorns, Sweetgum, Zelkova …
Boxwoods Go Snap, Crackle, and Pop!
Wilting Buckeyes
Horned Oak Galls "Pop"
Elm Flea Weevils Emerge: True Culprit Unmasked
Mining Bees on the Wing
Lesser Celandine: the Ultimate Sneaky Weed
Still Time To Register for Trees on Tap
Tigers on the Prowl
Browned Boxwoods
Watch Your ASH!
They're Baaack!
Managing Crabgrass in Turf
Mulch Volcanos are Erupting
Weed of the Week - Hairy Bittercress
Hairy Bittercress (Cardamine hirsute)
While temperatures remain cold, and even an occasional snow flake takes flight, there is weed that is giving it is all this spring. That weed is hairy bittercress. While it has been lurking in gardens all winter long, it is flowering its little heart out and setting seeds right now in northwest Ohio.
...
Purple Haze All in My Eyes
Cold Weather Offers an Extension on Poison Hemlock Management
Eastern Tent Cats Hatch
Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) Eradication Program in Ohio Scores a "Win"
Burrowing Crayfish Rise
Act Now to Manage White Pine Weevil
Distinctive Dogwoods Demand Discernment
Invasive Plants Regulated in Ohio
Here is a look back to look forward as it relates to invasive plants in Ohio and new rules effective January 7, 2018 -
In September of 2014, the Ohio General Assembly granted the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) the exclusive authority to regulate invasive plants species. Under the law invasive plants are defined as plant species that are not native to Ohio whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm, or harm to human health as determined by scientific studies.
...
Invasive Species Awareness Week - ORIENTAL BITTERSWEET - Invasive Species of the Day
Sometimes referred to as the "kudzu of the north", oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) is a non-native species that continues to grow and spread in Ohio. The vine is popping up in our woods, fence rows, landscapes and places in between.
It is important to know that we do have American bittersweet (Celastrus scandens). It has more elliptical shaped leaves, rather than the rounded of the Oriental bittersweet. American bittersweet can also be distinguished from Oriental bittersweet by its leaves when they are just beginning to emerge from...
National Invasive Species Awareness Week - GYPSY MOTH - Invasive Species of the Day
We are going way back in time for this invasive species during the 2018 National Invasive Species Awareness Week.
In the 1860's a French artist and amateur entomologist, Leopold Trouvelot, brought the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) to North America for what he thought was a good reason. He hoped to use the gypsy moth as the foundation for a silk industry in the United States. The "silk threads" of the gypsy moth did not prove to be a reliable source, and unfortunately the insect escaped Trouvelot’s Boston home-laboratory.
The gyspy moth was ...
National Invasive Species Awareness Week - Japanese Knotweed - Invasive Species of the Day
I have noticed Japanese Knotweed (I've seen it listed as: Polygonum cuspidatum or Fallopia japonica or Reynoutria japonica) around the county the last few summers, so I chose it as Tuesday's INVASIVE of the DAY for National Invasive Plant Awareness Week.
Japanese knotweed is a non-native erect, semi-woody perennial that can grow up to and likely beyond 10 feet tall and create dense stands when unchecked. It was introduced, as so many invasives were, as an ornamental in the late 1800's and soon escaped the garden-scape and found its way into disturbed...
Wonderful Witchhazels Welcome Warmer Weather
Silver Maples Blooming Away
The Silver Maples, Acer saccharinum, in my neck of the woods are blooming. February or not... feels like "spring" to me!
Silver Maple trees are among the first to bloom in Ohio clocking in at 34 growing degree days (GDD) for first bloom and 42 GDD for full bloom. I caught these photos at 51 GDD. You can check your own location by visiting the OSU Phenology...
As Temperatures Warm, Don't Forget Growing Degree Days
A recorded breaking warm-up last week is just a distant memory, although continued flooding in certain areas of Ohio is a reminder that precipitation fell as rain and not as snow. While temperatures felt a little bit more winter-like over the weekend, another warm up is on its way. Even though we are still in February, it is not too earlier to begin following the Growing Degree Day Calendar online at https://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/gdd/
...
National Invasive Species Awareness Week - KUDZU - Invasive Species of the Day
Next Week is National Invasive Species Awareness Week
Hemlock Woolly Adelgid in Lake and Geauga County, Ohio
Spotted Lanternfly Found in Virginia
The spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) was recently detected in Frederick County, Virginia on January 10, 2018. It has been reported that egg masses and a dead adult were found.
The spotted lanternfly, an invasive planthopper, was first discovered in the United States in Pennsylvania in the fall of 2014. It is native to China, India, Vietnam, and introduced to Korea where it has become a major pest. This insect has the potential to greatly impact the grape, hops and logging industries. In November of 2017 a single female was found in New Castle County...
Non-Native Stinging Ant Confirmed in Southwest Ohio
ODA Announces 2018 Gypsy Moth Treatment Project Open Houses
While all is quite in the gypsy moth's world, much preparation is occurring in Ohio to manage future gypsy moth populations this year as part of the two programs ODA administers: Slow-The-Spread and Suppression. Recently ODA released the schedule for their 2018 Gypsy Moth Treatment Open Houses and the 2018 Treatment Maps. Treatment blocks have been identified and are planned in19 Ohio Counties. Treatments will occur after caterpillars hatch this spring and when weather conditions are favorable. Treatments are made to protect trees from damage from the leaf feeding caterpillars like seen...
USDA Updates Emerald Ash Borer Map, January 2018
While emerald ash borer (EAB) may be considered "old-news" in the buckeye state, many may want to keep a watchful eye on its progression beyond Ohio. Each month, USDA APHIS produces an updated EAB Detection Map. Occasionally, we like to post these updated maps on BYGL for those that are interested in monitoring the spread of the pest in North America.
The most recent additions to the map include:
- initial county detections in: St. Clair and Talladega Counties, Alabama; Queens County, New York; and Eau...
ODA Announces New Finds of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid in Ohio in Athens, Geauga and Lake Counties
Earlier today, the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) the Ohio Department of Natural Resources(ODNR) announced the discovery of a hemlock-killing pest in Lake, Geauga and Athens counties. The hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) is a small, aphid-like insect native to Asia, which threatens the health and sustainability of two hemlock tree species native to the eastern United States.
HWA was first reported in the eastern United States in 1951 near Richmond, Virginia. Today, it is established in portions of 20 states from...
Emerald Ash Borer University - 2018
Emerald Ash Borer University (EABU) recently released the dates and topics of its upcoming "virtual semester." Five FREE webinars are scheduled in February and March. Each session will last approximately one hour. A certificate of participation can be emailed to those participating on the live webinars. All sessions will be recorded and linked to the National EAB Website at www.emeraldashborer.info following the session using YouTube.
EABU is a free webinar series supported through the US Forest Service and coordinated by...
Tri-State Green Industry Conference (GIC)
Honeylocusts and Mastodons
USDA Posts New Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) Newsletter
Earlier today (12/29/2017), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) posted an eNewsletter designed to keep everyone up-to-date with Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) eradication efforts in the US. While some BYGL readers might receive the eNewsletter directly from USDA, we wanted to make sure as many people are in the "ALB-know" as possible.
Presently, there are active eradication programs operating in three states including New York, Massachusetts and Ohio.
While information on eradication efforts in each state is valuable to follow and stay up-...
That May Not Be Snow on Those Alders!
Scouting for Scale at Snowy Solstice
Scouting for scale in the Winter is great use of your time.
Scale comes in many shapes, sizes and varieties. Last year we saw Oyster Shell, Calico, Juniper, Greedy, Bamboo, Fletcher, Japanese maple, Pine Needle, Brown, Putnam, Euonymus and Magnolia Scale.
Scale is sometimes hard to see when a plant is in full foliage. But in the winter with no leaves on trees and shrubs, except evergreen, scale are easier to see.
Scouting scale in the winter makes sense because there is less to care for outside in the landscape. The following pictures are Scale images on the...
Ohio Turfgrass Foundation (OTF) Conference and Tradeshow and OSU Green Industry Short Course
Looking to earn your recertification credits before the end of the year? The Ohio Turfgrass Foundation Conference and Tradeshow and the Ohio State University Green Industry Short Course is a great educational opportunity.
The conference is December 5 - 7, 2017 in Columbus at the Convention Center. There will be plenty of opportunities to attend educational classes, earn a variety of credits and time to network. Check out the show website including the educational sessions, tradeshow schedule, and registration information. Pre-registration deadline is Tuesday,...
It's a Girl! (YUCK!)
This tree has been around a little while in the Snyder Park Gardens and Arboretum. In fact, it's one of my favorite trees. It's such a popular tree in this garden that we even decided to move the location of a sidewalk while developing our master landscape design in order to preserve this tree. However, now that it has revealed its identity, I am not sure what we will do.
Yes, this particular tree is a ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) and it's a girl. We had no idea. For at least the last three years while we have been hanging out at this site, creating a landscape...
It's Coming. Halloweeen Horrors
In a recent bygl-alert (https://bygl.osu.edu/node/944) I posed this challenge: More wicked (sometimes) plants this way shall come, culminating with Halloween, bygl alert-style. What are your candidates for the ultimate in plant wickedness? E-mail me at chatfield.1@osu.edu.
Or at least spookiness of some sort. Here are a few of your responses:
...Disease, Demystified
What are control strategies for managing oak wilt disease? What do we know about beech leaf disease? Does rose rosette virus affect ‘Knockout’ roses? Which crabapples have good genetic resistance to apple scab disease and how does this compare to 20 years ago? Does apple scab on the fruit matter (as seen on the lead slide for this bygl-alert)?
...
They're Baaack: Buckeyes!
While writing my bygl-alert on Aesculus parviflora yesterday afternoon, Joe Boggs was sending me photos: his latest bottlebrush buckeye beauties. I opened the message, and above and below are those images.
Glorious fall!
...
The Beauty of Bottlebrush Buckeye
My, oh my, buckeyes, oh my, the weekend beckons, but for now, let us praise Aesculus parviflora. “No better plant could be recommended as a lawn shrub”, according to W.J. Bean, as quoted in Michael Dirr’s Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. “Bottlebrush buckeye, is my favorite shrub” from an unnamed source in Holden Arboretum’s Plant Profiles, probably Brian Parsons.
I concur. Palmately compound leaves with 5-7 leaflets, lovely in spring, summer and fall. Multi-stemmed...
Fall Leaf Drop Reveals Calico Scale
Fabulous First Fall Foliage
Horticultural Horrors II
Terrapin Scale on Sycamore
They're Heeeere!
ArborEATum: October 24
ArborEatum is just around the corner: next Tuesday, October 24. What fun it is: a friendly no-fee gathering of people who love to grow, culinaritize, eat, and drink various foods from landscapes and gardens. Come one come all to the Miller Pavilion at Ohio State University’s Secrest Arboretum, Tuesday, October 24, from 5:00 pm on. Eating and walking. Bring your offerings or just your appetites.
...
Horticultural Horrors I
Friday the 13th has just passed and in some sort of dyslexic dystopia, the 31st is just around the corner and Halloween will soon arrive. So it seems only right to write of that which is wrong - or shall we say – wicked, as in Wicked Plants. There is an excellent book by just that title, “Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities” by Amy Stewart. I recommend it, but for now, let us take a little trip into the world of some plants wicked this way come, through the house of horticultural horrors, guided by myself...
Ode to the Buttonwood Tree
Delayed Woolly Bear Crawl-About?
Magnolia Scale Update
Don't Pick That Scab!
As a committed crabarian, I cringe along with everyone when driving into a town or walking along a street and seeing the barren, defoliated canopies of certain crabapples this summer and now into the fall. Out darn scab! (double apologies to W.S.).
Symptoms of apple scab on...
Osage Can You See
Porcelain-Berry: The Next Kudzu?
This is How You Do It!
Need 100 one and a half gallon ornamental grasses planted? Just put out an "all hands on deck" call to OSU Extension Master Gardener Volunteers and they get the job done in less than an hour! This is exactly what we did in Clark County in order to complete our border planting in the Snyder Park Gardens and Arboretum (SPGA). The border consists of more than 4000 daffodil bulbs, a river of daylillies and now Schizachyrium scoparium 'MinnblueA' or Blue Heaven little bluestem. The idea is that after the spectacular daffodil bloom in the early spring, the bluestem will come up and help to...
European Hornets Cause Concern
Aphid Outbreak
Fall Home Invaders are Poised to Enter
Seasonal Needle Drop in Full Swing
Angel Trumpets Sound
During a recent visit to Kingwood Center Gardens in Mansfield, I was treated to Angel Trumpets in bloom. These summer-fall bloomers make for spectacular late season WOW! For Ohio growers, these are tropical and frost tender. They would need to be brought in each winter as Kingwood Center does, however a big pot and some TLC might be worth it for these show-stoppers.
Angel’s Trumpets, Brugmansia spp., are woody shrubs or small trees with large pendulous flowers. These huge trumpet-shaped flowers in total can be a foot long and come in white, yellow, orange, red or...
An Introduction to the Pawpaw Experience
Revisiting Some Scaly Old Friends
Rachised Over The Coals
Yesterday, I did a profile (https://bygl.osu.edu/node/924) of the lovely shining or winged sumac (Rhus copallinum) that include the following statement: “The wings on the stems are cool. BYGL-alert readers were true to their calling. Alarum Alarum, Alert Alert. Within minutes, John Swintosky of Louisville and Fred Robinson of northeast Ohionproperly and politely responded with corrections.
John Swintosky e-mailed: The "winged stem" noted is better called winged rachis,...
Shining Sumac: A Shrub For Any Week
Earlier this week, I visited Charles Tubesing, Plant Collections Curator of Holden Arboretum along with Joe Cochran, Director of Secrest Arboretum. Much more on that later, but for now I simply must push out a Shrub of Any Week shout-out for a native sumac: shining or winged sumac, Rhus copallinum (this specific epithet, instead of copallina seems to be preferred).
...
Fire Blight and Ornamental Pear, Good or Bad?
Perennial Plant of the Week - Leopard Plant
Do you have a shade garden? Are you looking for a fall blooming yellow flower with large leaves? Leopard plant (Ligularia dentata 'Othello') might be just the plant to consider. This herbaceous perennial is best grown in a humusy soil that is rich in organic matter. It preference is a medium to wet site that is in part shade to full shade. It is imperative that the site never fully dries out. Because of the need for moisture, this plant will benefit from a regular, deep watering during the summer, especially when temperature are high and Mother-Nature hasn't...
Along Came a Spider
Woody Plant of the Week - Seven-Sons Flower
A recent walk through the Toledo Botanical Garden in Toledo, Ohio was simply enjoyable. Hints of fall colors and noticeable fruits were scattered throughout and were enjoyed by all. It was on the final leg of the walk, when the group turned the corner and white flowers immediately caught our attention. The blooms of the seven-sons flower (Heptacodium miconioides) were in their glory. It was the flowers that drew us in, but it was the pollinator activity that kept us watching. The insect activity was amazing.
...Emerald Ash Borer University - Fall 2017
Interested in an emerald ash borer (EAB) update this fall? The fall-semester schedule of online EAB University classes have been scheduled. Classes can be viewed during an interactive live-session (see schedule times below), or viewed afterwards as a recorded session on the EABU YouTube Channel. In addition to EAB, there will be a session on Thousand Cankers Disease too!
...
Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative - Annual Milkweed Pod Collection
Due to the drastic decline in monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) populations, the Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative (OPHI) and local Soil & Water Conservation Districts are again seeking public involvement to collect common (Asclepias syriaca) and swamp (Asclepias incarnata) milkweed seed pods from established plants September 1 through October 30, 2017. This is the second year they will be collecting seed pods.
The seeds will be used to establish new plantings and additional habitat for the monarch butterfly throughout the buckeye state...
Hawk vs. Sparrows: Out My Front Door
Pawpaws and Amphbians: Out My Back Door
I stepped out my back door on a balmy late summer Sunday, my, oh, my, what oh what did I see? No “giant doing cartwheels”, no “statue wearin' high heels”, no “tambourines and elephants playin’ in the band”, but yes a few “happy creatures dancing on the lawn”. “Doo, doo, doo”, what to see, “lookin’ out my back door?”
1). Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) – see above image. Only last week I purchased and planted a new pawpaw seedling from Secrest Arboretum. I needed to since, even though our pawpaw tree bloomed for the past several years, and especially well this year,...
White Masses on Stems of Wafer-Ash, Redbud, and Other Trees
Bullet Galls and Bullet-Like Stingers
The Descriptively Named Basswood Leafroller
Chestnut Sawfly Found on Hickory
Bent Science Salon: Weird Things in the Woods
Come one, come all. The Bent Science Salon officially opens in two weeks, on Thursday, September 21 at 7:00pm. First up: Weird Things in the Woods, channeled through a Weird Thing himself, yours truly, Jim Chatfield. This is only the first of these salons, continuing on the third Thursday of every month: next will be Dan Herms on Plant Phenology (Not Phrenology) and Climate Change, on October 19.
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Stinging Caterpillar Commentary
Gomphocarpus; The Balloon Plant
More Beech Diagnostics
American beech (Fagus grandifolia) is one of our most elegant woodland and parkland trees; it puts the sylvan in silviculture. There are many problems afoot, however, both large and small.
For this alert, though, let us set aside the death and life realities of killer beech bark disease and the Boggsian itty-bitty bite/peench story of the beech blight (boogie-woogie) aphids (http://bygl.osu.edu/node/883). Let us look at...
Redbud Leaffolder Trekking Through Generations
Attack of the Boogie-Woogie Aphids
O Dodder, Where Art Thou?
Well, on a recent odyssey to Pennsylvania, dodder was along a streamside bank, in small amounts amongst a lot of knot. Dodder as in Cuscata, a parasitic plant in the Convolvulaceae (morning glory family). Knot as in Japanese knotweed, or Fallopia japonica, touted as one of the most pervasive invasive weeds in the eastern United States.
...
Coneflower Cleanup
Unusual Plant-Eating Cockroach
Bagworms in the Bag
Anltions are the Pits
Wheel Bugs are Rolling Along
Botany in a Box
This past weekend my wife Laura came inside with a Botany in a Box she had collected and arranged from our backyard, a delightful mixture of flowers and miniature eggplants and melons, kousa dogwood fruits, crabapples, Korean maple fruits and more treasures. It is for her new 2nd grade class that started Monday.
It reminded me of the simple joys of collecting and sharing these miniaturizations of horticultural and woodland nature. So, along with her welcome for her students, here are a few thoughts from an Akron Beacon Journal article I wrote eight years ago, with a box...
Garden Spider Orb Weavers
Leaf-Footed Bugs
Diagnostics: Now and in September
Lake County Field Day
Last week the Nursery Growers of Lake County Ohio (NGLCO) put on their 50th Summer Field Day at the lovely Chalet Debonne Winery. This event is always a great time to network, rediscover old friends and make new friends. And to see plants – and even owls. Here are a few visual highlights.
In addition to the hibiscus above there is the always colorful Garden Guru Charles Behnke, former and ever OSU Extension Agent. Charles was chatting with Bob Froelich, Ornamental Specialist, newly with BayerCrop Science. Bob noted that Bayer and the aspirin-ish logo is the second...
Fall Webworm Update and More Red-Heads Found
Must See - Pollinator Quick Guides
Trumbull Trail Test For You
Yesterday, I visited Lee Beers, the OSU Extension Agriculture and Natural Resource educator in Trumbull County, and as plant lovers (Lee is finishing his PhD on lowbush blueberry physiology and genetics), we had to take a walk. Adjacent to the OSU, Trumbull County office is county land and the Mosquito Lake State Park. So, in this 48-hour flash quiz, a prize awaits for the person with the most correct answers in that time to the plant and pest photo questions from our walk. If ties; the very first top score shall prevail.
Let us begin with pictures of fruits,...
WIldflower of the Week
Last weekend, at a lovely wedding weekend for my wife’s cousin’s daughter and beau in the Leelanau peninsula area of west-central Michigan, some of us took a pre-wedding walk to Pyramid Point near Lake Michigan. The views up the short trail to the summit were spectacular. Descending to the trailhead, off to the side of the trail in a meadow area was a – very cool herbaceous flower.
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2018 Gypsy Moth Suppression Applications Due September 1, 2017
If you are seeing gypsy moth egg masses and are interested in learning if the area could qualify to be part of the ODA Gypsy Moth Suppression Program, here are some details.
Treatment criteria:
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Proposed block must be located in a county that has been designated quarantine for gypsy moth by ODA. See map below. Counties in red are in the quarantine.
Peony Measles
Cultivate your own garden, said Voltaire at the end of Candide. Looking homeward, I note that peony measles, first seen in mid-July has continued to develop. Measles, or red spot or leaf blotch or Cladosporium leaf blotch disease are alternative names for this fungal disease. It is caused by, you guessed it, Cladosporium paeoniae or, who knew, with its new moniker, Dicholocladosporium chlorocephalum.
On the upper leaf surface, reddish and brownish “measles”-like spots develop earlier in summer, now coalescing into purple blotches...
Tree of The Week: Hackberries Excel in Amherst
I admit that in the old days I thought of hackberry (Celtis) mostly as a common mid-sized native woodland tree, adaptable to variable soil types, but not so much as a landscape plant. Counter to this, Davis Sydnor always extolled hackberries, especially Celtis laevigata (sugarberry), but also common hackberry (Celtis occidentalis). I am now becoming educated, Davis.
...
Mosquito Alert
Weed of the Week: Dayflowers Not So Common
In the ChatScape there is a lovely little flower, the Asiatic dayflower, Commelina communis, which has taken advantage of our travels this summer, invading any number of garden sites. It is well-known to move into “disturbed” sites, which may say something of this laissez-faire gardener, if not my wife. This herbaceous wanderer has quite a storied profile, from its two sky-blue petals subtended by one small white petal to the use of its blue pigments in Japanese dyes for woodcuts.
Dayflower is studied for possible bioremediation for removing toxic levels of...
Going on an Egg Hunt - Gypsy Moth Style!
The gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) is a non-native invasive species. This insect is currently in the egg mass stage, and will be in this stage until next spring when the caterpillars will hatch and begin feeding. Egg masses can help predict what population levels could be for the upcoming season. Now is the time to look for egg masses. Egg masses can be found almost anywhere. While we tend to look on trees, they can be found on homes, sheds, trailers, dog houses, bird houses, on firewood, on fences, yard art and signs. Egg masses can also be hidden under loose bark or in tree...
Robber Flies: Insect Fighter Jets!
Monarchs vs. Tussocks
Did You Give or Receive on Tuesday?
Did you know that Tuesday, August 8th was "Sneak A Zucchini on Your Neighbor's Front Porch Day"? Did you sneak, or did you get snuck upon? Didn't participate this year? Be sure it is on the calendar for 2018!
While this is a fun thing to do, it is important to remember if you have excess fruits and vegetables this time of the year, it is a great opportunity to share your bountiful harvest with others. A simple sharing can occur neighbor-to-neighbor, among friends and family members, or excess produce can be donated food banks, kitchens or pantries. Different...
White Grub Management
Time to Tidy Up the Perennial Garden
Linden ID
It’s Sunday night, I check my e-mail, and Frank Sinibaldi asks: “Mr. Chatfield, can you tell me what tree this comes from?” I check out the attached image, and there it is: a linden bract with attached peduncle, pedicels and fruits.
So, linden (Tilia spp.) is the tree. Common lindens are the American linden or basswood (Tilia americana), littleleaf linden (Tilia cordata) native to Europe and into Asia, and the hybrid Crimean linden Tilia x euchlora). Lindens are much bee-beloved.
...
A Plant Walk in Wooster
The great thing for all of us as plant lovers is the simplicity of enjoyment of a walk in the woods or through city streets, checking out the plants we know. Here are some snapshots of just a few plant sightings on an afternoon walk in Wooster, Ohio a few days ago.
First, as our lead photo, at the edge of a parking lot was Calycanthus, which a Clemson fact sheet notes has common names of Carolina allspice, strawberry-bush, sweet bubby {my favorite}, sweet Betsy, and spicebush {my least favorite since we think of Lindera benzoin as spicebush up North...
Crepe Myrtles For Ohio
Quiz Results: Name That Pine
What a great response to our Name That Pine query posed last Friday. There were dozens of responses, some on Friday and Saturday, and then again a number today, Monday July 31. At first, this bimodal response rate puzzled me until I realized that some of you do not get bygl-alerts, our just-in-time alerts to your phone via e-mails, vs. the Monday summary of the previous weeks alerts.
How can you possibly not want to be alerted by phone the very moment that we ask for your pine ID skills and other matters!!! Well, it is imaginable, but if you do want to get those alerts...
Ohio Local Foods Week
Name That Pine
Step Away From the Mimosa!
As we continue traveling south to Washington DC, we were moseying along some backroads in Virginia and suddenly the camera crew began yelling “stop the van… pull over”. We piled out to run over trying to position ourselves to take photos of a HUGE Albizia julibrissin, commonly known as Mimosa or Persian Silk tree.
...
Another Leafminer of Black Locust
On July 22, 2017, Joe Boggs wrote a BYGL Alert on the "flaming" of black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) by the locust leafminer beetle (Odontota dorsalis) in certain areas of Ohio. These "flamed" trees are easily observed along highways from southeast to northeast Ohio. Interestingly, Curtis Young and Amy Stone in Northwest Ohio seldom see any evidence of locust leafminer beetle. They have to travel east to at least Mansfield, Ohio before seeing the activities of this leafminer and it isn't because of a lack of black locust trees.
...Sassafras: Simply Fruitful
In a previous Tree of the Week, I featured sassafras, but noted that I did not have an image of their very cool-looking fruits, though I once did have said image. I figured that I had electronically misplaced or that it was from all the way back in the Kodachrome Slide Era (somewhere between the Dirt Age and the Middle-Age Anthropocene). So…
Voila. I have seen bright carmine red fruits, and here you can see both the early speckled green phase and cool grape-Kool Aid purple. Sassafras, a lovely native tree.
...
NW Ohio Green Industry Summer Session
The Other Guignardia...
Upcoming Programs, Oh My
Harlequin Bug on Cleome
The harlequin bug (Murgantia histrionica) (a.k.a. calico bug, fire bug or harlequin cabbage bug) is a black stink bug with either yellow-orange or red markings on both its back and stomach. Additionally, there are some white markings around the edge of its abdomen. As with all true stink bugs, it belongs to the family Pentatomidae.
...
Annual of the Week - Sunflower 'Birds & Bees'
Sunflower Helianthus annuus ‘Birds & Bees’
While at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, there was a sunflower in their vegetable garden that caught my attention. ‘Birds & Bees’ is a 6 – 8’ tall sunflower that has golden-yellow petals and chocolate discs.
While flowering, sunflowers offer a pollen and nectar source for foraging honey bees, native bees and many other garden pollinators. At maturity, these black seeded sunflowers of ‘Birds & Bees’ provide oil-rich kernels. The shells...
Perennial of the Week: There is More to a Plant Than Just the Name - Joe Pye Weed
When a plant has “weed” as part of its name, it could cause a little bit of confusion. As a gardener, would you feel as you could really brag and be proud of a plant in the landscape that is called a weed? Well of course the answer is yes, especially if it is Joe pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum). Brag away!
While Joe pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum) can be observed growing along roadsides, some have never taken in to consideration its outstanding ornamental characteristics. It is a large plant which needs space, but when planted in mass it can provide...
A Non-Native Crayfish in Southwest Ohio
Guignardia Leaf Blotch Running Rampant
Shrub of the Week: Japanese Kerria
Plants of the Beehive State
Annual Flaming of Black Locust Trees
Monarchs vs. Aphids
Return Engagement of Boogie-Woogie Aphids
Pine Cones on Willow?
Two Cats on the Prowl
Dogbane Discoveries
Check out The OSU Cultivar Trials in VR Mode
Act Now to Control White Pine Weevil
Gallignostics
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...
A Stinging Commentary on Wasps, Yellowjackets, and Baldfaced Hornets.
Chainsaw Safety - Level One
Diagnostic Workshop: What's Wrong With My Tree?
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...
Creeping Flecks of Gold and Animated Piles of Frass
Trefoil Foiling Lawns, Landscapes, and Naturalized Areas
Killers Welcome Cicada Emergence
A Tale of Two Bagworms
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.
...
Coneflower Calamities
Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) Quarantine Expansion
Weed of the Week - Oriental Bittersweet
More Japanese Beetle Abounding
Bountiful Bagworm Blunder
Japanese Beetles Abound
Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) Workshop
Perennial of the Week - Liatris
Commonly called blazing star or gayfeather, this perennial produces tall spikes of bright purple flowers that resemble bottlebrushes above the green strap-like foliage. This perennial is in the Asteraceae family and there are 32 species that occur throughout much of North America from southern Canada to northern Mexico.
The individual flowers open from the top to the bottom, unlike most plants that open from the bottom upward as the spike develops. Flowers of this perennial act like insect magnets - attracting both bees and butterflies. Flower spikes can also...
Summertime...And Flowers Are Boooming
Emerson says: The Earth laughs in flowers. Springtime, though, is when we tend to think of such mirth. Summer is now our season, yet floral beauty continues to reign. Following are five of the boys and girls of summer.
Above is the spectacular and aromatic flower of Stewartia, a member of the camellia family (Theaceae), photographed at Secrest Arboretum where Joe Cochran, Paul Snyder, Matt Shultzman, and the legacy of Kenny Cochran, hanuve resulted in numerous stewartias planted in recent years.
Next, is...
Squirrels Debarking Trees: Part 2
Oak Leaf Blister Disease
Oak leaf blister, a fungal disease caused by Taphrina caerulescens, is widespread this year on a range of oak species, both in the white oak and red oak groups. Symptoms include raised, blistered, greenish-yellow spots on upper leaf surfaces and darker, corresponding sunken spots on lower leaf surfaces, though sometimes the raised and sunken aspects may be obscured. Fungal growth can sometimes be seen on undersurfaces of leaves.
...
Squirrels Debarking Trees
A Single Leaf Diagnostic Case Study
Observations: Socrates, Poison Hemlock, Fennel Aphids, and Multicolored Asian Lady Beetles
Sycamore Anthracnose Symptoms Fade
This morning I got a message from Frank Leon, horticulturist with Barnes Nursery, complete with the above image showing the thinning of sycamore (American planetree; Platanus occidentalis), a common sight seen in northwest Ohio this Spring. The problem is sycamore anthracnose, caused by the fungus Apiognomonia veneta.
This particular anthracnose fungus occurs on planetrees, including our native sycamore, but less so on Platanus orientalis and the hybrid between these two planetrees, Londone planetree (PlatanusX acerifolia...
Slug Sawfly on American Bladdernut
Elongate Hemlock Scale Alert
Why Trees Matter Forum; October 18
Trees matter in many ways; just ask the Ents. Their beauty and grace is wondrous, they are proven healers for hospital patients, their social importance as historical references is well-known, from Johnny Appleseed to the Signal Tree in Summit County, and their environmental services, well…
Check out treebenefits.com and itreetools.org for itemization of the economic benefits of the environmental services of trees: Storm water remediation, energy savings, air quality improvement, carbon effects, property values.
With that in mind, in past years we...
The Return of an “Old Southern Friend”
Yellow Polka Dotted... Tomatoes??
I was called out to visit a high tunnel vegetable grower, who was concerned about what he was seeing on tomato leaves, which he hadn’t seen before on the plants. He told me that spots had suddenly began to appear on his tomato plants, and that he really didn’t want to lose the plants or the huge crop of tomatoes that the plants had set.
...
Basswood Leaf Miner Damage Can Be Alarming
What begins as minor feeding injury on the leaves of basswood (Tilia spp.), can quickly become an attention grabber, especially if you are unfamiliar with the insect and the injury caused. The leaves appear to be torched and stand out among other trees in the area. The damage is obvious even as you are traveling on highways - at the recommended speeds of course.
...
Shrub of the Week: Smokebush
Backyard Flashers
Japanese Beetles and Masked Chafers on the Wing
Bladdergalls
Look Closely for Lace Bugs
My Favorite Things - Plants - How About This One!
I love plants and proudly claim the titles of plant nerd, tree-hugger, plant geek and any others like this. Plants of all kind - perennials, annuals, trees, shrubs, vegetables, native plants, etc. intrigue and delight. How can you not like them! One of my garden plants that looks particularly good right now is Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' or Karl Foerster feather reed grass. This grass is stellar and it's no wonder it's used quite a bit in both commercial landscapes and home gardens. 'Karl Foerster' was named the Perennial Plant of the Year by the...
Rosaceous Rusts Rampage
Rust on serviceberry? Yes. Has the whole world gone mad? No. It just reveals itself to each of us in manageable gulps. We talk frequently of three “cedar rusts” on BYGL: cedar apple rust, cedar hawthorn rust, cedar quince rust, all caused by separate species in the fungal genus Gymnosporangium (bygl.osu.edu/node/781). In fact, it is not as simple as this – there are over 40 species of the Gymnosporangium fungus.
Not only that, but there are over 480 species in 11 genera of the rose family (Rosaceae) that are affected by Gymnosporangium ...
Magnolia Scale is Pumping-Out Honeydew
Marginal Leaf Fold Galls on Oaks and Black Locust
1st Generation Scarlet Oak Sawfly Larvae
Squiggly Lines on Magnolia Leaves
Maple Anthracnose
Jeff Stachler, OSU Extensioneer in Auglaize County sent the following message this past Tuesday on June 6:
“A maple tree in the front of a home yard has leaves with the symptoms you see in the photos. Veins and leaf tips are black with yellow and brown colors below the black. Is there anything that can be done or should be done?” He also sent the tell-tale photo above, showing “water-soaked” darkish lesions along leaf veins.
Right on time. Last June 5, I took a picture of a neighbor’s red maple in Doyletown in northeast Ohio of the same problem: maple...
Dripping Dogwoods
Rusty Hawthorns
Holey Bleached-Out Canada Thistle
All Bugs Aren’t Bad Bugs
Where Do Four-Lined Plant Bugs Come From?
Terrific Tree Lilacs Trim Tree Lawns
Tangled Up In Blues
Sometimes you just have to stop what you are doing and appreciate plant life. Kenny Cochran of Secrest Arboretum fame always loved plants in combination, especially after he came back from a trip to Poland with an appreciation of clematis twining up trees, wild-like. Today Paul Snyder of Secrest sent me a picture of blue spruce needles piercing leaves of Tim Brotzman’s great redbud: Cercis canadensis Lavender Twist® ‘Covey’ and the two plants entwined. How cool is this?
...
Don't Touch This Weed!
Kousa Dogwood: Tree of the Week
Before posting this bygl-alert, I had planned on reviewing the many cultivars of Chinese or Kousa dogwood that have entered the market in recent years, including Cornus kousa crosses with Cornus florida (our native flowering dogwood). I will do this soon, but cannot wait. This is such a year for the kousa dogwood in my side yard that I must share pictures of it from this season right now.
...
Roadside Rest: Living in the Moment
One of the things I ask my Sustainable Landscape Maintenance students at the end of the semester is to expound upon 10 Things They Learned in class. Most of these are the core of the course: including plant selection and knowledge, plant pest, plant maintenance, invasive species examples. Pete Grantham of Akron though, added:
I learn from you so much about living in the moment, talked to me about your hitchhiking [the old days] and how you think it’s fun to run out of gas. These moments that others would consider worrisome are...
American Elm Pests and Host Preference Studies
Calico Scale Crawl
Gypsy Moth Traps Pop-Up
Springtime Fall Webworms
Bagworm Eggs are Hatching
An Ode to Catalpas … Their Hornworms and a Tiny Wasp.
This is a byglbook-alert, premature since I have only read the first chapter of the featured book, but I have started down its path of poesy and prose and hope you will too. The book is On Trails by Robert Moor (not “Moop”, for George Costanza fans).
Robert Moor set out to hike the Appalachian Trail, Georgia to Maine, in 2009. He speaks of this and then from there starts to muse deeply on the idea of trails, of paths, in his words “a meditation upon trails.”
...
Tree of the Week: Bladdernut
Now we turn to a second plant identification discussion from arborist Carrie Paulus: this one of a native small tree or large shrub. The above photograph is credited to Carrie. She saw this small tree with husband Bill at Lake Hope State Park on Mother’s Day. It is bladdernut, Staphylea trifolia. It is not rare in Ohio woodlands, but often it is not noticed.
Bladdernut eludes the usual mnemonics for native woodland trees with opposite leaf arrangement such as MAD BUCK (maple, ash, dogwood, buckeye) or BAMEV DOGWOOD (same along with tree-sized euonymus and...
Fire Walk With Carrie
Is this a cross between the weird David Lynch genre and early Stephen King horror? No. I was meeting with an arborist extraordinaire earlier today and when we exhausted our arboricultural topics she showed me a picture of what she purported to be, scarlet campion.
I thought not – and for once was right – it was fire pink, Silene virginica. She encountered this great woodland wildflower with her husband Bill at Lake Hope State Park in southeast Ohio on Mother’s Day. It is unusual to see such brilliant red color in the spring and summer woods.
...
Mulberry Whitefly "Pupae" Can Present an ID Challenge
Suspicious Spring Snow Sticks to Sidewalk
Enkianthus: Shrub of the Week
Several years back I bought this shade-loving shrub at one of the Secrest Arboretum sales. This is the first year it has flowered. I can’t find the tag naming the plant. Can you ID it for me? - Thanks, Skip.
This was the e-mail impetus for this bygl-alert, coming from Dr. Skip Nault, Professor Emeritus, entomologist, and former Director of the Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) in Wooster. The pictures in this alert are from Skip.
The answer to Skip’s question is that it is a...
Hawthorn Leafminers Have Completed Their Development in S.W. Ohio
Poison Hemlock is Flowering and Towering Over Fields and Landscapes in Southern Ohio.
UPDATE: Early-Emerging Periodical Cicadas
Return of the Buckeye Leafmining Fly
A Case Study: Peach Leaf Curl on Ornamental Peach Trees
Blue Lupine in Bloom
Northwest Ohio is celebrating Blue Week, May 16 - 23, 2017. A symbol of the Oak Openings Region, the wild blue lupine is a native plant that can be found not only growing, but thriving in sandy soils including at the sand dunes in Oak Openings Metropark and Kitty Todd Nature Preserve - both in Lucas County. This brilliant blue flowering plant had been lost in this natural landscape in the 1980s as a result of mowing the prairie-type habitat, the use of broad spectrum weed control, and fire suppression. However, it has recently made a come-back in natural areas and gardeners are planting it...
Erineum Patches on Tree Leaves
Oak "Apples" and the Gall-Making Process
Recent Cold Temperatures Leaves a Variable Path of Damage to Plants in Ohio
Depending on your geographical location in Ohio, the location of the plant, the actual low temperature, the plant species, as well as the growth stage on the species, the results of frost and freeze damage was variable across the state this past week. Frost and freeze damage is so interesting because of so many variables. A plant in a certain stage of growth may be more susceptible to frost or freeze damage than at other times. The location of the plant in the garden may dictate the extent of the damage. For instance, there might be two of the exact same plants in the same garden with...
Garden Centers are Stuffed to the Gills!
On recent visits to area gardens centers I noticed that they are filled with inventory and bursting at the seams! Since we haven't had the best weather for the first part of May, garden center owners are looking for an incredible Mother's Day weekend - the busiest day of the year for them. The weather so far looks to be promising not only for this weekend but also for next week. Plants are looking good right now but they need to be moved out the door and into gardens in order to make way for the next crop that is pushing right behind!
A reminder to gardeners that once...
Beautiful Blooming Buckeyes
Extrafloral Nectaries and ETC
Act Now to Attract Colorful Visitors to your Yard
Lovely Lilacs Lure Lads and Lassies to the Landscape
Doggone Gorgeous Dogwoods!
Here in Northeast Ohio, it has been an incredible year for observing bloom of ornamental flowering trees. I propose that both the marvelous color and length of bloom is due to the bursts of very warm temperatures (70’s), followed by days of cooler temperatures (50’s), with a day or two of rain mixed in to keep things fresh! The warm temperatures caused the buds to push fast into full bloom; however, then the cool temps and the rains move in preserving not only the colors, but also prolonging the length of bloom appeal and persistence on the plants.
...Sassafras: Tree of the Week
Sassafras was the bygl-alert Tree of the Week last July 29, but a reprise is in order. First of all, the emerging leaves and flowers have blown me away anew this Spring. Secondly, such a great horticulturist as Deb Knapke e-mailed me that “This is the first time I have seen the flowers of sassafras; loved it!” in response to the use of a sassafras flower picture in one of my Springtime bygl-alerts this year.
...Wall of Wisteria
Spruce Problem On Commercial Property
Recently OSU Extensioneers Tim Malinich and Jim Chatfield met with horticulturists at a property in northern Ohio to look at a number of declining spruce trees. Most of the spruces on the property appeared healthy but a number had needle browning and and branch dieback, ranging from minor to severe.
Some of the needle discoloration ascended the tree in somewhat of a spiral pattern, sometimes it was more complete, with some trees if not dead or dying, at the least becoming aesthetic liabilities. There was no evidence on the spruces at this property of any significant infectious...
Strobili Are Striking
Annual Sugar Maple Leaf-Drop
Meadow Spittlebugs
ETC Two-Step Control Method (Violence: Reader Discretion is Advised)
Peaches Are From China
The Latin binomial for peaches is Prunus persica, which is a bit misleading. The genus name is fine – Prunus, a genus in the rose family (Rosaceae) that includes peaches and nectarines, plums, cherries, almonds, and apricots. This reference to Persia (present day Iraq) is a misnomer, since peaches originate from China, which today by far out produces all other countries in edible peach production. Peaches eventually made it to Persia, then to Europe, then from Spanish explorers to the New World, where they were planted into orchards in Georgia, the Peach State by the...
ODA Gypsy Moth Treatments Continue Next Week
Spring is a busy time of the year when it comes to gypsy moth management. Below is a news release distributed by the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA). This release, videos, treatment maps and other communications can be found directly on the ODA website at: http://www.agri.ohio.gov/divs/plant/gypsy/gypsy-index.aspx
The ODA will soon begin aerial treatments designed to control the gypsy moth population in Ohio. Treatments on 1,135 acres in Hancock, Hardin, Lucas, Marion and Union counties will...
Scouting For Viburnum Leaf Beetle
The viburnum leaf beetle (VLB) (Pyrrhalta viburni) is a non-native invasive species that is making Ohio its home - well at least some of the buckeye state. While the insect has been detected and is known to be in the northern portion of the state, we are encouraging all Ohioans to monitor for the pest and become aware of signs and symptoms if you aren't familiar with exotic invader.
Last week, Mary Visco, horticulturist with the Toledo Botanical Garden (TBG) in Toledo, Ohio was scouting the viburnums in the Garden and noticed first instar larvae had hatched and...
Gnarled Oak Leaf Midge Galls
A Nostoc Tour de Force
Flower Celebration
A lovely tradition of celebrating diversity (Oslava Květin) was started by Norbert Čapek, a Czech Unitarian, in 1923, with flowers as symbols of the universality of nature and ecumenical love. Start your own flower celebration in your home, for every business meeting, with your customers, sharing the beauty of flowers – especially this time of year: this “lusty month of May” (from Camelot). Everyone bring a flower! Here are a few floral fineries from my home and neighbors.
The cover image for this bygl-...
Hydrangea Leaftier Oddball Damage
Holey Oak Leaves!
Please Report Early-Bird Periodical Cicadas
Badaling, Badaling: The Great Wall of China
A trip to China often includes a visit to The Great Wall of China, to some part of the 5500 to 13,000 mile collection of fortifications (depending on whether various branches are included). So, I set out for the Great Wall with my guide Nina during my trip to the Beijing Botanic Gardens for their Crabapple Conference. Nina gassed up a Hyundai and we headed 50 miles northwest and over a half mile in elevation to Badaling (八达岭), the most visited section of the Wall and the first opened to tourists in 1957. From Nixon to Obama, to Nina and me.
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Is it Time to Plant Tomatoes? Check the Soil Temperature!
Glenwood Gardens: A "Volcano" Mulch-Free Zone
Slugged Rose Leaves
Corrugated River Birch Leaves
Springtime in Ohio
Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head…Well, no, that is truly Fake News. Yet, upon returning from China to Springtime busting out all over in Ohio, I was mesmerized by the buzzing bees and budding birches; the blending of sweet birch catkins and flowering dogwood bracts above. Welcome to the Show! And right here in the Wayne County ChatScape.
Up first, with a nod to China, is a golden-leaved ‘Ogon’ cultivar of dawnredwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides.
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Crabapples in China
One of the more pleasant e-mails I have received in recent memory was from my friend and colleague Dr. Ling Guo of the Beijing Botanic Gardens. It read: “Jim, would you please come to Beijing for Crabapple Conference in April 14-19 for one hour talk. All expenses paid. Hmm, let’s see. Yes! Fortunately, for my talkative nature it turned out to be a bit more than that one hour talk, not including the translations, but what a deal.
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First Generation Pine Needle Scale Crawlers are Afoot.
Boxwood Leafminer Major
Crabapples In Crablandia Are A Dazzling Display!
The crabapple plot, called Crablandia in Secrest Arboretum, is located in Wooster, Ohio and will be in full bloom and full splendor, in the next couple of days. With the onset of multiple periods of unseasonably warm weather, the typical bloom emergence time is about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. The incredible display of crabapple flowers has traditionally been one of the most popular times to stroll through the Arboretum and experience the amazing fragrance, accompanied by marvelous views of flower petals.
...Knotty Honeylocusts: A Diagnostic Conundrum
Rusty Junipers
Wilting Buckeyes
Calico Scale is Puffing-Up and Pumping Honeydew
Sneaky Common Chickweed is Going to Seed
Focus on Poison Hemlock Control
Tigers are Prowling Ohio Woodlands
Cressleaf Groundsel: A Grown-up "Weed"
Not Too Early For Ticks: Dog Tick
It's never too early for tick awareness.
Today, at the Extension Office, a tick sample was brought in for identification. It was an adult male dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis. Ticks are blood-feeding parasites. Three species are medically important in Ohio as a vector of several diseases affecting humans and pets to varying degrees. The American Dog Tick, along with the deer tick (or black-legged tick) and the lone star tick. Tick populations have been an increasing problem in Ohio.
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European Elm Flea Weevil
Eastern Tent Caterpillar Update
NW Ohio Anticipating Egg Hatch of Gypsy Moth
Conversations among family and friends this week could include dying, hiding and finding "eggs." It is Easter you know.
The eggs that we are talking about in this BYGL Alert are those of the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar). After spending about nine months in the egg mass stage, warmer temperatures are triggering the hatch of the caterpillars in Ohio. These tan almost felt-like in appearance masses that can be laid anywhere will soon be bursting with 1st instar caterpillars.
While we are eagerly awaiting the first hatch in NW Ohio,...
Spring Lawn Seeding
This Turf-Tip was provided Joe Rimelspach and Todd Hicks with OSU – Plant Pathology and Turfgrass Program.
Of the four seasons, this is the “third best time” to seed a lawn. The best is autumn, then winter, followed by spring and the least desirable time is summer. The main challenge with the spring seeding is the large number of weeds (both grassy weeds and broadleaf weeds) that can come up with the grass seed. Seed as early as possible in the spring so new plant can develop a root system before summer heat and dry conditions...
Product or Active Ingredient - Could There Be Confusion?
Earlier this week, Pamela Sherratt, Turfgrass Specialist in the Department of Horticulture and Crop Science at The Ohio State University alerted Extension to the potential of some questions coming into the Extension offices about a product, Roundup for Lawns from clientele across the state.
A walk through the aisles of the pest management area of a garden center this spring may cause some consumers to take a second look. While Roundup has been around for a long time, Roundup for Lawns is a new product that has recently hit the shelves. The same name and...
Sawfly Leafminers Fly
Juniper Scale Examined
Ground-Nesting Bees on the Wing
Form and Function
In architecture, a term often used is form (ever) follows function. This was coined and practiced by the 20th century U.S. architect Louis Sullivan and inspired, for example, Frank Lloyd Wright.
A loose form of this emerged during a recent class trip for the Horticulture and Crop Science 3410 class (Sustainable Landscape Maintenance). We had just visited the wonderful “Building Ohio State: From Forest to the Renovation of Thompson Library” exhibit on the first floor of the magnificent OSU Thompson Library (exhibit until May 14) on the Main Campus in Columbus...
Burrowing Crayfish Activity on the Rise
Purple Haze All in My Eyes
Updated EAB Detection Map
Each month, the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) updates and distributes an Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) Detection Map. While EAB is "old news" to many in the buckeye state, it is interesting to continue to watch the progression of this invasive species in North America. In February 2003, EAB was confirmed for the first time in Ohio in Lucas County in NW Ohio, approximately seven months after the initial detection and identification in Michigan the summer before. Fast forward 14+ years later...
Blistered Boxwoods and Hissing Hedges
Coltsfoot, Not Dandelion
The 2017 Southwest Ohio BYGLive! Diagnostic Walk-Abouts Green Industry Professional Training Series
Some Unscientific Weather-Related Observations
List of Flowering Plants Attractive to Bees
Firewood Beetles Flare-Up
Outstanding Resource for Testing Ticks
Nancy Taylor recently found a great resource regarding ticks called the Laboratory of Medical Zoology (LMZ). LMZ is an academic research lab at the University of Massachusetts with a focus on infectious diseases or more specific "zoonosis". Their website describes zoonosis as "diseases with transmission cycles that involve other animal species." One of the great things about this resource is that they test ticks for diseases. The standard test of deer ticks is $50.00 and includes testing for Lyme disease, Anaplasmosis and Babesiosis. In addition you can search their database and find...
Eastern Tent Cats on the Horizon
Spring-Like Conditions and a Predicted Egg Hatch of Eastern Tent Caterpillars.
Emerald Ash Borer University - Spring 2017
Are you looking to get your emerald ash borer (EAB) updates? Pesticides? Parasitoids? Why not learn more about EAB and other invasives from the comfortable of your own office or home? Tomorrow, February 21 is the official kick-off to the "2017 spring semester."
On Tuesday, February 21, 2017 at 11:00 am EST, Dr. Cliff Sadof with Purdue University will be providing an update on Chemical Control of EAB: What Works, What Doesn't Work, and Why. This session is the first of a series of presentations that include information on hemlock woolly...
Warm Winters and Insect Survival
Weird Willow Pinecone Galls and a Gall-Conversion!
Building Ohio State - A Must See Library Exhibit
If you are on the Ohio State University campus anytime now until May 14, 2017, Building Ohio State it is a must see. In fact, it is worth a trip to Columbus to specifically see this library exhibit. You won't be disappointed as the amount of planning and preparation by the team that pulled everything together is truly amazing! You will learn about how trees play such an important role - both while they are alive and after they are harvested. One of my favorite areas of the exhibit included a "did you know case" that included a wide variety of...
Never Too Early To Begin Tracking Growing Degree Days (GDD)
A recorded breaking warm-up in January is just a memory. While temperatures are feeling a bit more winter-like, it is not too earlier to begin following the Growing Degree Day Calendar online at https://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/gdd/
A quick check earlier today showed that Toledo had accumulated 16 GDD units in 2017. Do you know what is happening in your part of the state? Check it out today!
Once at the website, all you will need is an Ohio zipcode!
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ODA Announces 2017 Gypsy Moth Treatment Project Open Houses
The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) has announced the 2017 Gypsy Moth Treatment Project Open Houses that will be held this winter prior to treatment applications that will be made later in the spring and summer.
The gypsy moth is currently in the egg mass stage where it has been since late last summer. This spring, caterpillars will hatch and the feeding frenzy will begin.
...2017 Tri-State Green Industry Conference Highlights
2017 Tri-State Green Industry Conference
Ohio Woodlands, Water and Wildlife Newsletter Available Online
Have you heard of the Ohio State University Woodland Stewards Program? If you haven't, I will let you in on a little secret. The Ohio Woodland Stewards Program is an excellent educational resource that includes publications, workshops, classes, tree scale sticks, and links to other resources for anyone who cares for or manages trees, has an interest in aquatics and enjoys wildlife!
Ohio Woodlands, Water and Wildlife, is a newsletter that is produced three times a year. It provides subcribers with updates on the latest issues related to woodland management,...
Commercial Applicator Pesticide Recertification Conferences Scheduled
Revised Worker Protection Standard Workshops Offered in 2017
Is your business compliant with revised worker protection standards? The Federal Worker Protection Standards (WPS) protects agricultural workers and pesticide handlers by reducing their risk from pesticide exposure. WPS was revised in 2015, and phased-in compliance begins January 2, 2017.
These FREE workshop will provide employers and managers what they need to bring their WPS Program in compliance with the new requirements, including changes in training, restrictions during applications, personal protective equipment, decontamination...
Tree of the Week: Sweetgum
You are all waiting for BYGLQuest 3 results, I know you are...Soon. For now, though"
There are variegated sweetgums. There are upright sweetgums. There are those who are driven to distraction by sweetgum fruits, cool though they are. There are the multitudinous fall colors of sweetgum, There are the winged stems of many sweetgums. There are the truly wonderful monoecious flowers of sweetgum. There are sweetgums in the snow. There are sweetgums that range from Florida to states north of Ohio. Liquidambar styraciflua, you of the twice-named gum, we barely know ye!...
2016 Ohio State University Green Industry Short Course A Success
Last Vestiges of Fall, Part Deux
As each day goes by, the season for fall color continues to fade, but one last time (oh maybe another to come), here are a few features from last week, starting with the lead photo of the European larch at OSU’s Wooster Campus showing its final glories before winter quiescence.
Next, check out the roses in German Village, still blooming during the OSU Nursery Short Course and Ohio Turfgrass Foundation Show last week. Now they are surely blasted. But those leaves with the black spot will fall to the base of the plant and lurk into next season, developing spores for...
Last Vestiges of Fall, Part 1
Last week was the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation Show and the OSU Green Industry Short Course and I took a few pastry-seeking walks down to German Village from the Columbus Convention Center. With this weekend’s cold and snow, let us remember some of the – last vestiges of fall, starting above with florist's geraniums, sure to no longer be with us.
Barberry (Berberis) fall foliage is quite colorful, and while fact-checking a bit, I was surprised to learn that the Berberidaceae family also includes two of my favorite wildflowers, Podophyllum...
BYGLQuest 2016-3: The Name Game
Knowing About Trees... Will Definitely Please!
Have you always wanted to know more about trees and why they grow like they do, why they need the resources that they utilize and just what exactly do they need to grow and thrive… And have many other question like these? Well the perfect learning opportunity has arrived with some outstanding speakers and researchers willing to share their current tree knowledge with you!
...
Shrub of the Week: Winterberry Holly
BYGLQuest 2016-2 Revealed: Its The Blueberries
You may recall that the challenge for BYGLQuest 2016-2 (http://bygl.osu.edu/node/649) was to identify all plants in the images accompanying the text. There were numerous fine responses, but the discriminator was the one and only person to identify the lead image (see above). It is a blueberry (Vaccinium sp.) in my backyard.
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ALB eNewsletter from USDA
Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) has been in the news recently, including a BYGL Alert written by Joe Boggs on November 18, 2016 - "New ALB Infestation Found in Clermont County, OH." That BYGL Alert can be found by clicking on this link: http://bygl.osu.edu/node/641
While there is an interest in regular ALB Updates in Ohio since eradication efforts are underway to eliminate this exotic invader in the buckeye state. People may occasionally want a national update with reports from Massachusetts and New York...
Buckeye Nation. Buckeye World
BYGLQuests: Viburnum Victors and Leaf Lessons
Trees of the Week: Late Fall Beauty
BYGL Mail - November 25, 2016: Ginkgoes and All Trees Remembered
First things first: Remember that the Ohio Turfgrass Conference and the OSU Green Industry Short Course are coming soon (December 6-8), and are preceded by the OSU Trees on Tap program on December 5. Check it out:
The program schedule is at: http://www.otfshow.org/education/
Register at: http://www.otfshow.org/registration/
And now to ginkgoes – and trees – for our Thanksgivings. From Kent Honl, arborologist (a term from the great John Lloyd lexicon) of...
BYGL Mailbag - November 24, 2016: Nude VIburnums
I was talking to the Ohio Hosta Society the other night about Vibunum nudum (go figure) and it reminds me now during this Thanksgiving holiday time that it is time to catch up with the BYGL Mailbag and comments from bygl-alert readers. Note: If you correspond, we will not use your name and direct quotes for these Mailbag items without your permission.
So, Viburnum nudum…if you have read http://bygl.osu.edu/node/627 and http://bygl.osu.edu/node/635 you know...
Trees on Tap Program: December 5
Perennials for Shade
While some areas of the state have received their first snowfall of the season, others haven't had that joy - at least not yet. This time of the year is a great time to expand your knowledge and learn the latest and the greatest; all in preparation for the 2017 season.
If someone asks for a perennial recommendation for shade, do you answer with those perennial staples and long-time favorites? Do you want learning more about perennials for shade beyond the basics? Which plants can you tuck in the shade and it is there that they make a statement in the landscape? Which...
Don't Be A Turkey And Miss The Green Industry Short Course and OTF Conference and Tradeshow Early Registration Deadline - November 25
As everyone is busily preparing for Thanksgiving, don't forget that the early registration for the 2016 Green Industry Short Course and the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation Conference and Tradeshow is Friday, November 25- it is like getting two educational programs for the price of one and the early bird registration discount is just another added bonus!
There is also a group discount for the same business or organization who will be sending 5 or more employees.
The event will be held at the Great Columbus Convention Center. Pre-conference workshops are...
Shrubs of the Week: Rosa rugosa Plus
{The images and writing for this bygl-alert is from Joe Cochran, the Curator of OSU’s Secrest Arboretum at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, Ohio}
What a difference a day makes! I awoke Saturday morning, November 19, to cold, blowing flurries along Granny Creek in Knox County. It was a mere 14 hours prior that I was strolling through the arboretum in short sleeves marveling at the autumn splendors. On trying to decide on a Shrub of the Week, it was soon evident that it would need to be Shrubs of the Week. It was the middle of November and the...
New ALB Infestation Found in Clermont County, OH
Tree of the Week: Ginkgo biloba
Ginkgo leaves this past week or weekend or this very day are falling, or have fallen, or are still dangling golden earrings on the tree, or yet have a touch of green, or fall with the first snow: All at once, almost quantum-esque, depending upon location, within Ohio, or on one side of the street, or dependent upon the condition of the tree. Don’t believe me: check it out. It is certainly one thing though: The Tree of the Week. Or is it merely one, or is it two, or both one and/or two?. Read on.
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A Good Time to Scout for Calico Scale
Learn The Latest on Invasives at the OSU Green Industry Short Course
While invasive species are on everyone's radar, do you know the latest? A great way to hear about the latest updates when it comes to invasive plants, insects and diseases is to attend the Ohio State University Green Industry Short Course and the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation Conference and Tradeshow in December at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
Joe Boggs and Amy Stone will be updating participants on invasive species in Ohio with updates from the field and what you can do to help with these battles on Wednesday, December 7.
Kathy Smith will be...
OSU Green Industry Short Course and OTF Conference and Tradeshow - December 5 - 8
Tis' the season to register for the upcoming Ohio State University Green Industry Short Course and the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation Conference and Tradeshow! While we haven't seen any snow yet, predictions are in the weekend forecast for at least the northeastern region of Ohio.
Three preconference workshops will be offered Monday, December 5 and the program runs fromTuesday, December 6 through Thursday, December 8. There is still time to register at the early bird price but don't delay. Register before November 25 for the discounted price. More than five people attending...
First Freeze of Year in NW Ohio
Well we knew we could not avoid it forever. The fall temperatures have been enjoyable. Last night in NW Ohio, temperatures dipped to 25F. Our average first freeze of the fall season occurs about three weeks earlier, and our first average measurable snowfall is just 2 weeks away. Last night's low temperatures should have finally taken out those annuals and tender perennials that we have gotten to enjoy for an extended time this year.
While there were a couple frosts prior to last night's freeze, many herbaceous plants where still going strong. It has been wonderful to...
Viburnum nudum, Part Deux
Note: As you await tonight’s Election results, situated in front of your TV or at watch parties, here is something horticultural for you to vote upon: should you plant Viburnum nudum? Read on.
On October 28, 2016 we did a bygl-alert for the Shrub of the Week as Viburnum nudum (http://bygl.osu.edu/node/627). Quickly we had some responses noting that, for example “…it might be helpful to include V. nudum's susceptibility to infestation by the Viburnum Leaf Beetle. ...
Fall Foliage III
Never-to-be-forgotten fall color continued this past Saturday in Wayne County in northeast Ohio – and I suspect, elsewhere. The red maple (Acer rubrum) above and the other images were all from Saturday morning, November 5, in my yard and the nearby Johnson Woods Nature Preserve near Orrville five miles away.
Maples held sway in their many iterations, from the luminosity of sugar maples (Acer saccharum) at Johnson Woods, to the unusually foliated hornbeam maple (Acer carpinifolium) in the ChatScape.
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Shrub of the Week: Common Witchhazel
{This bygl-alert was written by Paul Snyder, horticulturist with OSU’s Secrest Arboretum at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster. Two pictures were added by Jim Chatfield.
Members of the genus Hamamelis open and close the season for woody flowering plants. Flowering begins with Hamamelis vernalis and Hamamelis x intermedia hybrids in the spring and end with the flowering of Hamamelis virginiana in the fall and Hamamelis mollis in early winter. One Hamamelis mollis selection, ‘...
Tree of the Week: Name That Plant
This tree resides in my front yard, and was a gift from Rich Larson of Dawes Arboretum almost three decades ago after I gave a talk on pests and diseases of trees. Fortunately, this tree in general has few insects or infectious diseases and my gift tree and its multi-stemmed trunks has now grown about 40 feet tall in those 29 years. It is a native tree, but fairly unusual in Ohio woodlands. This tree has intensely lemon-yellow changing to burnt gold fall foliage which was spectacular from late October and now into the first few days of November this year. ...
Signs of the Times: From Trees to Turtles
A recent bygl-mail correspondent, Beth Deimling from Lakeland Nursery in Indiana, recently wrote “As wonderfully entertaining authors of BYGL, I thought you might be appreciative of this sign that my husband and I saw while on vacation last month in Wisconsin. Of course, as world travelers, you may have already seen it, or something similar. Thanks for all of your stories, photos, and attempts at educating us!”
It is a telling sign, as other locales deal with Emerald Ash Borer encroachments. The sign stirs up some memories of other signs of the times: here are a few...
Trees on Tap - OSU Green Industry Short Course Pre-Conference Workshop - December 5, 2016
You won't want to miss this year's Trees on Tap preconference workshop as part of this year's OSU Green Industry Short Course (GISC), formally the OSU Nursery Short Course.
The preconference workshop will be held on Monday, December 5, 2016 at the Columbus Convention Center. Registration will be begin at 9:00 am, with the program starting at 9:30 am. The workshop ends at 4:45 pm, with a workshop reception to follow.
The workshop's agenda include the following topics: Why Trees Matter; Treesources Must-Haves...
Tree of the Week: Korean Maple
Ever since Kenny Cochran of Secrest Arboretum introduced me to Korean or purple-bloom maple, Acer pseudosieboldianum, and I planted one in my backyard, I have been in wonder of its features. Fall foliage color, of course (more on that later), but years ago after the first years in our laissez-faire landscape, and with it almost making it look like I knew what I was doing, with its elegant form and overarching branches, I brought this up to horticulturist extraordinaire Ethan Johnson of Holden Arboretum.
Ethan agreed on the fall color, but noted that in his experience...
Shrub of the Week: VIburnum nudum
The text and images for this bygl-alert are by Paul Snyder, horticulturist with OSU’s Secreest Arboretum at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster}
It is typical this time of year to have many tour groups visit Secrest. Planted along some of the paths is a plant that makes everyone stop and say, ‘Wow, what is it?” If you are thinking it is a selection of Malus you are mistaken.
...
Fall Clean Up for a Healthier Spring Landscape!
Fall is an important time in landscape maintenance. Many pest problems and diseases encountered this season may survive until next season on or in plant debris. Cultural practices completed prior to the beginning of winter will ensure a healthier landscape for next spring.
Some of the fall crops can still be left in the garden for a while, however warm season vegetables are about done for the season. Remove all annual vegetable plants from garden beds in order to prevent overwintering insect and diseases. Diseased plants should not be composted unless the compost pile reaches...
Tree of the Week: Osage-Orange (Maclura pomifera, family Moreaceae (mulberry family))
Did You Know? It's Bat Week!
What IS Bat week, you ask? Bat Week is an annual, international celebration of the role of bats in nature. This year, Bat Week is right now! It started October 24th and runs through October 31st. Bat Week is organized by a team of conservation organizations and government agencies from across the United States and Canada with the goal of raising awareness and promoting conservation of bat species around the world.
...
Help Needed in Gray Fox Study
Calling all trappers! Trappers who catch gray fox this season are asked to contact the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife if gray foxes are caught. The Division of Wildlife is pursuing a gray fox study and requests the help of trappers in capturing study animals. Foxes caught that are deemed suitable for collaring and release will receive $40.00. NOTE: Only gray fox caught in the following counties are eligible: Athens, Belmont, Coshocton, Gallia, Fairfield, Guernsey, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Pike, Ross,...
Halloween Hopper Horror Show
Fall Color, Part Deux
We have visited fall color themes with several recent bygl-alerts (http://bygl.osu.edu/node/612; http://bygl.osu.edu/node/603; http://bygl.osu.edu/node/602), and as the season progresses it just keeps getting richer. Following are some additional Season of 2016 features. And the lead picture above, though it looks like it comes from the Smokies or from Almost Heaven, is just from my backyard, with fall foliage rising from the strawberry fields forever of the...
Oaks, and Fall, and Propagation: Oh My!
{This bygl-alert is from Paul Snyder, horticulturist at OSU’s Secrest Arboretum at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, with a small assist from Jim Chatfield.}
Note: The image above is of Chestnut Oak (Quercus prinus) acorns. Members of the white oak group, like chestnut oak, should be planted immediately after collecting. The radicle (the first part of the plant embryo to emerge from the seed) comes out in the fall.
Fall is here and that means trees are releasing their fruits produced over the summer. For squirrels and other...
Shrub of the Week: Buttonbush
Native plants are all the rage in the plant world (apart from new hydrangea cultivars), and rightfully so―they are well adapted to our climate and zone, and serve as a host for a variety of insects, birds, and other wildlife. Indeed, when we plant a landscape we aren’t just making an area look nice. Rather, we are creating an ecosystem.
A native plant that shines this time of year is Cephalanthus occidentalis, Buttonbush. This plant is commonly thought of only for its globular white flowers in summer. Yet this member of the Rubiaceae is attractive all season. Glossy...
Signs and Symptoms: A Tale of Two Tar Spots
As noted earlier (http://bygl.osu.edu/node/525) there are two common tar spots of maple seen in Ohio. One, that occurs commonly on silver and red maple results in dense, tarry spots caused by the fungus, Rhytisma acerinum. A second tar spot disease is typically found on Norway maple, with multiple tiny tarry spots that eventually coalesce into a larger spot, not quite as “tarry” but nonetheless black in color, caused by the fungus Rhytisma punctatum.
...
Fall Home Invaders: spiders, stink bugs, and more!
The calls have begun. Insects and spiders are being found inside homes around Medina, and I suspect many other counties in Ohio. Fall brings an annual immigration of all sorts of arthropods but this is not meant to be a halloween horror, but a normal part of the life cycle and survival of many creepy (or cute!) crawlies.
Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs
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Spotted Wing Drosophila in Raspberries
Read All About It!
The love of books. As promised, here are the first five books to know about, read, teach your co-horts and fellow naturalists about, and to treat yourself and others to for the upcoming holidays.
- A Sand County Almanac – Aldo Leopold. A naturalist’s classic.
- Seeing Trees – Nancy R. Hugo and Richard Llewellyn. Photographic and written essays of the annual life of trees.
- Manual of Woody Landscape Plants – Michael Dirr. Must have for reference and priceless observations and perspectives.
- The Invention of...
Banded Garden Spider
Seasonal Needle Coloration
Many of us are aware that pines and other narrow-leaved trees and shrubs that we term “evergreen”, do lose inner needles in the fall and sometimes in the spring, most noticeably on white pine. Others of us, though having seen it all our lives, may not have noticed (“The true voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes, but in having new eyes” – Proust).
For those who are aware, “Remember what it was like not to know”, and teach others well. Speaking of teaching this, no-one said it better than Aldo Leopold in his “A Sand County Almanac” (1949), a...
Perennial of the Week: New England Aster
New England aster (Symphyotrichumnovae-angliae) is an excellent plant for the fall garden. In addition to providing color in the landscape, it also is a late-season source of pollen for bees and other pollinators. New England aster is native to much of the Eastern US and its purple daisy-like flowers can be seen in fields in bloom now. It blooms from late summer through October. This plant prefers moist, rich soils but will tolerate clay soils, and some drought once established. New England aster grows well in a sunny location but can also succeed in partial shade. This plant...
New Worker Protection Compliance Manual Now Available
White-tailed Deer Road Watch
White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) provide abundant recreation opportunities for hunters and wildlife watchers. Unfortunately, they can also cost us millions of dollars every year. How? Imagine you are driving down a poorly lit road at night when all of the sudden a deer appears on the road in front of you. Despite your honking and screeching breaks, the animal remains frozen in its tracks, exhibiting to perfection 'a deer in headlights'. Deer vehicle collisions are incredibly dangerous and often costly. So listen up motorists, now is the time when deer are on the move and...
Alarum Alarum Erratum Erratum: Nettles and Azaleas and My Red Face, Oh My
To err is human, so I must most certainly be massively, essentially human. To the point, two such bygl-alert errors of mine due for acknowledgment come from two of my favorite plantspersons: Charles Tubesing of Holden Arboretum and Ron Wilson of Natorp’s Nursery
First, to an egregious error most nettlesome. In http://bygl.osu.edu/node/596 I wrote of fruits of what I called “stinging nettle”. As Charles pointed out these may be nettles that sting, but the plant I saw and the pictures of fruits and the wedge-shaped leaves I showed were...
Autumn light is different from summer light: more golden, as light rays lengthen, with longer shadows. While there is time, and while the blue skies we have enjoyed all growing season fade to gray as winter beckons, go forth and catch some slanted sun-rays of autumn. Enjoy the full life of fall.
The past few days have brought out the colors of flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), often neglected when the best fall foliage plants are listed. As the lead picture shows it is wonderful now, and its fat flower buds promise springtime reprisals.
Next, enjoy the...
Shrub of the Week: Purple Beauty Berry
{Photos and text for this bgyl-alert are provided by Joe Cochran, the Curator of OSU’s Secrest Arboretum at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster.}
The fruits of purple beauty berry (Callicarpa dichotoma) are among the most splendid of the fall-fruiting shrubs. On arching branches, small delicate fruits appear to be glossy pearls that have been dipped in a lilac-violet varnish. Against the light-green foliage their beauty cannot go unnoticed. Growing 4-5 ft. with a slightly larger spread, the tips often reach to the ground. A...
Fruits of Fall
Fall is for foliage, but also for – fruits. We sometimes miss this for landscape plants, blinded by apples and apple cider and the final harvests from summer gardens. Yet there is much to enjoy. So here is a short view of a few of The Fruits of Orrville, Ohio (Wayne County) with a finale the finale from Otterbein University in Franklin County.
We started above with the bubble-gum colored fruits of Symphoricarpos. I am not sure of the species or cultivar of this particular street-planted beauty, though possibly it is Amethyst™ Symphoricarpos x...
Fall Foliage I
We are entering that world-class time of the year for Ohio and the Eastern United States – the time of fall foliage color. Nevertheless, we are receiving numerous calls about what is wrong with their trees, especially honeylocusts; yellowing leaves and all.
Nothing out of the ordinary – it is simply fall foliage time. Despite our warm temperatures and with it seeming like it is still summer - for trees - fall is proceeding as usual. There are factors of temperature and moisture that affect fall coloration intensity, but the key ingredient for fall color starts in the summer at...
Tree of the Week: Dawnredwood
I once wrote a poem of the seasons of dawnredwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides. Let us deconstruct, starting with the name of this majestic tree, for as the Chinese philosopher Krishtalka noted: “The beginning of wisdom is calling things by their right name.”
The Latin binomial itself is telling: “meta-sequoia” means “like-sequoia”, and dawnredwoods are related, in the Cupressaceae family, to the true redwoods, Sequoia and Sequoiadendron. The “glyptostrob-oides” refers to another sister genus in the Cupressaceae, Glyptostrobus....
Weekly Weed: Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense)
Black Fungal Growth and Distilleries
Edible Crabapple of the Week: Maypole
Weed of the Week: Stinging Nettle
At Johnson Woods Nature Preserve near Orrville in Wayne County, there are many wonderful plants including towering oaks and beeches and sourgums. There are birds including barred owls that are a hoot to hear in matched pairs from across the preserve. This past weekend the fungi were having a real coming out party following recent rains. Squirrels, including black squirrels, were clucking away. And stinging nettles were fruiting; something I had never noticed before.
...
Umbrellaland
Sweetgum Webworm / Leafroller
Pythium and Phytophthora Pummel Pumpkins in NE Ohio
In the past few weeks, I have received multiple questions from farmers growing pumpkins, asking what is going on with the pumpkins! When pressed about what they were seeing, the response is always a “come out and see for yourself” and so I usually do! For me, plant problem diagnostics are ALWAYS more accurate and effective when done hands-on, using my own senses and asking those pertinent or impertinent questions to get at the answers! In these cases of the great pumpkin patch puzzle, they would pick perfectly healthy looking pumpkins, wash the dirt off of rinds and put them into bins...
Ratty Redbuds
Bristly Roseslugs Continue to Cause Damage
A Tale of Two Visitors
Planting/Transplanting Perennials in Early Fall Requires a Little Extra TLC
The recommended time for planting or transplanting perennials is late August or early September. This gives adequate time for roots to establish before winter comes. However, like most gardeners, I don't usually think about it in late August and besides, this year was too hot to take on this task anyways.
I finally got around to it this past weekend and the weather was glorious to work outside. I needed to transplant a few perennials as well as plant some that I bought at a plant sale in the spring. Yes, I am a little behind but I really didn't want to plant them...
Mushroom is Magnificent!
A local arborist called me one day and asked if it was possible that I could identify a mushroom. Sure, I said I could do that and reminded him that identification is always much easier if a sample was dropped off for me to examine. Later, as I rehearsed our conversation, I remember hearing him chuckle and then saying, “Well, you’re going to love this one”. I was thinking through a couple of types and shapes of typical mushrooms when I walked into my office the next morning. You can imagine my surprise when I spied on my desk, the huge fruiting body of Bondarzewia berkeleyi ...
Woolly Bears on the Move
From Webworms to "We All Scream": Walks in Wooster
Lazarus Lizards Rise in Cincinnati
Beetles on Goldenrod
Orange Dogs and Family Matters
I recently came across a bizarre looking caterpillar - it looked like bird poo - while looking on a wafer ash (Ptelea trifoliate) for the white, frothy "egg plugs" of the two-marked treehopper (Enchenopa binotata) and admiring some heavy potato leafhopper (Empoasca fabae) damage. I learned the bizarre looking caterpillar has an appropriately bizarre sounding common name: the orange dog.
The orange dog (sometimes called orange puppy) caterpillar is the larval stage of the eastern giant swallowtail butterfly (Papilio cresphontes). As...
Wafer Ash Leaves Fading to White
Shrub of the Week: Rhus
Weed of the Week: Maximilian Sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani)
Perennial of the Week: Maximilian Sunflower (Helianthus maximiliani)
Goldenrod is Glorious in Geauga!
Root of the Matter
Flowerosophy
Perennial of the Week: Ironweed
Here at the Medina Extension Office, we have Ironweed (Vernonia spp.) planted among other native and annual flowers outside. And every year people visit our office just to ask, "What is that giant purple flower!?" Its purple flowers are quite an eye catcher and, despite having "weed" in its name, ironweed's late blooms in summer to fall and brilliant color make it an attractive native wildflower for many gardeners.
...
A Very Unusual Leaf Gall
Tactile Paving and Truncated Domes
Diagnostics: Who Knows Most About the Plants?
Fall Forecast II
Basswood Leafminer Found in Southwest Ohio
Tree of the Week: Swamp White Oak
I was recently in New York City, 15 years after the 9/11 tragedy, and was reminded of that day. We were on our BYGL call back here in Ohio and Dave Dyke of OSUE, Hamilton County broke into a plant report with news that a plane, possibly a small plane had flown into the World Trade Center. We took it in and continued our reports.
Minutes later he burst in that another plane had hit the other tower and that these were large passenger planes. Now we knew something was terribly wrong and yet, like many people, we tried to continue with our scheduled activities for a while....
Shrub of the Week: Comptonia (Sweetfern)
There We Go...The Harbinger of Autumn Appears!
As I was driving along the roadways of Geauga County, I suddenly noticed the upright pillars of changing color wrapped around tree trunks. Yes, I believe that it is most likely, that autumnal color is the ONLY redeeming quality of Toxicodendron radicans, commonly known as Poison Ivy! At this time of year, the fall colors of this rash inducing woody vine, are unparalleled for their stunning reds, oranges, yellows and every color mixture in-between. It almost makes one want to go up to collect some leaves to put in a fall color collage between pieces of waxed paper to hang on the...
Small White Masses on Red Bud Stems
Tree of the Week: Kentucky Coffeetree
Trees and Lightning
Recent storms that have moved through northwest Ohio have brought some much needed rain. Some of that rain has been accompanied by lightning, high winds and even tornados. The large oak pictured with this article was strike by lightning resulting in the outward symptom a "lightning scar."
As I was searching for additional information when writing this article, I came across a FactSheet from Purdue University, Trees and Lightning. It is an excellent resource and describes the range of damage to the tree that can occur during and after a lightning strike. The...
Rare Caterpillar Attends 83rd Ohio Plant Diagnostic Workshop
Mushrooms in the Yard: To Eat or Not to Eat has been a Common Question
With the return of more regular rains in some areas of Ohio, mushroom production in lawns seems to be going gang busters. Some view these mushrooms as a mere nuisance, some are freaked out by their presence, and some want to make a meal out of them. STOP! One must have an absolute, positive identification before dining on these "free" mushrooms.
...
Annual of the Week: Common Sunflower (Helianthus annuus).
Boogie-Woogie Aphid Takes Center Stage
Ode to Joy: A Walk in the Park and German VIllage
The first image of a caladium and coleus window box above is from a walk I took a few weeks ago with the Ohio Nursery Landscape Association’s Executive Director Frits Risor through German Village and Schiller Park there, and then later in the day checking out the crape myrtles planted in landscapes a little further north near ONLA’s World Headquarters in Westerville. A few other items we saw include:
...
Cedar Rust Fungi Aecial Tubes Now Evident
For the last month the fungal tubes of the “aecial” stage of several cedar rust fungi, namely cedar-apple rust (Gymonsporangium juniper-virginianae) and cedar-hawthorn rust (G. globosum) have been evident on leaf undersides of hawthorns, as seen in the accompanying picture.
These rust fungi spend about a year and half on certain junipers (in the Cupressaceae family) before microscopic spores of the fungus oozing from galls on the juniper blow in the spring to certain genera in the Rosaceae family such as hawthorns and apples and crabapples.
...
Jack-o'-Lantern Mushrooms
I was driving home the other day, and on a bank, under an oak tree, there were some electrifyingly-orange mushrooms cascading down a small slope. BYGL-alert screamed out at me, so let’s take a look. Delightful as they looked to the eye, these would seem to be jack-o’-lantern mushrooms, probably Omphalotus olearius. This mushroom may cause serious gastric distress to those who partake. It is a reminder that you really need to get a positive identification before taking a chance on nature gone wild.
...
Mantids are Lurking
Bounding Grasshoppers and Katydids
Shrub of the Week: Northern Bayberry
Big Wheel Bugs are Rolling Along: Mea Culpa
Tree of the Week: Seven-Son Flower
The months-long florescent reign of seven-son flower, Heptacodium miconoides, is about to begin. The common name of this small tree (will grow to 15-20 feet or more) comes from the candelabra-like seven-pronged flower stalks.
In northern Ohio the fragrant white flower petals are just now emerging from flower buds. After several weeks to a month the white petals, together called the corollas, will give way to a month or more of ripening ornamental salmon-pink sepals, the floral envelope behind the petal collectively called the calyces. It is a great sight against a blue...
Big Wheel Bugs are Rolling Along
Diagnostics: Canker on Heptacodium
Today I met with OSU horticultural great Kenny Cochran at his garden in Wooster and we enjoyed checking out everything from his sweet cherry tomatoes to the two-toned leaves of his silver linden tree. One plant which gave us concern was a seven-son flower tree (Heptacodium miconoides). More on the tree later in an upcoming Tree of the Week post, but some stem dieback amidst the just-coming-into-flower panicles is what got our attention. Shoots with brown leaves amidst perfectly healthy-looking shoots with green leaves.
...
A Spider Encounter
Woodland Plants of this Week: The Other Impatiens
Two species of impatiens have carried on in eastern woodlands despite the roar of impatiens downy mildew on bedding impatiens in our landscapes.
There are some reports of their susceptibility to the downy mildew pathogen Plasmopara obducens, but it has not been reported on these species in Ohio. Woodland walkers are sure to recognize these other impatiens, though you may know them by other names, such as jewelweed or touch-me-nots. Their given Latin names are: Impatiens capensis, with orange flowers and Impatiens pallida, with pale yellow flowers....
Bagworms Tie One On.
Turf Tips - August 31, 2016
Leaf-Footed Bugs
Milkweed Bugs are Rampant
Annual of the Week - Coleus
PERRENIAL OF THE WEEK: Purple passionflower (Passiflora incarnata)
Purple passionflower goes by several common names including true passionflower, wild passionflower, and wild passion vine as well as maypop and wild apricot which refer to the fruit. This fast growing native perennial climbing/trailing vine sports two key features that should entice Ohio gardeners and landscape designers: it produces beautifully complex eye-catching flowers that are 2 - 3" wide and it produces edible fruit.
...
The Heart of Trees: Jaume Plensa at Toledo Museum of Art
Oak Wilt in NW Ohio
This summer, there have been several phone calls to the Extension office in Lucas County from concerned residents describing red oak trees declining quickly. Many described their tree(s) exhibiting symptoms that one could suspect that oak wilt (Ceratocystis fagacearum) might be the cause. The symptoms described included: flagging of branches in the tree's canopy; withering of leaves that turn brown and ultimately drop before normal seasonal leaf drop; and rapid decline of the overall canopy - some describe it as happening "overnight". Additionally,...
NEW WOODLAND STEWARDS NEWSLETTER AVAILABLE ONLINE
The Ohio Woodland Stewards newsletter, Ohio Woodlands, Water and Wildlife, is produced three times a year. It provides subcribers with updates on the latest issues related to woodland management, including insect and disease or invasive plant issues. Articles are also geared towards expanding a readers knowledge base on a wide variety of topics related to our Ohio woodlands and the management and care of them. Subscribers can access the newsletter online at any time. When new issues are released it is available in either hard copy or electronic - just let us know which version...
Oak Itch Mites Attack!
Folks in Northeastern Ohio complain of itchy welts on their heads, neck and upper torso. The oak itch mite, Pyemotes herfsi, has been identified as the culprit.
The last time Ohio suffered an outbreak was in 2008 in the Cincinnati area. At that time, walkers, joggers and cyclists were complaining that when they followed trails that were overhung by oak trees, they would end up with itchy welts the following day. At that time, the oak itch mite had been recorded as being a periodic pest from Nebraska to Texas and eastward to Tennessee. The bites were most common in July and...
Clean Up Lace Bug Infestations now!
Lace bugs are persisting on many trees and shrubs! Consider controlling them to keep the adults from overwintering and repeating the damage next year!
I noticed several hawthorns this week that have been turned yellow by continual lace bug attack this summer. In fact, some trees are beginning to drop leaves. Upon looking closely, there were numerous adult lace bug still on the leaves. The undersurface of each leaf was coated with tar spots (the fecal spots produced by lace bugs), old egg shells and cast skins. Remember that the lace bug species that infest deciduous trees (i.e.,...
THE WEEKLY WEED: Canadian Horseweed (Conyza canadensis)
Canadian horseweed (Conyza canadensis, family Asteraceae) has become notorious in recent years for failing to respond to glyphosate (e.g. Roundup) in agricultural fields and landscapes. This annual weed, which is also known as just horseweed, Canadian fleabane, coltstail, and marestail, has moved in recent years from being a plague in field crops to become a scourge in landscapes and nurseries. Indeed, this native North America plant has become such a problem in Ohio it has been added to the state's noxious weeds list.
Challenges with managing this weed centers...
Cryptomeria Scale (Fried-Egg Scale) Found in Southwest Ohio
Last week, Cindy Meyer (OSU Extension, Butler County) and I found Cryptomeria Scale (Aspidiotus cryptomeriae) on Canaan fir in a Christmas tree farm in southwest Ohio. The literature indicates this non-native armored scale may be found on the underside of needles on a wide range of conifers including true firs (Abies spp.), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziensii), hemlocks (Tsuga spp.), spruces (Picea spp.), and perhaps other conifers as well as Taxus (Taxus spp.). However, it appears that cryptomeria scale has a distinct preference for...
Shrub of the Week: Chinese Leptodermis
{This Shrub of the Week article and its photos are from Paul Snyder of OSU's Secrest Arboretum at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster.}
Have you ever had someone come to you looking for a particular plant, and then begin listing all the characteristics they are looking for? “It needs to be dwarf, have lots of flowers all summer, not be messy, and it can’t have thorns…” We have all been there, and we have all thought “With all those requirements you can’t really grow anything but perhaps poison ivy.”
We often receive questions like this at...
Tree of the Week: Three-Flowered Maple
The three-flowered maple continues to grow and thrive in my backyard and the more I see it planted at the Secrest Arboretum in Wooster, at the High Line Park in New York City, and elsewhere, the more I enjoy this tree. This Asian maple will become a small to medium-sized tree (20-25 feet). Like its cousin paperbark maple, it has exfoliating bark but the bark is not as papery or with the cinnamon color of Acer griseum.
...
Pear Rust Revisited
While walking in German Village in Columbus with ONLA’s Frits Risor last week we revisited the Callery pears with rust disease noted earlier this season (http://bygl.osu.edu/node/342). I wanted to see if the rust was isolated to the two trees heavily affected in June. As earlier, the two trees in question were speckled with bright orange lesions on the upper leaf surfaces, but I suspected that by now the rust fungus would have undergone sexual reproduction in the leaves with aecial spore pustules developing on the lower leaf surfaces as would be seen with the cedar-apple rust fungus (...
Smorgas-gourd
“I am ignorant of almost everything” is a favorite saying of mine, and truth be told it is an obvious truth for us all. It is what makes us so lucky to be plant lovers, since we are reminded with the new personal and universal discoveries of Nature every single day. Know-it-alls need not apply for attendance at Nature’s banquets – though they might learn the most. One of my recent revelations of a horticultural bent was about – gourds. I have seen them, and have a vague sense that they are cucurbits, that is that they are in the Cucurbitaceae, the family that also includes...
Red-Spotted Purple
Wee Beasties
Come To Secrest on September 9: Third Notice
Tar Spots of Maple
Yes, We Have The Bananas
I have marveled this summer about the impact of modern petunias in hanging baskets, planters, and planting beds in communities in Ohio and elsewhere. When I talk to landscapers such as Gene Pouly in Orrville about these petunias, they agree that petunias are indeed a boon to these sites, but they almost always add that there can be so much more to urban plantings. So, here is one of Gene’s planters, with the range of additional plants he uses outside Smith Dairy in Orrville, Ohio.
...
Slime Mold Sighting
While walking about the other day I came upon a scene of serial sliming. A slime mold, probably a species of Mucilaga, was colonizing mulch under a maple tree. It was also colonizing a fallen maple leaf. It was also colonizing turfgrass plants next to the mulched area. This cohort of the colonized should tell us something: this slime mold is not very particular. It is not a parasite of this maple leaf or the turfgrass, but is just feeding on microbes in the decayed organic matter. So no harm, no foul, relative to the need for controls. Just rake it or wash it off if it offends...
Lace Bug Damage Very Evident Throughout Ohio
Extensioneers throughout Ohio have reported high lace bug populations this season. It is speculated these small sucking insects may have benefited from hot, dry conditions that may be coming to an end; for now. The most obvious lace bugs include: basswood lace bug (Gargaphia tiliae), hawthorn lace bug (Corythucha cydoniae), oak lace bug (C. arcuata), and sycamore lace bug (C. incurvata).
These lace bug species live on the undersides of leaves where they use their piercing/sucking mouth parts to suck juices from their host plants. As...
A Tomato A Day - Live Smart Ohio Blog
Extension is an educational resource like no other. If you are a BYGL reader, you already are familiar with the horticulture related information that Ohioans, and beyond, have access to via the timely BYGL alerts, the weekly BYGL summaries, and of course the BYGL website. Sometimes there are topics that clearly overlap in our program areas and provide an opportunity for cross programmatic planning and promotion of the four Extension program areas: Agriculture and Natural Resources (which includes horticulture); Community Development; 4-H Youth Development; and Family Consumer Sciences...
Tree Of The Week: Let Us Take A Look
This week let us do some sleuthing. I came upon this tree yesterday in Orrville, Ohio in the Smucker’s Fitness Walk path. The leaf told me something, but first, let us look at the tell-tale terminal buds: clustered.
This is typical of oaks, the genus Quercus.
And the leaves obviously suggest oak-hood, in this case with rounded lobes without a bristle tip, thus the…
White oak group
Oaks in the white oak group tend to hybridize freely, unlike with the black or red oak group (pin oaks, black oaks, scarlet...
Shrub of the Week: David's Mountainlaurel
{This post was written and images provided by Joe Cochran, curator of OSU’s Secrest Arboretum at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center at Wooster; end note from Jim Chatfield}
Sophora davidii, David’s mountainlaurel or David’s pagoda tree, formerly known as S. viciifolia, is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub from the Sichuan region of China. It was discovered by the Jesuit missionary, Jean Pierre Armand David (1826-1900). Among his many plant discoveries, Père David is also known for introducing to the West, the giant panda. It was in this same...
What is the Threat from Stinging Caterpillars?
The vast majority of lepidopteron (moths and butterflies) caterpillars, even many with hairs, do not present a threat. However, there are some with hairs that are modified for defense. These are collectively called urticating hairs from the Latin urtica meaning "nettle." Indeed, the hairs on stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), which are called trichomes; provide a good model for the venom injecting mechanism used by some of the more serious urticating hairs found on caterpillars.
...
Beneficial of the Week: THe Dull Roar Effect
The importance of beneficial insects and mites is often missed. Until they are missed. We learned this years ago when “cover sprays” that included multiple pesticides in a “cocktail” were used repeatedly in hopes of controlling a range of pests, but had the unintended consequence of reducing or eliminating beneficial insect, mite, and spider species.
Without these beneficials, we created monsters such as spider mite infestations on burningbush euonymus, that were much worse when cover sprays reduced beneficials. We lost the “dull roar” effect of these beneficials that, while...
The Reddened Rose of Texas
Beneficial Insects: Wool Carder Bees
Wool carder bees in the genus Anthidium are a beneficial pollinator that may be less familiar to pollinator-promoters than honeybees or bumblebees, but they are well-worth knowing!
This little bee is full of determination. Female wool carder bees collect wooly material to line their nests. To do this, she uses her mandibles to scrape fuzzy trichomes from pubescent leaves, especially lambs ear. This scraping motion is reminiscent of a time when wool would be combed or "carded" to straighten the fibers. While she toils away collecting soft, fuzzy things for her...
Perennial of the Week: Rattlesnake Master
No snake charmers here, just a native perennial that is worth a try in a garden as a tall statement piece for pollinators!
Rattlesnake Master is full of surprises. It looks like it belongs in a desert, but it is actually a native prairie plant that grows well in the midwest. While its basal foliage resembles that of a yucca (lily family), it is actually a member of the carrot family, Apiaceae. It's flowers are a pollinator dream and its height adds something unique to the garden.
The plant begins with prickly, stiff basal foliage. The bluish-green...
Great Golden Digger Wasp: The Other Soil Burrower
Great Golden Digger Wasps (Sphex ichneumoneus) rival Cicada Killer Wasps (Sphecius speciosus) in size, soil excavating capacity, and heavy lifting. In fact, research on the foraging capacity of the Golden Digger showed this wasp's heavy lifting capacity exceeded that of the Cicada Killer; it was significantly higher than 15 other hymenopteran heavy lifters.* Yet, when most people think of big wasp bombers, they think of the Cicada Killer. That's because Cicada Killers occur in larger numbers and their nesting habits often place them in conflict with people. Golden...
Ailanthus Webworm Nests
Ailanthus Webworms (Atteva aurea) feed exclusively on the non-native, highly invasive, misleadingly named Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima). They are the larval (caterpillar) stage of a beautiful ermine moth (Family Yponomeutidae). In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful moths found in Ohio. Multiple overlapping generations occur each season so it is common to find both moths and caterpillars active at the same time. Indeed, I took pictures posted with this report of the moth on stiff goldenrod (Solidago rigida) the same day that I took shots of...
Robbers are on the Wing!
One of my favorite insects is the Red-Footed Cannibalfly (Promachus rufipes) which is a type of robber fly (family Asilidae). Few carnivorous insects can match the amazing acrobatics and predatory proficiency of robber flies in their pursuit of prey. Adults of all species are predators and they will attack a variety of insects; even "armed" prey and insects much larger than their own body size. One of the appropriately named Hanging Thief Robber Flies (Diogmites spp.) pictured below is chowing down on a yellowjacket. There are over a thousand species of robber flies...
New OSU FactSheet Online - Viburnum Leaf Beetle (VLB)
There is a new Ohio State University Extension FactSheet that you must check out. The FactSheet covers the Viburnum Leaf Beetle, an invasive species from Europe and Asia. Curtis Young, Extension Educator in VanWert County, authored this FactSheet that can be found online at http://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/anr-39
The FactSheet includes information on: Host Plants; VLB Identification; VLB Life Cycle and Plant Injury; Management Strategies; and VLB Spread.
While this insect was first discovered in...
Caladiscopic Majesty
Years ago, OSU Agriculture College Dean Bobby Moser wanted the Ag Quad next to Howlett and Kottman Halls to be planted so that football fans would not park cars there on fall Saturdays. The solution, led by Professor Claudio Pasian may be seen in all its colors and textures now with the OSU Extension Horticulture Trial Gardens. One of the many standouts of those trials that I noted last week were a range of cultivars of Caladium. Hearts and arrows of patterned and freckled leaves of intense colors, about 18 inches tall and wide. Wow: ‘Fiesta’ and “Burning Heart’. ‘Pearl’ and ‘...
Annual of the Week: Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost'
Euphorbia is a genus in the family Euphorbiaceae; however, not all Euphorbia are equal. Sometimes, the genes that support a plants demotion to weed status such as the ability to thrive in high heat and drought may be coaxed through hybridization to produce well-behaved, highly prized landscape plants. Such is the case with Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost'. This is a very tough plant that not only survives the dog-days of summer; but thrives! All the while, the naturally mounded plants continue to be topped with clouds of delicate white flowers.
...
Weekly Weed: Spurge
Two types of spurge belonging to the genus, Euphorbia (family Euphorbiaceae), may become a problem at this time of the year in landscapes and turfgrass. These are prostrate spurge (E. prostrata) and spotted spurge (E. maculata). Both are summer annuals meaning that they develop throughout the growing season and produce seeds in late summer to early fall. Both may flourish by lack of competition presented by poorly maintained or drought stressed turfgrass, or by the lack of weed suppression through poor mulching practices in landscapes.
...
Woody of the Week - Rising Sun Redbud
Cercis canadensis Rising Sun™ is a brilliantly colored selection of the eastern redbud. Its newly emerging foliage in the spring is shades of apricot-orange, maturing to yellow, turning to speckled lime-green in summer, and then changing to rich golden tones for autumn. Its foliage lights up a garden and is a real eye catcher.
Prior to leafing out in the spring, lavender pea-like flowers open along the trunk and branches lasting for several weeks. The heart shaped leaves follow the not only beautiful, but edible flowers too. If you have not tried redbud...
Perennial of the Week: Mountain Mint
Mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) is blooming now and is covered with a spectacular variety of butterflies, bees, and wasps. This plant is also called short-toothed mountain mint or clustered mountain mint. It is a clump-forming perennial that typically grows 2 - 3’ tall. It is native to Ohio where it typically grows in grassy open places, meadows, fields, and woodland areas.
This plant was used by Native Americans for the treatment of fevers, colds, stomach aches, and other minor physical ailments. Mountain Mint is easily grown in full sun to part shade with moist to...
Diagnosis: The Fire Not This Time
While driving through Mahoning County in northeast Ohio this weekend I stopped to take some pictures of what looked to be fireblight on crabapple (Malus). About a foot of the new growth on the crabapple had died back, with browned leaves attached. As noted in previous bygl-alerts, bacterial fireblight caused by Erwinia amylovora is a common problem on crabapples and apples and other genera in the Rosaceae, such as Sorbus (mountainash), Cotoneaster, Pyracantha, and Pyrus (Callery and fruiting pears). As I looked a little closer, though, I...
September 9: 83rd Ohio Plant Diagnostic Workshop
Hey, where have I been? What happened to the 82nd Workshop, scheduled in Wooster on September 9? Well, we are so enmeshed in “all diagnostics – all the time” that we have already migrated to #83. Just last Friday there were 70+ Woodland Stewards in Mansfield, Joe Boggs continues his BYGLive! Diagnostic Workshops in southwest Ohio each month (coming as well to central Ohio next year), bygl-alerts are constantly talking diagnostics, and on and on. But you can never get enough diagnostic training and perspectives, as we realize every time we go outside or check out another new website....
Shrub of the Week: 'Phantom' Hydrangea
{This bygl-alert is from Joe Cochran, Director of OSU’s Secrest Arboretum. We will soon get his name in the alert author listings.}
Introduced by Pieter Zwinenburg, Boskoop, Netherlands in 1990, Hydrangea paniculata ‘Phantom’, in my opinion, is one of the best panicle hydrangeas on the market. The name ‘Phantom’ comes from the pristine, white blossoms that adorn this plant. In June, the inflorescences begin as lime-green, transitioning to a creamy-white and by July have developed into massive, pure white flower clusters. These panicles, up to 15 inches long, are quite...
Turnabout is Fair Prey
Some of my best photographs were totally unplanned; a nod to the adage, "it's better to be lucky than good." During today's S.W. Ohio Diagnostic Walk-About, I was photographing paper wasps and mud dauber nests under the walkway leading to the Tree House when I saw a dark blue wasp saunter into a spider web. It seemed odd; was the wasp committing insecticide? The drama was unfolding 6 - 7 ft. from my camera lens, so I couldn't see details.
The true story emerged when I processed the image on my computer. The wasp wasn't becoming the spider's prey; it was the other way...
Important Gypsy Moth Info!
While the feeding damage of gypsy moth caterpillars has been done for some time, the egg masses that are present now can predict what the future holds and what populations are expected to do in 2017. Egg masses laid this year are tan and felt-like in appearance (upper egg mass in the photo). Older egg masses are faded and much lighter in color and appear weathered (lower egg mass in the photo).
If you are interested in learning more about the Ohio Department of Agriculture's (ODA) Gypsy Moth Suppression Program check out their website at...
Annual of the Week: Portulaca (Moss Rose)
Portulaca has become my re-discovered, new favorite annual flowering plant. My wife sowed seed six years ago in our Portulaca-planter shown in this photo; it hasn't been re-seeded or re-planted since. The planter is setting on our driveway with a southern exposure and gets watered when I think of it which isn't very often. Over the past four weeks, we've had inconsistent rainfall at our home and day after day of 85 F. or better; many days in the 90s. The plants are thriving and have never looked better!
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2016 Ohio Local Foods Week
Information for this post was provided by OSU Extension Educators Patrice Powers-Barker and Heather Neikirk, Co-Leaders of the OSU Extension Local Foods Signature Program.
Join Ohioans from across the state in a celebration of local foods August 7-13, 2016. OSU Extension educators are working with communities to showcase their local food producers through special events and educational programs.
Why Ohio Local Foods Week?
- Agriculture is Ohio’s number one industry contributing jobs for one in seven Ohioans, and more...
Sneak A Zucchini On A Neighbor's Porch
If you have ever grown zucchini, you know that it can be pretty prolific. There are usually summer days that you could eat it at every meal - and there would still be extras. So what to do with all the excess? Why not share it with neighbors, friends, family, or others in your community in need.
Here is a fun way to start the sharing. August 8 is National Sneak A Zucchini On Your Neighbor's Porch. Have you ever celebrated? Don't let another year go by without participating. Although the day says "porch," but why not try desk or office? Extra produce can also be...
Redheads in Southwest Ohio
Tree of the Week: RIver BIrch
In choosing river birch (Betula nigra), it is perhaps wishful thinking or imagining a more moderate summer, since as this tree’s name suggests droughty conditions are not preferred. River birch will survive our dry summer throughout much of Ohio this year, but leaf drop and poor color now in some cases reminds us to plant it in sites that provide moist, well-drained, acid soils with plenty of organic matter.
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Spittlebug on Walnut and Frothy Thinking
I posted a BYGL Alert! about spittlebugs on hackberry ("Odd Spittlebug on Hackberry") yesterday. I could have added another odd spittlebug to the post - and solved an old misconception - had I waited until later in the day to write the report. Yesterday afternoon I came across the tell-tale frothy masses of a spittlebug on black walnut (Juglans nigra) while hiking around Miami Whitewater Forest - Great Parks of Hamilton County. The spittle-masses were located on the twigs and in the leaf axils. Oddly, the consistency of the froth was much like the spittle-masses...
Diagnosis: Broad Mites on Hydrangea
I visited a nursery this past Thursday morning. Problem: Unidentified damage on hydrangea liners - severe leaf distortion and plant stunting, resembling herbicide injury, but this hypothesis made no sense given grower expertise and practices and the spatial relationship of affected plants. The picture above illustrates the difference between normal and affected hydrangeas. One mistake I made: I did not take out my hand lens. Left samples at OSU-Plant Pathology by Thursday afternoon.
Diagnosis: Received e-mailed results from...
Odd Spittlebug on Hackberry
Yellownecked Caterpillars Rear Their Heads and Other End
Thanks to the sharp eyes of Lenny Farlee (Extension Forester, Purdue University), the congregated yellownecked caterpillar (Datana ministra) colony shown in this picture was discovered yesterday during a diagnostic walk-about he, Kathy Smith (OSU Extension Program Director - Forestry), and I lead in Shawnee Lookout Park in southwest Ohio. You may recognize the genus, Datana, because we've had a bumper crop of walnut caterpillars (D. integerrima) this season (see Alert on July 15, 2016, "Walnut Caterpillars on the Prowl").
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NEW OSU Extension Soil Testing Fact Sheet
Elm Yellows: The Re-Emergence of an Old Killer
Jim Chatfield and I visited the USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station, in Delaware, OH, on Monday where they are waging a battle to eliminate Elm Yellows (EY) from their American Elm Restoration Project research plots. I last saw the disease in southwest Ohio in 2013.
The problem is that American elms (Ulmus americana) that are resistant to Dutch Elm Disease (DED) have no known resistance to Elm Yellows (EY). DED is caused by a fungal infection; EY is caused by a phytoplasma which is a type of bacterium. DED fungi plug the xylem. The EY phytoplasma...
One Month Early! Gray Leaf Spot on Perennial Ryegrass Alert
A Mitey Big Disaster
Often, one of the typical options offered when attempting to control an identified pest, is to simply do nothing! In this year of extremely hot, dry conditions in NE Ohio, deciding to not do anything about a pest, turned into a disaster. The pest involved was the two-spotted spider mite, which was happily feeding on tomatoes growing in a high tunnel.
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Summer Days of Wineberries and Rosaceae
Joe-Pye Weed
Lily Has Everyone Seeing Stars
Every year in NE Ohio at the Drapescape, my wife and I anticipate being able to sit out on our deck and gaze upon the stars in the middle of the day. How is this possible you ask? Easily answered. Because we are both enjoying the emergence of our favorite oriental hybrid lily, which is in bloom right now, called Lilium orientalis ‘Stargazer’ or commonly known as the Stargazer lily.
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Emerald Ash Borer Update
While on our BYGL Conference Call earlier today, I received the monthly Emerald Ash Borer email update which includes a map that includes the latest changes of EAB detections in North America. A shout out to Douglas Bopp, GIS Support Northeast Area with USDA APHIS PPQ who regularly sends this information out to communicate the latest information.
Changes and/or additions included in this map since the July 1, 2016 map are as follows: The addition of initial county detections in: Vanderburgh County, IN; Harrison, Van Buren and Washington Counties,...
Hibiscus Hyperventilation!
As I was driving through a local neighborhood this morning, I stopped at a stop sign and as I started to pull through the intersection, I saw massive, pink blooms that had me hyperventilating! The sun was just at the right angle that the Hibiscus moscheutos (a.k.a. Hardy Hibiscus, Rose or Swamp Mallow), just popped out of a drab seeming lifeless, dry landscape! I couldn’t resist that vibrant splash of color so I had to drive around the block, park, walk nonchalantly along the sidewalk and then casually slip into the yard to get a picture, without getting bitten by a dog!
...Spider Mite Problems Just Keep Coming!
Milkweeds: Asclepias and Asclepius
I was moved by my friend Joe Boggs post about oleander aphids on milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) to add a little to the mix, mainly because I wrote earlier about butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) and because I took a number of pictures of milkweeds in the past few weeks and in previous years. They are quite beautiful with their reflexed corolla (group of petals) and elaborate horn and hood structures, their silky fibers (coma) used for life preserver flotation in World War II and pillows and comforters today, and for their relationship with Monarch butterflies.
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The Right Thing To The Root
A tree's leaves may be ever so good,
So may its bark, so may its wood;
I picture right now my colleague Joe Boggs trying to relax on this Sunday afternoon as I add this bygl-alert, casually opening the post, and as he reads through it, realizes that I am baiting him to elaborate upon this short teaser. He is the lead author and chief champion of the newly updated “Soil Testing for Ohio Lawns, Landscapes, Fruit Crops, and Vegetable Gardens” Fact Sheet that is now available online from OSU Extension at:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/...
Diagnostic Double-Take: Scorch or Scab
Yellowjackets are Buzzing
Yellowjackets (Vespula spp. and Dolichovespula spp.) are beneficial insects. Just keep repeating that to yourself when you're chased or stung by these yellow and black marauders! Yellowjackets have actually been with us since the beginning of the season. Each nest was started by a single overwintered queen. However, this is the time of the season when the ever-expanding nests contain enough individuals for yellowjackets to start making their presence known … sometimes painfully.
All species of yellowjackets in Ohio build circular to oblong...
Aphids Spoiling Monarch Milkweeds
During yesterday's OSU Master Gardener Volunteer Diagnostic Workshop in Licking County, OH, one of the participants asked about the hordes of yellow aphids sucking juices from common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) reserved for monarch butterfly caterpillars. These are oleander aphids (Aphis nerii) and their appearance reminds us that nature makes no food reservations.
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Don't Turn Your Head on These Guys!
Tree of the Week: Sassafras
Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) is a lovely native woodland tree which is used more and more in landscaping. It is typically a medium-sized tree up to 30-50 feet in height but the national champion in Kentucky exceeds 100 feet. Leaves are variable, some entire, some mitten-liked and two-lobed, some three-lobed. Fall color can range from attractive yellows to yellow-orange, especially effective as a grove of sassafras trees.
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Ghostly Ericoid
What Is In My Bluebird House??
Cedar Quince Rust Rages
Christmas In July: Some hawthorns these past two weeks are sporting little orange sherbet-colored aecial spore masses of the cedar quince rust fungus (Gymnosporangium clavipes), pushing out from the haws. I am receiving many calls about this and, Frits Rizor, the Executive Director of the Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association, even sent me a text and image the other day – we are all plant pathologists!
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Insects Need Water Too!
A homeowner called the Extension office after noticing bees or yellow jackets were repeatedly visiting a small koi pond in the yard. What was going on? Well, insects, like all of us, need water too!
Many insects receive water from nectar or via their prey, but honeybees, bumblebees, wasps, and many other insects visit dewy leaves, mud puddles, bird baths, pools, pet water bowls, or even decorative koi ponds to refuel their H2O needs, especially in hot, dry weather. Bees can use water to regulate humidity in the hive and for evaporative cooling. Butterflies are often seen...
Beetles on the Potatoes in the Garden
While out looking at an oak tree earlier today in Lucas County, the property owner asked if I wanted to see his vegetable gardens - YES gardens! Corn, tomatoes, green beans, zucchini, potatoes and more!
The potatoes where being hit pretty hard by the feeding of the Colorado potato beetles (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) - both the adult and the larvae were present.
The homeowner had been hand picking but losing the battle so I joined in for a bit. There were many more eating to their hearts content in his several rows as he continued to "take...
Flatlining Linden
I was walking down the street in Warrenton, Virginia, it was such a fine sight to see,,,Well, not so much for a linden street tree. It was in fact a fine blue-sky day, but backlit against that sky, the leaves of this linden displayed serious leaf scorch along the outer portions of what should have been deep green leaves. The tree itself was not thriving, annual growth was poor, and the leaves looked as parched as the 95 degree southern day. The culprit? The trunk had a completely flat trunk where it entered the soil. This is suggestive of a stem-girdling root that is restricting...
Leaves of Three - Just Let it Be!
While people vary in their sensitivity to poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), repeat exposure to the oily resin called urushiol that is found in all parts of the plant, can sometimes increase a person's sensitivity over time.
Poison ivy is a very prolific plant and can be found almost anywhere. It is common to see this plant along roadsides, along fence lines, in the woods, at forest edges, and even in the landscape. A reason for this wide distribution is that fruit is eaten by wildlife like birds and deer. It is documented that over 60 species of...
The Ins and Outs of Bagworms
The title of this bygl-alert is actually a bit disingenuous, since Dave Shetlar, Joe Boggs, and Curtis Young, entomologists all, are better equipped on the ins and outs of Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis, the common bagworm, compared to me, a plant pathologist. The Latin binomial itself makes me a bit crazy, which I guess makes sense, since the family (group of related genera) for the common bagworm is – Psychidae. The actual ins and outs in this case actually refers to what my wife and I saw at a central Pennsylvania rest area this weekend. There were numerous...
Keep a Lookout for Porcelain-Berry
Porcelain-berry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata) is a deciduous, woody, perennial vine native to Northeast Asia. The leaves are alternate, simple 2 ½ to 5" long and wide with a heart-shaped base and 3 to 5 palmate lobes. The inconspicuous flowers are green-white and appear in June through August. The colorful grape-like fruits mature from September to October changing from pale lilac, to green to a bright blue.
Porcelain-berry grows and spreads quickly in partial to full sunlight. This vigorous invader grows well in moist soils and can often be found along ponds, stream banks and...
Mighty Mites Fell High Tunnel Tomatoes
Squiggly Lines on Magnolia Leaves
The highly visible handiwork of the magnolia serpentine leafmining caterpillar (Phyllocnistis magnoliella) is becoming evident magnolias in nurseries and landscapes in southern Ohio. The moth belongs to the leafmining family Gracillariidae. The tiny caterpillars of this aptly named moth feed close to the upper leaf epidermis, producing long, thin, serpentine mines that appear as silvery tracks snaking across the leaf surface.
Hosts for this leafminer include bigleaf, cucumber, southern, star, sweet bay, and umbrella magnolias. Large numbers of mines on a...
Big Friendly Giant Caterpillars
Finding giant silkworm caterpillars (family Saturniidae) or observing the resulting giant moths was once a common occurrence. Notable members of this moth family include Cecropia (Hyalophora Cecropia); Luna (Actias luna); Polyphemus (Antheraea polyphemus); Promethia (Callosamia promethean); and the impressively named Hickory Horned Devil (Citheronia regalis).
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Hidden Hornworms
Cockscomb Galls on Elm
Look closely at the leaves of slippery elm (= red elm) (Ulmus rubra); you may be lucky enough to spot the unusual looking elm cockscomb galls produced by the so-called elm cockscomb aphid, Colopha ulmicola. Although these galls are commonly mentioned in the literature, I've rarely seen them in southwest Ohio where elm sack galls produced by the aphid, Tetraneura ulmi, are the dominant aphid gall found on slippery elm.
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Wasp Pottery
I didn't need to travel far today to discover an entomological wonder. Attached to my porch railing was a tiny, clay pot; the handiwork of a Potter Wasp (Eumenes sp.). As their common name describes, potter wasps fashion small rounded jug-like nests out of clay, and they attach the nests to leaves, twigs, or to structures such as window seals or in my case, a porch railing.
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Liriodendron Leaf Yellowing
During the hot, dry conditions of summer, numerous trees will shed some of their leaves. A good example is tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera). I (think) I remember flying in from the Pacific Northwest in August one dry year and as we got close to landing, was able to pick out the tuliptrees due to their earlier than fall color yellow leaves interspersed on the tree among the more prevalent green.
Today, I was walking in Wooster in northeast Ohio, and the ground was littered with fallen leaves of tuliptree. It even seemed like some of them were sweating in the 90+...
Hot, Dry Conditions Reveal Fairy Rings
82nd Ohio Plant Diagnostic Workshop
From Dogwood diseases to doghouse damage, from beetlemania to bot rot, literally from Aster yellows to Zinnia powdery mildew, diagnostic workshops are where it’s at. Please come to Wooster in the late, late summer sun. Samples galore and clinic catharsis, a few short talks, a diagnostic walkabout at Secrest Arboretum six years after the storm, the Secrest sound system blaring out Townes van Zandt, Johnny Cash, and Leadbelly. Yowser. Registration information is coming soon, but for now highlight with stars and multicolored magic markers, from the Ohio State University Extension...
Teasel Flower Heads are on the Rise
Cutleaf Teasel (Dipsacus laciniatus) and Common Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) are native to Eurasia and North Africa and were originally introduced into the U.S. in the 1700s for use in the textile industry; the prickly dried seed heads were used to raise the nap on fabrics. Later introductions were for ornamental use with the persistent dried seed heads still used in flower arrangements. They are now found throughout the U.S. often creating havoc in naturalized areas.
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Flower Longhorn Beetles
True to their common name, Flower Longhorn Beetles (family Cerambycidae, subfamily Lepturinae) are found on flowers where they feed on pollen and nectar. They have a particular affinity for the umbel flowers produced my members of the carrot/parsley/celery family (Apiaceae, formerly Umbelliferae). I always look closely at Queen Anne's lace which is where I found the bachelor beetle shown at the beginning of this report and the cavorting couple shown below. Flower longhorn beetles are considered plant pollinators although little is known of the extent of their impact.
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Pine Tube Moth
Individual Pine Tube Moth (Argyrotaenia pinatubana) caterpillars use silk to form a hollow tube by binding together 10 - 20 needles. They then move up and down their silk-lined tube to feed on the tips of the bound needles. Once they've almost eaten themselves (literally) out of house and home, the caterpillars will move to another set of needles to repeat their tube-making needle-feeding behavior. The caterpillars eventually pupate within their needle tubes.
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Dogwood Powdery Mildew: Signs and Symptoms
Like many powdery mildew diseases, high relative humidity but not high rainfall is a key to dogwood powdery mildew, caused by the fungus Erysiphe pulchra. There is a good bit of this disease this year in northeast Ohio, which is quite dry, and yesterday I took a look at some flowering dogwoods (Cornus florida) growing in pots in trials. There was a good bit of fungal mycelial growth and spores en masse evident on the foliage (what is called the “sign” of the pathogen), which is something everyone is familiar with for many powdery mildew diseases. Good examples are lilac...
Maackia Madness: Two For One
The 4th Question of Plant Problem Diagnostics (http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/floriculture/images/20_Questions_on_Plant_Diagnosis.pdf) is “What Do You See?” in terms of symptoms of plant damage. The 6th Question (after “What is the Overall Health?) is a return to the idea of symptoms with “What Exactly Do You See?” I was reminded of this the other day when looking at an Amur maackia tree in my backyard. The tree foliage is mostly above arms-length, but I could see that Japanese beetle flyers had no problem, munching with their chewing mouthparts, leaving sections of leaves partly...
Alert Reissued: Cicada Killers
I posted a BYGL Alert on July 20 regarding Cicada Killer Wasps (Sphecius speciosus) cruising lawns and landscapes in southwest Ohio. However, since that time, I've been slammed with reports and questions concerning these "giant wasps." So, I'm reissuing my cicada killer report; it appears there are some very heavy localized populations.
These large wasps are the nemesis of Dog-Day Cicadas (Tibicen spp.), so it is no coincidence that they appear on the scene when dog-day cicadas emerge. Cicada killers are the largest wasps found in Ohio, measuring 1 1/...
I Speak for the Milkweed Tussock Moth!
I came across early instar milkweed tussock moth caterpillars (Euchaetes egle) feeding on their namesake host yesterday and they reminded me of an e-mail message I received last year. The message was from a well-meaning monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) enthusiast who asked how they could control tussock caterpillars so they wouldn't compete with monarchs. I was aghast. We celebrate the rejection of a monarchy each July 4!
It can't be denied that milkweed tussock moth...
Hen and Chicks ... Blooming?
Last week, as I was walking into the office one morning, I suddenly noticed what appeared to be a strange swelling coming up out of the center of one of the succulents, commonly called “hen and chicks” (Sempervivium spp.) I decided to keep an eye on it as I passed daily since the plants were clustered at the sidewalk by the entrance.
After a couple of days, it began to appear to me that it was going to be a stalk of some kind. In rapt amazement, I watched as I saw flower buds form on that stalk, which was about 6” tall. In all of my plant gawking years, I have never...
Birdsfoot Trefoil Foiling Landscapes and Naturalized Areas
Traveling through southwest Ohio this weekend, I noticed ever-expanding patches of birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) along roadways, in landscapes, and in home and commercial lawns. Yet another story of dueling plant cultivation interests. This perennial, spreading, herbaceous legume is native to Europe and Asia. It was introduced into North America for use as a forage crop harvested for hay or used in pastures. Plants can survive and thrive in a wide range of soil and environmental conditions that would limit the use of other forage crops such as alfalfa. Indeed, you...
Strafing Horse Flies
While taking photos today of willow pinecone galls for a BYGL Alert, I was constantly strafed by a maniacal horse fly (Tananus spp.). These hefty flies belong to the family Tabanidae which is the largest family of bloodsucking insects with over 4,500 horsefly species known worldwide. There are several species in Ohio ranging in size from 3/8 - 1 1/8" in length. The crazed fly buzzing me was T. abdominalis. It doesn't have a common name other than #@%%# fly! At least, that's what I called it.
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Weird Willow Gall
Arguably, one of the weirdest galls found in Ohio is produced on willow by the gall-midge, Rhabdophaga strobiloides (family Cecidomyiidae). The gall's appearance isn't weird; it looks like a pine cone. However, finding a "pine cone" on a willow is weird. As the common name implies, the Willow Pinecone Gall, which is sometimes called the "pine cone willow gall," closely resembles a pine cone with closed seed scales.
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Foliage Foretells (F)all
This spring I wrote of sour gum/black gum/tupelo/pepperidge (Nyssa sylvatica) when I noticed for the first time that I had a male tree (with stamens) and a female tree (with pistils) in my back field. Until then I thought of them as just two tupelos. Well, the bird-beloved result of their union have now resulted in greenish fruits which soon will be blue-purple. So, flowers, fruits, now a word about – foliage. Tupelo leaves are wonderfully lustrous green in spring and summer before turning intense scarlets, oranges, and purples in fall. But, wait, the time has come, as every...
Cultivate Hydrangeas
Hydrangea is a genus of great range and beauty. Panicle types such as PeeGee hydrangea. Mopheads. Climbing hydrangeas. Oakleaf hydrangeas of beautiful panicle flowers and wonderful fall foliage. Delicate pinks and blues, sometimes on the same plant. Electric colors to make a big splash. Hydrangeas were on display, revealing a high level of horticultural expertise at AmericanHort’s Cultivate’16 this past week as well as in the horticulturally laissez-faire world of the ChatScape, where my daughter Sara took a picture of the creams and pinks of an oakleaf hydrangea panicle today...
Japanese Beetle Centennial
Japanese beetles on a linden leaf or on a rose leaf or flower - to this we are accustomed. On certain plants though, such as cut-leaf rhamnus or as shown here from Wooster, Ohio on dawnredwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides); somehow it seems like they do not have enough of a perch or dining area. Perhaps it is the small-plates phenomenon. At any rate, the chewing-mouthparts damage here is quite familiar and Popillia japonica damage to the turf and ornamental industry is huge. In fact, a 2002 paper by Dan Potter and David Held of the University of Kentucky (Annu. Rev....
Petunias, Part Deux
Two weeks ago, I wrote a paean to petunias and how they liven up the street scene in Wooster Ohio. This week, I got a second dose while traversing the trade show floor at Cultivate’16, the summer festival of flowers and floricultural and all horticultural education put on by American Hort at the Columbus Convention Center. There were of course many more attractions as well as petunias. Yet, this among many, all my life I have waited for flowers such as these. Below are just a few to whet your petunia palette with what is here now and with what is to come of new varieties. Get thee to...
Queendom of the Spiders
The 1977 sci-fi movie, Kingdom of the Spiders, that stared William Shatner got it wrong. Not with tapping Captain Kirk for the lead role, but with the movie's title: with rare exceptions, only female spiders spin species-typical webs. It's still a pretty good movie even with the 1970s era special effects.
Of course, the downside with such arachnophobic movies is what happens when movie viewers venture forth in the morning. Ohioans may be surprised at the large number of spiders living near at hand when heavy morning dews accentuate their gossamer creations. ...
Cypress Twig Galls Adorn Baldcypress
Walnut Caterpillars on the Prowl
Walnut caterpillars (Datana integerrima) are native insects meaning that year-to-year population densities are usually kept in check by predators, parasitoids, and pathogens (the 3-Ps). However, we occasionally see "outbreak years" when caterpillar numbers surge ahead of the combined natural suppression provided by the 3-Ps. I'm not suggesting we are experiencing an outbreak season, but walnut caterpillars are certainly not hard to find! In fact, I've come across the characteristic patchy defoliation produced by colonies of these caterpillars on their namesake host in two...
Elongate Hemlock Scale
The non-native Elongate Hemlock Scale (Fiorinia externa), which is sometimes called "Fiornia scale," occurs on the underside of needles and on cones. It may infest its namesake host as well as on other conifers including firs, Douglas-fir, spruces, cedars, pines, and yews. The scale was accidently introduced to the U.S. from Japan and was first found in New York, NY, in 1908. Currently, it's found in much of the native range for eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and Carolina hemlock (T. caroliniana). Where it overlaps with the non-native Hemlock Woolly...
Yellowpoplar Weevil Damage on Magnolia
Yellowpoplar weevil adults (Odontopus calceatus) causes feeding damage on tuliptree (yellow-poplar, tulip-poplar, tuliptree), magnolia and sassafras, resulting in holes in leaves, aptly described as resembling “curved rice grains” by many fact sheets, including an excellent one by the University of Kentucky. After adults mate in late spring, eggs hatch and larvae “mine” areas of the leaves, resulting in a scorched appearance of the new growth of the tree or shrub (certain magnolias). Although this damage is not considered important to plant health, it may significantly affect the...
Bloodsucking Conenose Found: Don't Panic!
I met Cindy Meyer at her OSU Extension, Butler County, office yesterday to take pictures of a bloodsucking conenose (Triatoma sanguisuga) that had been collected by a concerned homeowner. This is the second time I've taken pictures of this "kissing bug" species in Ohio. The first time was in 2010 when I found a specimen crawling on the outside of my home in Butler County. According to a paper published in the Ohio Journal of Science in 1960 titled, "Arthropods of Medical Importance in Ohio," the bloodsucking conenose is found in southern Ohio. So, finding the...
Diagnostic Walk-About Highlight: Mystery Solved
A mystery that has bedeviled me for several years was finally solved this past Monday thanks to participants in the Southwest Ohio BYGLive! Diagnostic Walk-About and my Walk-About partner, Julie Crook. As I reported in my July 1, 2016, BYGL Alert! (Coneflower Calamities: Round 1), Sunflower Head-Clipping Weevil (Haplorhynchites aeneus) females clip the flowers of coneflowers as well as members of the Silphium genus. Indeed, the weevil is sometimes called the "Silphium weevil" owing to its strong association with plants in this genus.
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Dueling Insects on Oak Leaf
One of the challenges of plant problem diagnostics is that Nature is sometimes less tidy than we might wish. Pests do not confine their damage to plants one at a time, and also the different stages of an insect may cause different types of damage (symptoms). Oak shothole leafminer (Agromyza viridula) adult flies damage oak leaf buds with their ovipositors. The holes from this damage expand as the leaf expands, causing the characteristically parallel holes on either side of the unfolding leaf. Later larvae of this insect cause leaf-mining damage shown as browned areas in the...
The Table is Set and the Birds are Feasting!
While spending some time earlier this week at Sharon Woods Metro Park, one of the Columbus and Franklin County's Metro Parks, I had the opportunity to capture some shots of a downy woodpecker flittering about in an small alder tree. I was playing around with a new camera and was 'zoomed' in rather far when as I took the pictures. It wasn't until I returned to the office that I realized the downy woodpecker was doing much more than 'flittering about". It was actually feasting on woolly alder aphids!
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Got Bats in the Belfry? Here's What to Do!
March through September is the active time for bats in Ohio. Ohio’s 11 species spend their summer hours like every other species in Ohio – feeding and reproducing. There is no question Ohioans benefit from the feeding of bats – a single bat can consume over 1000 mosquito-sized insects in one night.
The reproduction side of things however, can sometimes cause an issue…especially if the result is a colony of bats in the home. Two Ohio bat species will commonly share living space with humans; the little brown bat and the big brown bat. The females of both of these species form...
Turkey Tales
My wife and I live in the country in Wayne County in northeast Ohio, and enjoy the sights and sounds of wild-life. Coyotes provide their weird series of moans, whistles, yips, and howls – truly cool. Equally cool we have a turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) hen and two poults that waltz through our yard periodically this summer. This is much to our delight, except for areas of the lawn (such as it is with our dry period this summer) that they ruffle up, presumably in their omnivorous belief that “We Have The Meat” (insects and millipedes) and vegetables (acorns, roots, almost...
Annual Dog-Day Cicada Emergence
Annual dog-day cicadas (Tibicen spp.; family Cicadidae) are emerging in southwest Ohio. Like periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.; family Cicadidae), these cicadas also develop underground with the nymphs sucking juices from tree roots. However, periodical cicadas require 13 or 17 years to complete their development with adults emerging en masse in the spring, usually beginning around mid-to-late May and ending in June. Indeed, eastern Ohio, parts of West Virginia, and the extreme southwest part of Pennsylvania experienced the emergence of Brood V 17-year periodical...
Annual Flaming of Black Locust Trees
This past Friday, I observed heavy damage on black locust caused by the locust leafminer beetle (Odontota dorsalis) along State Rt. 50 in Ross and Vinton Counties. The captivating reddish-brown leaf coloration caused by this beetle is often a familiar sight to travelers motoring on Ohio's interstate highways. Indeed, black locust may be identified at highway speeds because they are the "flamed" trees in the tree lines bordering the highway.
...
Buzz-Bombing Beetles
Periodical Cicada "Flagging:" Leaves at Tips of Branches are Turning Brown
Round 1 of the Periodical Cicada:
The emergence of Brood V of the 17-year periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.) lived up to all expectations within the "cicada zone" in eastern Ohio, parts of West Virginia, and a very small part of southwest Pennsylvania. Adults emerged in huge numbers, they climbed trees or flew to new trees, males serenaded cicada females with cacophonous songs only appreciated by the females, and mated females inserted eggs into stems. The cicada adults are now dead and gone.
...
Holy Heck Batman! What Happened to My Asters!!!!
I haven't been in my perennial garden for a few days so when I went in last night to do some weeding, I was shocked by the damage to my asters caused by the chrysanthemum lacebug. Holy heck is a toned-down version of what I really said. These lacebugs had totally obliterated the three plants (two different cultivars) in my beds. My only option at this time is to cut them to the ground and hope we get enough rain to push new growth so that they bloom this year sometime before Christmas!
...
Are You Checking Your Arborvitaes (and other Evergreens) for Bagworms?
Have you looked closely at your arborvitaes and other bagworm-susceptible evergreens such as Juniper? Bagworms are a little easier to see now as the needle clad "bags" are beginning to turn brown. These caterpillars can creep up on you and strip a plant before you know it so keep your eyes out and regularly inspect. I have been watching a nearby arborvitae and noticed that the bags on this particular plant in Clark County are anywhere from 1/4" to 1" in size. As they get bigger, they are much easier to spot. When bagworms first hatch, it's even a challenge to the untrained eye to find...
Poison Hemlock Going to Seed
Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) is among the most deadly plants in North America. This non-native invasive weed contains highly toxic piperidine alkaloid compounds, including coniine and gamma-coniceine, which cause respiratory failure and death when ingested by mammals.
TOXICITY:
Poison hemlock is native to North Africa and Eurasia including Greece. It's the plant behind Socrates' famous last words, "I drank what?" Or, maybe it was, "don't try this at home." Just kidding. In fact, it was the plant used to poison...
Ash Leaf Spot
There is no doubt that treatments with systemic insecticides can protect ash trees from the ravages of emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) (EAB). However, insecticide treatments against EAB will not produce super ash trees. Treated trees are still susceptible to a range of pest and disease problems that were observed on ash trees long before EAB arrived on the scene. This includes fungal leaf spots.
Fungal leaf spots on ash may be caused by two different fungi: Mycosphaerella effigurata and M. fraxinicola. The diseases associated with...
Guignardia Leaf Blotch Red Alert
Guignardia leaf blotch of Aescelus produced by the fungus, Guignardia aesculi, is becoming evident on buckeyes and horsechestnuts in many areas of Ohio. The fungal spores require moisture to spread to new growth in the spring and to germinate to initiate foliar infections. Infections and resulting symptoms then progress rapidly during warm summer months.
...
Grasshoppers Abound
During our BYGL Inservice call this past Tuesday; Pam Bennett (Clark County) and Amy Stone (Lucas County) reported observing high grasshopper populations in southwest and northwest Ohio, respectively. This is the time of year when most grasshoppers are still nymphs which may make identification a challenge. However, the four most common grasshopper species found in Ohio landscapes include the Differential Grasshopper (Melanoplus differentialis), Red-Legged Grasshopper (M. femurrubrum), Green-Legged Grasshopper (M. viridipes), and the Carolina Locust (Dissosteira...
Assassin Bug Nymphs
Insects belonging to the Hemipteran family Reduviidae are collectively known as assassin bugs. The family includes over 160 species in North America and all are meat eaters. The common name for the family clearly describes how these stealthy hunters make a living. The bugs are equipped with piercing-sucking mouthparts that are used to inject paralyzing and pre-digestive enzymes into their prey. They then suck the essence-of-insect from their hapless victims.
Assassin bugs pass through three developmental stages: eggs, nymphs, and adults. This is known as "incomplete...
Japanese Beetles Making a Comeback
I have received numerous reports and pictures from southern and central Ohio of heavy localized Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) populations. Infestations are not widespread; however, where they are occurring beetles are being found in high numbers feeding on a wide range of hosts from favorite foods such wild grape, linden trees, and roses to some unusual hosts such as oak. Dan Potter (Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky) has also reported high populations in Lexington, KY.
...Bagworms on Deciduous Trees
Common bagworm (Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis) populations crashed a few years ago in Ohio with this general defoliator becoming a rare find. This changed last season with significant localized populations observed in many areas of the state and the trend appears to be continuing this season. I've recently found several heavy infestations in southern Ohio with significant damage now becoming very evident.
It is a common misconception that bagworms only eat evergreens; however, the caterpillars can feed on over 130 different species of plants including a wide...
I Love Rust: Sometimes
Rust diseases of plants may of course be devastating, from black stem rust of wheat which contributed to famine after World War I to cedar apple rusts which must be controlled by orchardists and (sometimes) landscapers today. Yet, it must be admitted, they are fascinating. They can be autoecious (occurring on only one host plant) such as may-apple rust commonly seen in spring woodlands, but often they must complete their life cycles on wildly different hosts, such as wheat & barberry, juniper & apple.
About a month ago I came upon a rust disease I had not...
Imported Willow Leaf Beetle: Look for 2nd Generation Larvae
Second generation larvae of the imported willow leaf beetles (Plagiodera versicolora) are munching the leaves of wild and cultivated willows in southwest Ohio. This native of northern Europe was first found in the U.S. in 1915. Since that time, it has become well established throughout most of the eastern and Midwestern states. This beetle has a history of periodically achieving population outbreak densities and causing significant defoliation of its namesake host in Ohio.
...
O Rose Thou Art Sick!
With apologies to William Blake and his 1794 publication of the deep-meaning “The Sick Rose” poem, it occurred to me that I was indeed deliberately trying to weaken the pictured rose (multiflora) by mowing in my back lot and continually chopping off the terminal shoot of this rose. In my case, I see this mowing as a metaphor for typically improper topping that I will negatively highlight in my pruning talk at the Cultivate 2016 program a week hence. For trees, top not, you clod-loppers: it releases adjacent buds resulting in hormonal imbalance and tufted, weak growth.
...Name This Tree
Probably a decade ago, I brought home a containerized tree, probably from a Secrest Arboretum Plant Discovery Day sale, perhaps as a gift from a friend. It was neglected in its container at the side of our house in northeast Ohio until my wife elbowed me into planting it on a day with little time and I stuck it a few feet away near some old spruce trees. I mostly forgot about it, maybe once a year wondering if this was a volunteer that had sprouted up or if I had planted it, until last year, at about 15 feet tall (yes, I am that unobservant and lazy), when I noticed this tree’s yellow...
Wanted: Butterfly Weed
This native 1- to 3-foot herbaceous perennial, Asclepias tuberosa (not to be confused with butterfly bush, Buddleia) provides that fairly uncommon sight along roadsides, in meadows and, increasingly in gardens – a bright orange flower. This caught my eye so dramatically decades ago that I had to pull over while driving an interstate highway in Iowa, against the increasingly urgent verbotens of the Herr Professor in the passenger seat. Just had to take a look.
It is sometimes called orange milkweed, and Asclepias is a genus with many species that...
The Beringian Land Bridge and the Sumac Gall Aphid
The bladder-like galls produced the Sumac Gall Aphid (Melaphis rhois) are just beginning to develop on the leaflet midveins of its namesake host in southwest Ohio. The galls are currently light green and so small they may be difficult to detect. However, as the season progresses, the galls will eventually become more evident growing to 1/2 - 1" in length and becoming variegated with areas that are greenish-white bounded by areas that are mottled reddish-pink.
...Grape Phylloxera
Every time I see the bristly, lumpy round galls produced by the grape phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae) on the lower leaf surfaces of wild grape (Vitis spp.), I'm reminded of the story of how an American saved the French (and European) wine industry. Some may consider it a return on the favor for the French making it possible for us to have something to celebrate on the 4th of July.
...
Chicory is in Bloom
Chicory is a weed that is in bloom in Ohio right now. It can be seen growing abundantly beside roads and highways. It can also be found in lawns, pastures, fields, and waste places. Originating in the Mediterranean chicory was distributed throughout much of the world where it was grown for centuries as a salad green. It escaped from cultivation in North America and has naturalized and spread throughout southern Canada and the U.S.
...Regal Katsuratrees
Katsuratree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) is one of my favorite trees, providing an array of foliar colors throughout the season and a sometimes elusive, but wondrous aroma of crème brulee on fallen Autumn leaves. I could go on and on, but it is better to hear from the master.
Michael Dirr in his “Manual of Woody Landscape Plants” writes of katsuratree: “New leaves emerge a beautiful reddish purple and gradually change to bluish green in summer; fall color varies from yellow to apricot...leaf is shaped like a redbud (Cercis) leaf...the senescing (fall-coloring)...
Poison Ivy Leaf Gall Mite
Coneflower Calamities: Round 3
Stunted and deformed coneflower plants are symptoms of Aster Yellows. Of the three coneflower problems I'm presenting in this series, Aster Yellows is the most serious and its control requires the most extreme measures. This is a serious, chronic disease that occurs throughout North America and may affect over 300 species of plants in 38 families including a number of vegetables such as carrots and potatoes. However, as its common name implies, the disease most occurs on members of the aster family (Asteraceae (= Compositae); coneflowers appear to be particularly susceptible.
...Coneflower Calamities: Round 2
Tufted flower parts that rise rosette-like from coneflower cones are produced by the Coneflower Rosette Mite. The mite is an eriophyid (family Eriophyidae) that has yet to be taxonomically categorized, so it has no scientific name or approved common name. However, the mite is generally referred to as the Coneflower Rosette Mite based on the damage that it causes to coneflowers.
...
Coneflower Calamities: Round 1
I share Pam Bennett's love for coneflowers; she highlighted the delightful range of cultivars in her BYGL Alert! posted on June 30. Of course, as she also noted, mass plantings of this wonderful native may suffer from occasional problems. I'm covering three of the more serious coneflower challenges that may threaten coneflowers in Ohio landscapes in a 3-part series under the banner, "Coneflower Calamities." Fortunately, each of these problems can be effectively managed through accurate early identification and focused management options.
...Many Diagnostic Choices for Tomato Wilt
This was one of many tomato questions submitted to Ask an Expert and Ask a Master Gardener, OSU Extension's on-line service providing Ohioans answers to horticulture questions and other topics. This started a discussion on how providing a definitive answer is not always possible. Even when more details are provided, one diagnostic solution is not always the answer; there can be several things all happening at the same time. In this particular case, we reviewed the many possible causes for tomato wilt. These include:
- lack of water,
- tomato spotted wilt...
Petunias!
I walked through downtown Wooster, Ohio earlier today and was reminded once more of our debt to petunia breeders and petuniacal horticulturists of the past decade or two. Wow, planters and hanging baskets of incredible colors, shapes and sustained beauty throughout the summer. It’s bloomin’ crazy! The genus Petunia and its cousin the “mini-petunia” genus Calibrachoa rule. Both genera are native to South America and are in the Solanaceae (the nightshade family) with tell-tale funnel-like flowers: Some taxonomists even classify the two genera in the genus Petchoa...
Coneflowers Starting to Hit Peak Bloom
I love coneflowers and never seem to tire of all of the different cultivars on the market. In central Ohio Echinacea cultivars are beginning to hit their peak bloom period and will continue to show off until late summer. Some of the pests to watch for this season include Japanese beetles (of course) as well as one relatively new pest that has been wreaking havoc on coneflowers, the SUNFLOWER HEAD-CLIPPING WEEVIL. This pest usually shows up in July, damaging the flower stems, just below...
Cucumber Beetles Causing Damage
While inspecting my garden the other day, I discovered that my cucumber leaves had some tiny holes in them. Upon further inspection I discovered a few striped cucumber beetles. Populations seem to be moderate on my plants at this time in the Clark County area, but I am not taking any chances.
Both striped and spotted cucumber beetles can cause serious damage on plants such as cucumbers and melons. In addition, I have seen considerable damage to perennial flowers when beetle populations are high. I tend to have more trouble with the stripped beetle as opposed to the...
Squirrels Debarking Trees
Earlier this week, Dr. Mike Klahr (Extension Agent, Horticulture, Boone County Cooperative Extension) shared photographs sent to him by a homeowner of bark stripping damage caused by squirrels on a honeylocust in a landscape in Boone County, KY. Thanks to Mike, he and I were able to visit the site yesterday so I could take photos to illustrate this report. We found that all of the debarking damage seemed to be focused on a single tree; we could not find damage on other trees on the property as well as on trees in neighboring properties including on a large oak that had a squirrel leaf-...
Cicadas and Conifers
Last week, driving along I-71 in northeast Ohio with an entomologist friend Dan Herms, we noticed small areas of browning on trees, including honeylocusts, that we passed while I was driving the legal speed limit. Unthinkingly, on the fly, I mentioned that it looked like mimosa webworm damage was showing up. Politely, Dan pointed out that that the many species of trees, from oaks to honeylocusts, from hickories to maples and many more, were exhibiting flagging from – cicada damage. Duhh, having seen and heard cicadas in this Medina/Lorain County area, I should have known. Damage on these...
Red Milkweed Beetles
Beautiful Beetles on Dogbane
Earlier today, I came across one of the most beautiful beetles found in Ohio. The beetle lacks a common name, but is generally referred to as the "Dogbane Beetle" because it primarily feeds on dogbane. The beetle's scientific name is Chrysochus auratus, which loosely translates to "made of gold." Indeed, these beautiful iridescent beetles may look like gleaming spots of gold on the leaves of dogbane, or they may blaze with an array of other shimmering colors depending on your angle to the beetle. A slight change in viewing angle will cause the beetles to glisten with multiple...
Suction-Cups on the Bottom of Oak Leaves
I'm always amazed at how the population densities of certain gall-making wasps on oak seem to synchronize over wide geographical areas so that large numbers of the same gall appears over a wide region. I don't know how they do it. These are very tiny insects and they have an intimate relationship with their host trees; it's best for them not to stray too far.
Oak button galls on white oak are very common this season throughout southwest Ohio; I even spotted some on oaks in central Indiana. The galls are produced by the gall wasp, Neuroterus umbilicatus (...
Myrmecophiles on Display
Quercus Quest
A great value added travel joy to the nature and nurture plants-persons within us is trying to figure out the identity of unfamiliar plants. At a Vermont rest area this weekend there were some beautiful oaks (Quercus spp.) with long, maybe 10” long, leaves. They were in the white oak group, which is a group of oaks with rounded leaf lobes and acorns that develop in one year. Oaks in this group do tend to hybridize readily with each other, but not hybridize with the red/black oak group that have bristle hairs on the tips of the leaf lobes, and which take two years to develop...
Marsonnina Leaf Spot Diagnostics
Marsonnina leaf spot of aspen is something I used to see out West when I lived and worked in Colorado, and maybe once or twice in Ohio, but the example I saw yesterday in Vermont was more about diagnostics. As you can see from this image the Marsonnina fungus causes considerable leaf blotch damage on aspen leaves. Note the pattern however. The fungus overwinters on twigs and buds and then infects leaves during cool, wet conditions at first leaf emergence. Typically, and as seen here, damage is less or non-existent on subsequent leaf emergence. This pattern is common with many (...
Ailanthus Webworm Moths
Ailanthus webworm moths (Atteva aurea) are flying to porch lights in southwest Ohio. In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful moths found in Ohio both because of their coloration and because of what their caterpillars eat. Caterpillars of this ermine moth (Family Yponomeutidae) feed exclusively on the non-native, highly invasive Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima).
...Sneaky Caterpillars
There are over 1,400 species of moths in North America that belong to the family Geometridae; it's one of our largest families of moths and butterflies. Yet, their caterpillars often remain undetected until missing parts of leaves draws attention to these sneaky general defoliators. Look closely at the above image: can you see the caterpillar?
I took this picture after first seeing the leaf damage then finding the caterpillar; however, I almost completely overlooked the culprit. That's the M.O. of these caterpillars. Their camouflaged coloration and sneaky behavior...
Japanese Beetles are on the Wing
This past Thursday, I posted that Northern and Southern Masked Chafers (Cyclocephala borealis and C. lurida) were appearing around my porch lights at night in southwest Ohio. I noted that owing to consistently low Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) populations in recent years, the two masked chafers have largely supplanted Japanese beetles as the dominant "white grub producing" beetles in my part of the state. However, that may change this season.
...Crabapples For All... Seasons!
Crabapple Scab in Ohio
Apple scab disease, caused by the fungus Venturia inaequalis, is a common problem resulting in major aesthetic damage to many crabapple types (taxa). However, there is a tremendous range of susceptibility of these crabapple taxa to scab, and this can make all the difference to a landscape designer, a nurseryman, a homeowner, a garden center professional or Master Gardener volunteer making recommendations for plant selection. Got leaves, got ugly leaves, got beautiful leaves – all are options.
This is why the International Ornamental Crabapple Society has...
Crazy Caterpillars Consuming Crabapples!
As Jim Chatfield and I wandered through the “Crablandia” plot evaluating and photographing crabapples today, we noticed multiple stages of the fall webworm munching on some of the foliage of the trees. We first noticed the initial stages of the fall webworm caterpillars, which were small enough to have congregated on a single leaf.
...Light, Camera - Crabapple!
It is always a revelation when taking pictures, when evaluating plants from catalogue photos, or just in terms of enjoying the nuances of a plant – to realize the importance of light. Backlit photos, the upper and lower surfaces of leaves, outlining against the bright blue sky: come forth and see the light! Seen here are three views of the same tree, ‘Royal Raindrops’ crabapple.
...
Apple Scab, Rust and Frog-eye Leaf Spot- Which is What?
As Jim Chatfield and I were out in the “Crablandia” plot today, we noticed the onset of multiple foliar diseases. Many tree lovers at this time of year start to panic as some of the crabapple leaves begin to turn yellow and drop. They are often frustrated because they were told that the crabapple they chose was scab resistant, but it still gets spots, the leaves turn yellow and then they fall off. That’s the Apple Scab fungus right… Well, maybe so and maybe not!
All of these fungal diseases cause spots as a result of their infections of leaf tissue and all of them result in the...
Fireblight, Crabapple, Crablandia. One Strike...
We were out in our Crablandia plots at the Secrest Arboretum of OSU’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster today. One mission was to check for bacterial fireblight disease on the 76 crabapple taxa in our replicated, randomized plot. This spring we had heard of and seen some fireblight, on crabapples and other related rosaceous plants such as pears elsewhere, and we have susceptible crabapples in the trials so why not here? Yet, cultivar after cultivar, early blooming and late blooming types - no fireblight. Wait, wait, we see one shoot with the tell-tale shepherd’s...
Cicada Damage Appearing in NE Ohio
Reports of branch die back in many trees are coming into the Medina Extension Office from around the county. These brown patches are most likely the result of periodical cicadas laying eggs in the tender branches of trees. Cicadas prefer laying their eggs in young twigs about 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter. To lay their eggs, cicada stab a needle-like ovipositor into the branch that can cause these tender twigs to break, wither, and die. The resulting symptom is browning leaves at branch tips known as "flags" or "flagging". While larger trees have enough foliage to withstand tip dieback...
Fertilizer Injury on Dogwood
This digital image of dogwood arrived with the e-mailer asking if the problem was leaf scorch. Damage seemed too great and too complete to be simple leaf scorch due to some transient heat stress. Further information indicated that someone had suggested that the plant needed potash and the e-mailer applied it and then asked if too much could be applied. Well, yes. As with anything, even something as useful as fertilizer, “the dose makes the poison.”
The sender had applied 2 pounds of a 6 pound bag of a consumer-product potash (0-0-60) fertilizer. So at 2 pounds...
Cottony Maple Scale in Northwest Ohio
Earlier this week, Eric Richer (OSU Extension, Fulton County) sent me an image of a maple with almost all of the branches covered with Cottony Maple Scale females that were extruding their elongated, white, cottony ovisacs. The oval-shaped dark brown females remained highly visible with their ovisacs peeking out from beneath their bodies. The ovisacs expand to look like 1/4" diameter cotton balls on the branches of their host plants. The scale has a very wide host range which includes their namesake host as well as ash, basswood/linden, black locust, dogwood, elm, euonymus, hackberry,...
The Great Grub Switcheroo
Northern Masked Chafer (Cyclocephala borealis) and Southern Masked Chafer (C. lurida) adults are appearing around porchlights at night in southern Ohio. It is common for people to assume that white grubs found beneath turfgrass in Ohio are Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) grubs. This is no longer a safe bet. Japanese beetles have largely been replaced by these two chafers as the dominant "white grub producing" beetles in many areas of Ohio including the southern part of the state. Indeed, I asked an experienced lawn care company last season to collect...
Oak Lace Bug Stippling Damage Whitens White Oak Leaves
I received several images of white oak leaves from a homeowner who wanted to know why the leaves appeared bleached. The culprit was Oak Lace Bug (Corythucha arcuata). This lace bug lives on the undersides of oak leaves where they use their piercing/sucking mouth parts to suck juices from the leaves. As with all lace bugs, their feeding produces tiny yellow or whitish leaf spots (stippling) that may coalesce to produce large, white patches on the upper leaf surface. Eventually, the damage becomes yellow-to-copper colored and the overall damage can produce early leaf drop....
White Pine Weevil Damage is Becoming Evident
White pine weevil (Pissodes strobi) larval feeding damage is now becoming very evident in southern Ohio. This means that localized weevil populations may be reduced by removing and destroying infested conifer terminals. Overwintered females deposit eggs in early spring in the terminals of a wide range of conifers including Douglas-fir, all spruces, as well as Scotch, jack, red, pitch, and eastern white pines. After the eggs hatch, the resulting white, legless, slightly curved, grub-like larvae tunnel downward just beneath the bark feeding on phloem tissue until pupation. The...
Translucent Oak Galls
One of my all-time favorite plant galls is the appropriately named Translucent Oak Gall. The galls are produced by the gall-wasp, Amphibolips nubilipennis (family Cynipidae). They arise from a leaf vein on the lower leaf surface and measure around 1/2 - 3/4" in diameter. Their shape and color causes them to strongly resemble tiny, pink balloons or pink grapes hanging beneath the leaves of red, scarlet, and black oaks.
...
Orange Rust on Thornless Blackberries
Recently in Northeast Ohio, the fungal disease known as Orange Rust is beginning to rear its unique, but strange symptoms on brambles, which are also known as cane berries. Specifically, this fungus most often infects black and purple raspberries and sometimes is found on thornless blackberries, but is not known to infect red raspberries.
For me personally, this is the first time in my 24 years as an Extension Educator, that I have seen this disease on thornless blackberries. Most often, this fungus is evident on either thorned blackberries or purple raspberries. It is...
Maple: Not Anthracnose
On June 18 I sent a byglalert about maple anthracnose diagnosed earlier this spring. The plant disease symptoms (see below) for that byglalert item included discolored blotches on the foliage which coalesced along leaf veins. The sample above for this alert today, sent from OSU Extension in Morrow County, show symptoms of leaf discoloration between the veins. This is the classic difference between physiological leaf scorch (this case) and anthracnose fungal disease (the previous case). The difference is all in the details. Physiological leaf scorch can be caused by many...
All In
SAVE THE DATE - 89th Annual Green Industry Short Course
Save these Dates - December 5, 6, 7 and 8, 2016!
The 89th Annual OSU Green Industry Short Course is partnering the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation (OTF) to present cutting-edge education on a wide range of horticultural topics at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Four days of amazing programming includes a pre-conference session called Trees on Tap on December 5th. Don't miss this opportunity for networking, up-to-date information and continuing education credits. Mark your calendars and save December 5, 6, 7 and 8th now and we will send you updates on the...
Gypsy Moth Caterpillars Continue to Munch in NW Ohio
See-through-trees? What could it be?
Upon closer inspection of this building's foundation planting in Toledo, Ohio, the crabapple and beech trees were being fed upon by gypsy moth catepillars. It appears they began their feeding frenzy on the crabapple, and once those leaves were eaten, they quickly moved out and began feeding on the beech trees on either side. What you don't see in the photo are several spruce trees that are also a caterpillar favorite. The tree that was missing at this location and is the caterpillar's favorite, is the oak. But even without its...
Even in Scarlet and Gray country, these Maize and Blue planes are welcome
This is a Media Release from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Brett Gates, Deputy Communication Director .
As Columbus commuters and residents go about their routines on Tuesday, June 21, they are likely to notice these yellow airplanes gracing the skies of the capital city:
The Ohio Department of Agriculture wants to make folks aware that these airplanes are fighting back against the gypsy moth, a pest that can wreak havoc on over 300 different types of our trees and shrubs while feeding on their foliage. The gypsy moth has been such a pest...
Goose No Fly Zone During Molting
At the end of June and into the first few weeks of July, something happens to Ohio's goose population. Homeowners that have been harassing (or scaring) geese off their property may notice that now, the geese just aren't flying away. There is a reason your property has become a no-fly zone - the adults are molting their flight feathers. This process takes a few weeks during which, the adults are unable to fly. Couple that with a clutch of young goslings that are not able to spread their wings yet, and you have several sitting ducks (or in this case, geese!). Unfortunately, damage (and the...
Sssssssnakes in the Garden
SSSSSSSSSNAKES IN THE GARDEN. It is not uncommon this time of year to encounter a slithery visitor in gardens, landscapes, and backyards. There are several species of snakes happy to live their lives in backyards, but one of the most common is the eastern gartern snake. Named for the 3 light stripes that run along the length of its black, brown, gray, or olive body, the garter snake is sometimes nicknamed the 'garden' snake because that is where unsuspecting gardeners often encounter them. The stripes running vertically along the length of the snake's body resemble the once...
BYGL Mail, Part Two: Week of June 13
More responses from bygl-alert readers:
3). Tom Holcomb wrote that:
Our 80-year old plus parents have a gorgeous huge tulip poplar. Earlier it was full of blossoms. Squirrels have nipped most of them off. They believed this is the first year that this is happened. Wondering if there is a reason/explanation for this?
I do not know the answer, but one possibility is that this is due to the large amount of nectar produced by tuliptree (another name for tulip poplar) flowers. If so, their behavior is not so squirrely, after all.
4). ...
BYGL Mail, Part 1, Week of June 13
Below are a few selected bygl-alert user comments from mid-June.
1). Mary Beth Breckenridge wrote:
Read your cicada article in BYGL with interest. But have you eaten one?
I have not, but the outstanding writer and journalist Mary Beth, of northeast Ohio’s Beacon Journal newspaper has, and to prove it, go to:
https://www.facebook.com/MBBreckABJ/videos/10154444348473296/
Collin Foltz, a student in my OSU Sustainable Landscape Maintenance class this...
Purple-Flowered Raspberry
The time of eating the woodsy fruits of raspberries is beginning, but the genus for raspberries and blackberries (Rubus) is not just for eating. The purple-flowered raspberry (Rubus odoratus) is a small- to medium-sized (3 to 8 feet) native shrub in the rose family (Rosaceae). In both woodlands (I saw it this week at Mohican State Park) and for landscapes this raspberry is a welcome sight. It has maple-like leaves (but alternate rather than opposite leaf arrangement) and sparse wine-like purple flowers. These flowers almost remind you, appropriately so, of – small wild...
Yellow Poplar Weevil on Tuliptree
Yellow poplar weevil (Odontopus calceatus) is a snout beetle that causes mostly cosmetic damage on tuliptree (also known as yellow poplar and tulip poplar), sassafras, and certain magnolias. I noted damage on tuliptree this past week while also noting developing cicada tree flagging also occurring on tuliptree. Damage on tuliptree leaves includes little bean-shaped scar-like pits in leaves due to epidermal feeding by the weevil adults and larger leaf blotch mines by the weevil larvae. Damage is usually just cosmetic, but in outbreaks may result is a scorched appearance to the...
Where Have All The Maple Seedlings Gone?
Many have noted this Spring that there are not as many red maple (Acer rubrum) seedlings popping up in flower beds. This was illustrated for me this past Saturday (June 11) when crossing the footbridge adjacent to the B & O Harmar Bridge, spanning the Muskingum River from Marietta proper to Harmar Village in southern Ohio. I visited this bridge for the first time on June 21, 2013 and at the time took a picture then of the many red maple seedlings sprouting from the wooden railroad ties of the railroad bridge. This year, almost nada for red maple seedlings.
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Cicadaville
If you look at a map of the emergence of Brood V of the 17-year cicadas, Magicicada septendecim (what a great name!), for example at cicadamania.com, it looks like almost the entire eastern half of Ohio was destined for the same experience. As we know by now, though, it is not one size fits all. Go to the OSU Mansfield Campus and the cacophony is big-time, go to Wooster and it is the late spring quietude, until dog-day cicadas, which we hear every year arrive later in the summer. Twenty miles south at Mohican State Park and the male cicadas choir is signing in noticeable numbers....
ODA Annouces Gypsy Moth Mating Disruption Treatments In Central Ohio
On Tuesday, June 14, 2016 the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) announced that they will begin aerial treatments designed to disrupt gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) mating this summer in central Ohio.
The gypsy moth is a non-native species that feeds on more than 300 different trees and shrubs, and is especially fond of oaks (Quercus spp.) while in its devastating caterpillar stage. While healthy plants can usually withstand one or two years of defoliation, repeat feeding injury coupled with a drought or other pest pressures, can cause host plant ...
While BYGL Alerts are intended to provide fast-hitting information, sometimes it's important for us to take a little more time - and space - to dig deeper. Our Southwest Ohio Diagnostic Walk-About group visited Stanley Rowe Arboretum yesterday and revisited an interesting nutrient deficiency problem that was observed by the group on Colorado blue spruce during our Walk-About last year.
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Let's Go on a Snipe Hunt
The golden-backed snipe fly (Chrysopilus thoracicus) is one of the most beautiful insects you'll run across in Ohio forests. Both the common and scientific names are very descriptive for this native fly. The top of the thorax (= the "back") is covered in highly reflective golden colored hairs; "Chysopilus" means "golden hair." The fly's body and wing veins are bluish-black and the abdomen has lateral white markings.
Little appears to be known regarding the fly's life-style. The adults have been observed visiting the flowers of a number of native plants,...
Fluffy, White Planthopper Nymphs are Becoming Evident
Clusters of fluffy, white planthopper nymphs are appearing on the stems of annuals, perennials, and the lower branches of trees and shrubs in southern Ohio. Planthoppers belong to the Family Flatidae (Order Hemiptera; Suborder Auchenorrhyncha), and are sometimes referred to as "flatids." Planthopper adults are 1/4- 3/8" long, purplish blue, lime green, or powdery white, and they hold their broad wings vertically in a tent-like fashion covering the sides of the body and legs.
...Smokebush Arisin'
One of the wondrous sights this time of the year is the ethereal inflorescent pufflike panicles of smokebush or smoketree (Cotinus) flower heads. There are two species, our native Cotinus obovatus, a larger plant much used on the High Line Park in New York City and Cotinus coggygria, the European smokebush. This genus is in the Anacardiaceae family, cousins to poison ivy (Rhus or Toxicodendron species), cashew, mango, and pistachio.
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I Love Peonies! and Time for Post-Bloom Followup
Peonies in central Ohio are now finished blooming but wow what a bloom this year. They had just about perfect weather to provide a wonderful display. Now they they are finished blooming, you can clean up the dead blooms (deadhead) and have pretty nice looking foliage plants in the perennial bed the rest of the season. Remove the dead blooms by going down into the plant, going below the top layer of foliage.
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Elm Insect Duo
I recently looked at some elms on Columbus city streets and took some images of two insects on one leaf, though mostly on lower leafs and trunk sprouts. One insect was a wasp leafminer, Fenusa ulmi. The larvae of this insect “mine” plant leaf cells for their nutritive value. It is a native insect and generally is worse on non-native elm species and those hybrids with some Asian or European elm genetics. Typically, insecticides are not recommended but labeled systemic insecticides may be useful in situations where applications are warranted.
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BYGLosophy: Mozart and Thee
The 9th time you have explained that soil and its effects on roots are the key to plant health… Your new landscape company and the difficulty of explaining your well-grounded vision of plant health management…Trying to convince your friends of the elegance of Townes Van Zandt’s lyrics…Getting everyone to see how cool byglalerts are as they show up on your phone…Sometimes only time will tell your truths to the rest of the world. Do not despair: it is always thus.
As such, I started reading the book Mozart in the Jungle by Blair Tindall the other day and the lead quote was...
Oak Apple Wasp Galls
While hiking (sweating!) along a forested walking trail near my home over the weekend, I came across several types of oak apple wasp galls on their namesake hosts. These unusual plant growths can range in size at maturity from 1/2 - 2" in diameter and are named for their resemblance to apples. The galls are constructed of leaf tissue that has been hijacked by a gall wasp (Family Cynipidae) to surround a single wasp larva located within a seed-like structure positioned at the center of the gall. The exact species of gall-wasp that is responsible for producing the oak-apple gall can be...
Lace Bug Damage Becoming Evident in Southwest Ohio
Lace bugs were very successful with overwintering in southwest Ohio and high populations are now producing noticeable symptoms. The most obvious lace bugs include: basswood lace bug (Gargaphia tiliae), hawthorn lace bug (Corythucha cydoniae), and oak lace bug (C. arcuata). Sycamore lace bug (C. incurvata) is showing up on trees that were less affected by sycamore anthracnose this spring.
...Pear Rust in Ohio?
We are all used to seeing cedar apple rust, cedar hawthorn rust and cedar quince rust fungi on their dual hosts of junipers and Rosaceous hosts such as apple, crabapple, the occasional quince, and perhaps serviceberry in Ohio. I was much surprised to see what I think are Callery pear trees speckled with bright orange-red rust symptoms in German Village in Columbus this past week, however.
...
Fireblight This Time
Fireblight on Callery pear is highlighted against the blue sky in Columbus’s German Village this past Thursday in the lead photo of this byglalert, with a different look in the second photo taken with a different sun angle, important to remember when seeing images and thinking “it doesn’t look quite like what I saw”. Fireblight symptoms of “shepherd’s crook” shoots and discolored leaves are common to see now, following infections which occurred weeks, even months earlier in cool, warm weather during bloom.
...
Firs for Ohio: Who Ya Gonna Believe?
The other day I was chatting with Joe Boggs after a program at OSU-Mansfield and regaled the beautiful white firs (Abies concolor) on the campus there. I mentioned that I thought this species of fir was the best-suited for Ohio landscapes, channeling a long-held and repeated opinion that other firs, such as Fraser do not do as well here due to hot summers, preferring North Carolina mountain country and New Hampshire and northern Michigan climes.
For the first times in our lives (not!) Joe disagreed with me. He has considerable cred here, having worked on Christmas tree...
Blistered Oak Leaves
Oak leaf blister is a disease is caused by the fungus, Taphrina caerulescens. The fungus overwinters in infected buds and twigs. Leaf infections occur during moist periods in the spring as leaves emerge. Early symptoms appear as raised, blister-like, light-green to yellowish-green spots on the upper leaf surface matched with deep depressions on the lower leaf surface. Eventually, the leaf "blisters" become very apparent as they turn dark brown to brownish-black. The blisters may be evenly distributed across the leaf and are distinct from the angular, vein-based symptoms...
Snow White Black Knot
I planted a multi-stemmed Canada red chokecherry (Prunus virginiana 'Shubert') years ago in my landscaping so I could admire the deep, purplish-red foliage; a signature display of this selection. Of course, that was before anyone knew it’s a magnet for the fungus, Apiosporina morbosa; the plant pathogen that causes black knot. The disease is characterized by thick, corky, elongated gall-growths on twigs and branches that become coal-black late in the growing season; thus the common name for the disease. Black knot is now the signature display of many Canada red...
Fall Webworms in Spring?
First generation fall webworms (Hyphantria cunea) are appearing in central and southern Ohio. Fall webworm moths typically have two generations per year in Ohio and despite their common name, first generation nests usually appear in late spring. Fall webworm caterpillars only feed on the leaves that are enveloped by their silk nest. As caterpillars grow in size, they expand their nest by casting silk over more leaves to accommodate their expanding appetites.
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Tupelo, Honey
In my back yard there are two sourgums, also known as blackgum or tupelo, with the lovely Latin binomial of Nyssa sylvatica. I grew them from young plants sold to me by Kenny Cochran at Secrest Arboretum, and now they have grown to the age that they are producing not only their glossy green leaves but also - flowers.
As the Missouri Botanical Garden website indicates, flowers are: “Primarily dioecious (separate male and female trees), but each tree often has some perfect flowers. Small, greenish-white flowers appear in spring on long stalks (female flowers in sparse...
One More Anthranose: Maple This TIme
In previous BYGLs this spring, we have noted the occurrence of heavy sycamore anthracnose statewide, and also of ash, beech, and oak anthracnose in southwest Ohio. This report from northeast Ohio is of one of the maple anthracnose fungal diseases. I was called out to a landscape in Doylestown Ohio where the homeowners were very concerned that “all of the leaves are fallin’” from a beloved maple tree that towers over their deck. We are all familiar with this sky-is-falling observation which in most cases turns out to be a bit overstated due to worry.
At most, probably less than 1%...
Elm Galls And More
It is often said that a picture tells a thousand words. In this case, perhaps a few less, but it does tell multiple and layered stories. First, as shown by this image, one of the plant ID characteristics of elm (Ulmus) leaves is the uneven base to the leaf blade as shown here. This was the main point for the attendees at a recent Name That Tree program of OSU Extension at the OSU Mansfield campus. Secondly, of all the gall, the elm cockscomb gall insect (Colopha ulmicola) induced the DNA of this elm leaf to produce a proud new home for the insect’s progeny. Thirdly...
Antlions Are On the Hunt
Ron Wilson (Natorp's) shared an e-mail message with me this morning from a listener of his radio show about a strange insect that kept "trying to cover itself with dirt." An ID didn't come to my mind … I claim because of a lack of coffee rather than an age-related issue. Ron chided me by repeating the part about the insect trying to cover itself with dirt. My last functional neuron fired and I realized the message was about one of our favorite insects: antions (Myrmeleon immaculatus).
...
Holey Thistle!
Damage from the non-native thistle tortoise beetle (Cassida rubiginosa) is beginning to appear on its non-native, invasive host, Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense), in southwest Ohio. The beetles are pale green or yellowish-green which allows them to blend with their host's leaves. Like other tortoise beetles, the adults have a body shaped like a flattened pith helmet. The head and legs of the adults are typically hidden under the flares of their helmet-like body. The antennae can be hidden or extended out from underneath the front of the beetle.
...Who's Spittin' on My Dogwoods?
During today's weekly BYGL Inservice, Amanda Bennett (OSU Extension, Miami County) shared some striking images of the frothy, spittle-like masses produced by dogwood spittlebug (Clastoptera proteus) on its namesake host. Spittlebug (family Cercopidae) nymphs are responsible for producing the frothy masses; adults of these insects are called "froghoppers" and have an entirely different life style.
...Towering Poison Hemlock
Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) is among the most deadly plants in North America. This non-native invasive weed contains highly toxic piperidine alkaloid compounds, including coniine and gamma-coniceine, which cause respiratory failure and death when ingested by mammals. The roots are more toxic than the leaves and stems; however, all parts of the plant including the seeds should be considered dangerous. It is a common misconception that poison hemlock sap will cause skin rashes and blisters. In fact, poison hemlock toxins must be ingested or enter through the eyes, cuts, or...
Calico Scale Crawlers on the Move
Calico scale (Eulecanium cerasorum) 1st instar nymphs (crawlers) have been on the move in southwest Ohio and most have already settled on the undersides of leaves of infested host trees. The tiny, tannish-brown, oblong-shaped crawlers are around 1/16" in length. After hatching from eggs beneath females located on stems, the crawlers migrate to the undersides of leaves. They position themselves along leaf veins where they insert their piercing-sucking mouthparts into phloem vessels to extract amino acids that are dissolved in the sugary plant sap.
...
Hemlock Pine?
We sometimes forget “what it was like not to know”, when it comes to plant identification. Yet, it is essential when it comes to selecting and maintenance of plants. A simple misidentification of a pine vs. a spruce can result in improper pruning timing or improper diagnostics, prognostics, and recommended management for a disease: Diplodia tip blight of pine and Cytospora canker of spruce are different diseases, obviously on different –plants. And spruces do not have “pine cones”.
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Trees Take Flight
At a recent tree identification workshop I brought some samples of hedge maple (Acer campestre) and when the learners were keying these out I noted to them that stems had “wings”. Several attendees were more quizzical than usual at my ramblings and asked what I meant. “Wings” or raised or corky projections on stems of woody plants are perhaps most common with regard to winged euonymus (Euonymus alatus) from the Latin alatus which means “having wings or winglike extensions”.
There are many additional woody plant species that have “wings”, though, including...
Enjoy the Orchid-Like Catalpa Blooms!
I'm an unabashed lover of catalpa trees. Yes, they are messy, but so are many of our "preferred" native and non-native landscape trees. I loathe the subjective tree descriptor of "messy" because it removed so many wonderful trees from our landscape palette (e.g. sycamores).
Of course, catalpas do occasionally play host to hungry hordes of their very own caterpillar; catalpa hornworms are the larval form of the catalpa sphinx moth (Ceratomia catalpae). The caterpillars only feed on catalpa trees. However, as I discovered with a huge northern catalpa (Catalpa...
Phomopsis Gall in Hickory
Phomopsis Gall on Hickory.
An arboretum walk, a mature tree flowering and leafing out, a lovely spring day, a – gall. A bunch of galls, in fact, on this one tree. At first glance, the galls looked like horned-oak or gouty oak galls, round to oblong stem galls that occur on oak. The areas on the stems even looked sort of oak-ish at first, with masses of pollen-bearing male catkins evident. Not an oak, though, as the compound leaves attested. It was a hickory, and the galls, unlike the insect-induced horned oak and gouty oak galls, were caused by a fungus, the Phomopsis ...
Horned Oak Gall Leaf Galls
When most people think of horned oak galls, they visualize the gnarled, woody stem galls that form on the twigs and small branches of pin oaks. This is understandable since the gall-making wasp, Callirhytis cornigera (Family Cynipidae) that's responsible for directing the growth of the stem galls spends 33 months developing inside individual chambers within these very obvious galls.
The galls grow larger in size with each season. In early spring, as the immature wasps near the completion of their development, the whitish-tan, cone-shaped “horns” that give this gall its...
Oak Marginal Leaf Fold Gall
So-called marginal leaf fold galls are appearing on oaks in the "red oak group" in southwest Ohio. The galls appear as rolled or folded leaf margins and are produced by a gall-making midge fly, Macrodiplosis erubescens (Family Cecidomyiidae). As with the vast majority of oak galls, the leaf fold galls cause no appreciable harm to the overall health of affected oaks. However, the gall has become notorious in recent years for its connection to a non-native predaceous mite (Pyemotes herfsi) that may feed on the gall-making midge fly larvae (maggots). The mite...
Erineum Patches on American Beech Leaves
The felt-like erineum patches produced by the eriophyid mite, Acalitus fagerinea, on the upper leaf surfaces of American beech are now appearing in southwest Ohio. Currently, the patches are light-yellow. However, they progress through several color stages throughout the season from light green in the spring to brilliant yellow to yellowish-gold then rusty red to reddish-brown and finally dark brown.
Although the patches are located on the upper leaf surface, they cause a dimpling of the lower leaf surface beneath the patch.
...
More Anthracnose
Last week, we reported that leaf and stem symptoms of the fungal disease known as sycamore anthracnose were becoming evident on the namesake host in many areas of Ohio. This week, we're adding ash, oak, and beech to the list of foliar anthracnose diseases appearing in the southwest part of the state. It's important to keep in mind that the anthracnose diseases affecting sycamore, ash, oak, and beech are each produced by a different host-specific fungus. The fungus that produces anthracnose on sycamore does not infect ash, oak, or beech and vice versa; the fungus responsible for ash...
Wild Parsnip is Blooming in Southern Ohio
Wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) plants are rising towards their full height and blooms are beginning to appear in southern Ohio. Landscape managers and gardeners should exercise extreme caution around this non-native invasive plant; the plant's juices can cause phytophotodermatitis (a.k.a. Berloque dermatitis). If plant juices contact skin and the skin is then exposed to sunlight (specifically ultraviolet light), severe blistering can occur, as well as skin discoloration that may last several months.
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Willow Woes
First generation imported willow leaf beetles (Plagiodera versicolora) are munching the leaves of wild and cultivated willows in southwest Ohio. This native of northern Europe was first found in the U.S. in 1915. Since that time, it has become well established throughout most of the eastern and Midwestern states. Although it has been a number of years since a significant outbreak has been reported in Ohio, this beetle has a history of periodically achieving population outbreak densities and causing significant defoliation of its namesake host.
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Sawfly Slugged Rose Leaves
Heavy leaf damage from the non-native bristly roseslug sawfly (Cladius difformis) is becoming very apparent on its namesake host in southwest Ohio. Roses in Ohio may be infested by this sawfly as well as two other non-native species: the European roseslug sawfly (Endelomyia aethiops); and the curled roseslug sawfly (Allantus cinctus). Despite their common names, the larvae of these sawflies resemble tiny caterpillars and look nothing like the glistening, elongated pear-shaped "slug sawflies" which do resemble tiny slugs.
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Overwintered Bagworm Eggs Have Hatched and Caterpillars Are Feeding
Overwintered common bagworm (Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis) eggs have hatched in southwest Ohio and 1st instar caterpillars have settled to feed and construct their characteristic sac-like bags. A percentage of the tiny 1st instar caterpillars produce a strand of silk upon hatching to catch the wind and "balloon" to new locations. This behavior is one of the reasons bagworms often appear on hosts that were not infested last season.
...I Need Rain!
Some of you might think that I am crazy (most already know that) but I am really getting to the point that I need rain. Someone told me this morning that we are supposed to have 100% chance of rain today but I won't believe it until I can go out and play in it!
Last Sunday night, there were storms all around Ohio. Driving back from Akron we hit some really heavy rain in Ashland County. Friends on Facebook were saying that they got 3" or more in the Enon area. I thougth for sure that we had to have gotten some at my house in the northern part of Clark County. Pulling...
American Wisteria in Bloom in NW Ohio
This pleasant smelling perennial vine is blooming in northwest Ohio. American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) is less aggressive than the Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis). Blooms are a source of nectar and are attractive to butterflies. The plant is also a larval host for marine blue, zarucco duskywing, and skippers. An added bonus for gardeners is that it appears to be tolerant to deer.
The vine's flowers give way to narrow, flattened, smooth seed pods (to 5” long) which ripen in summer. Pods typically split open in fall. Compound, odd-pinnate...
Buckeye Turf - Must See Turf Tip Video
Recently, Todd Hicks and Joe Rimelspach with the OSU Department of Plant Pathology posted a "special edition" of Turf Tips.
Topics covered in this video included: what is happening in high-cut turfgrass - leaf spot, dollar spot and red thread; fungicides for residential turf; prevention is key; granular application best practices; and safety and first aid.
Click here to view the video: http://turfdisease.osu.edu/turftips_May25
Cressleaf Groundsel is in Bloom
Cressleaf Groundsel in the Field. Image by Steven Smith.
The weed that is currently gracing the landscapes and farm fields in southern Ohio with a smattering of canary yellow is cressleaf groundsel (Packera glabella). Cressleaf groundsel, which is also known as BUTTERWEED (Senecio glabellus), is a member of the aster family (Asteraceae; a.k.a. Compositae), thus the weed sports flowers that are daisy-like and seed heads that look like miniature dandelion puff-balls. The flowers are borne at the ends of thick, erect, stems that are green with reddish-purple streaks. ...
Late Freeze Fires the Imagination
In Northeast Ohio this year, and specifically Chardon, Ohio, had a snowfall event on May 15, 2016 and anywhere from 0.25-0.5 of an inch accumulated across the area. While flying snowflakes were startling enough, the real concern and fear involved the impact of the projected low overnight temperatures. The first night on May 15, the temperatures dropped to right around freezing (34-32°F) and then on Monday evening, May 16, temperatures dropped below freezing (31-29°F) and as low as 27°F in low lying areas. While some plants had their tender foliage and new twig expansion killed outright...
Tuliptree Mania
Shakespeare used the term ”trippingly” to refer to a lilting or nimble effect as in “trippingly on the tongue” rather than bombastic speechifying referenced in his Hamlet directives. The Latin name of tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) should thusly be spoken trippingly. Try saying it out loud; very elvish and fairy-like trills, as befits the “trippingly” term he first used in “Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
And what a tree this is: large, lobed tulip-shaped leaves. The flowers are wondrous: cup-shaped with yellow-green petals with orange flares at the base. The tree grows...
Every Dogwood Has Its Day
How soon the glorious starch-white blossoms of flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) are gone for another season, even this year when the blooms of this native dogwood lasted longer than usual. Yet this short season is only a page in the book that is the genus Cornus (30-60 species). Corneliancherry dogwood (C. mas) was first, with chartreuse-yellow flowers arriving long before leaves in late March and early April. For rich northeast Ohio woodlands and some cultivated gardens, the herbaceous groundcover wildflower, bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) est arrivee...
Fiery Searchers on the Hunt
One of my all-time favorite beetles is beginning to showing-up on trees and shrubs in southwest Ohio. This is the time of the year when populations of many soft-bodied insects such as caterpillars and sawfly larvae begin to rise. It's not coincidental that this is also the time of the year when Fiery Searcher Caterpillar Hunters (Calosoma scrutator) begin to appear. This colorful predacious beetle feasts on free-range caterpillar meat as well as on any other soft-bodied insect that it can clamp its mandibles on. Indeed, this beetle is considered one of the more significant...
Frost Damage on Canaan Fir Mimics Balsam Twig Aphid Damage
I have a prized Canaan fir (Abies balsamea var phanerolepis) in my backyard. It's prized because I'm a native West Virginian and so is the tree. My wife knows that if we ever move, the tree is coming with us! The common name of this balsam fir variety is based on its first discovery in the once isolated, high-mountain Canaan Valley in northeastern WV. Jim Brown (another native West Virginian and Professor Emeritus, OSU School of Environment and Natural Resources) spent much of his long career sorting out the five natural seed sources (provenances) of this tree. The...
Ball-Like Galls Appearing on Hickory.
Hickory petiole galls produced by Phylloxera subelliptica (family Phylloxeridae) are appearing on hickory in southwest Ohio. The single-chambered, ball-like galls range in size from 1/4 - 1/2" in diameter and arise from leaf petioles as well as along leaf midveins. They may occur singly or in clusters to hang grape-like from their namesake host. The galls range in color from solid greenish-white to bi-color forms involving splashes of reddish-pink. Fully mature galls split open at to release the phylloxeran adults through a longitudinal slit. Spent galls either dry out to...
White-Tipped Canada Thistle is not an "Albino Strain."
Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense) plants that are infected with the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. tagetis (PST) develop "bleached tips." The bacterium produces a chemical called tagetitoxin that is a RNA polymerase III inhibitor that blocks the production of chloroplasts. Symptoms could be mistaken for exposure to a member of the photosynthesis inhibiting class of herbicide such as the triazines (e.g. atrazine) and nitriles (e.g. bromoxynil). Of course, the herbicides would tend to affect the entire plant whereas PST only affects the upper portions of...
Tuliptrees are in Full Bloom in Southern Ohio
Tuliptrees (a.k.a tulip poplar, yellow poplar) are in full, glorious bloom in southern Ohio! Don't miss these showy, fiery, tulip-like blooms peeking out from the dark green foliage on this wonderful native tree.
Ohio's Big Trees Program lists a Tuliptree in Richland county at 228" circumference, 136' height and 71' spread.
...
Sycamore Anthracnose
Enquiring eyes throughout Ohio are noticing sparse foliation on sycamores (American planetree) and to a lesser extent London planetree hybrids this Spring. Not to worry, the culprit is almost assuredly sycamore anthracnose disease. This fungal disease occurs every year, but is enhanced when there are cool, wet conditions during leaf emergence, conditions which were common throughout Ohio this year. If history is to be any guide, these planetrees will recover well, putting out new leaves which will make us forget how they look now by late June.
...I'm NOT an Orphan, Just Ask Mom!
As the 'twitterpated' season ends and young wildlife are being born, it's important to realize that young are often left alone by their parents for their own safety. We naturally want to protect and care for a seemingly abandoned baby animal, but many wildlife infants are born much more advanced than human infants. This means wildlife babies are capable of being left alone. Eastern cottontail rabbit kits mature very quickly, leaving the nest after 3 weeks as small versions of their parents. A small baby rabbit with erect ears and open eyes does not need assistance. Neither does a young...
New Look to Growing Degree Website
Have you visited the Ohio State University's Growing Degree Day (GDD) website this spring? If you haven't, you are in for a treat! The website has a new look, is very easy to navigate, and has an added feature that everyone will be using.
Once on the home-page, you have an option of inputting any Ohio zipcode. The date will always be the current date, although you can manipulate and use past dates in your search. Once the zipcode has been added, website users click on "show me the calendar" and are taken to a short sequence of what is occuring with plant blooms (first bloom or...
Must See Website - Mary Gardiner, Department of Entomology
We have a website that you will want to be sure is included in your list of favorites! Dr. Mary Gardiner is an Associate Professor and State Extension Specialist in the Department of Entomology and doing some amazing work in Ohio. Dr. Gardiner received her PhD from Michigan State University in 2008 and established the Agricultural Landscape Ecology Laboratory (ALE Lab) in 2009. The ALE Lab is interested in understanding how the design and management of an urban greenspace or agroecosystem influences food web structure and function.
Some of the ALE website highlights...
Night-Flying Buzz-Bumbling Beetles on the Wing
The familiar "bzzzzzzz...thud!" sound made by May/June Beetles as they fly around porch lights at night and bounce off walls, doors, windows, startled homeowners, etc., is now being heard in southwest Ohio. There are five species of beetles in the genus Phyllophaga in Ohio that share the general common name of May or June Beetles. The 1/2 - 1" long adults are slightly oblong, and reddish-brown to black in color. Their obnoxious evening behavior often causes them to be dismissed as nuisance pests. In most cases, this is true. Although adults of most of these species feed at...
Eastern Tent Caterpillars Coming Off Some Nests in S.W. Ohio
The pace of Eastern Tent Caterpillar (ETC) (Malacosoma americanum) development varies widely in southwest Ohio. However, some caterpillars have reached their final instar stage and are abandoning their highly visible silk nests located in branch forks to go on a crawl-about in search of pupation sites. Their abandoned nests will remain evident throughout much of the early summer as they gradually disintegrate.
...Sneaky Cankerworms Have Inched Onto the Scene
Tattered tree leaves are the calling card of cankerworms. Spring Cankerworms (Paleacrita vernata) and Fall Cankerworms (Alsophilia pometeria) are currently producing leaf-feeding damage in southwest Ohio. Both belong to the moth family Geometridae. Caterpillars of moths in this family are also called "inchworms," "spanworms, and "loopers." The common names of spring and fall cankerworms refer to the season when the flightless female moths lay their eggs. Fall cankerworm moths lay eggs in the fall; spring cankerworms lay their eggs in the spring. However, the eggs of...
Black Knot Not Black
Holey Oak Leaves
The handiwork of the spiny oak sawfly (Periclista albicollis) is becoming very apparent on the developing leaves of bur and white oaks in southwest Ohio. The small, light-green semi-transparent spiny oak sawfly larvae have shiny black head capsules and are covered with rows of forked (bifurcated) spines. Early instars primarily feed on the underside of newly emerging and expanding leaves. They produce small holes that get larger as the leaves expand. Later instars consume interveinal tissue leaving behind the main veins to give the oak leaves a tattered appearance. Look...
Volutella Blight Causing Boxwood Dieback.
Landscapers and gardeners may be seeing scattered dieback on boxwoods this spring. One candidate for the sectional dieback is Volutella blight. Both English and American boxwoods are susceptible to this disease which is caused by the fungal pathogen, Pseudonectria buxi (also called Volutella buxi).
...Junipers Garnished with Tangerine Tentacles and Orange Goo.
Our wet weather this spring has triggered spectacular spore production by three types of rust fungi on junipers in southwest Ohio. All three fungi belong to the genus Gymnosporangium and each must alternate between a member of the plant genus Juniperus and members of the rose family (Rosaceae) in order to complete their life cycle. The requirement to cycle between two types of widely divergent host plants coupled with the rusty color of their spores earns these fungi the collective moniker of "heteroecious" rusts.
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Burrowing Crayfish Chimneys Rise Above Turfgrass.
Mud "chimneys," the nuisance handiwork of Terrestrial or Burrowing Crayfish are rising above turfgrass in central and southwest Ohio. There are several species of burrowing crayfish, but most belong to two genera: Cambarus and Fallicambarus. Like their aquatic cousins, these crayfish use gills to extract oxygen from water. However, unlike their water-soaked cousins, burrowing crayfish spend most of their lives on land. They must dig their burrows down to ground water so they have a ready source of oxygen. This connection to a high water table explains why most...
Control Poison Hemlock Now!
This non-native invasive weed is among the most deadly plants in North America. This biennial weed spends its first year as a basal rosette and the second year as an erect, towering flowering plant that can measure 6-10' tall. Despite its common name, poison hemlock is not a tree; it is a member of the carrot family, Apiaceae (formerly Umbelliferae).
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Heavy Maple Seed Production
Apparently, the sporadic freeze-frost events that occurred this spring in southwest and central Ohio caused little damage to maple flowers and developing seed. Almost all species of maples in those parts of the state are festooned with heavy seed (a.k.a. "helicopter seed," "maple spinners,"). Abundant winged maple seeds (samaras) in the spring can draw both the attention and wrath of landscapers and homeowners. Trees shift energy to support heavy seed production at the expense of leaf expansion which makes "seedy trees" look unhealthy. The overall sickly appearance is enhanced once...
Jack Frost Just Doesn't Give Up!
Certain areas of Northeastern Ohio woke up Sunday morning to find that a hard frost had developed overnight covering turf, picnic tables and decks. Many ornamental plants and fruit trees had swollen buds and even some scattered blooms evident. The phone calls from concerned citizens started coming in wanting to know if all was lost regarding the fruit trees and blueberries for this year. So I went out to see what had happened to the potential fruit crop for the coming season.
...Be Wary of Canada Geese!
Canada geese have paired up by this time of year and many females are already sitting on nests with eggs. Be cautious around the geese and give them space. Right now, the goose pair's main objective is to protect that nest. The male spends much of his time guarding the female, whether she is eating, resting, or sitting on the nest. Several times in the past few weeks, I have encountered a goose pair and each time they have behaved defensively. Once I backed away and gave them some space, there was no problem. If a goose approaches you, starts bobbing its head, hissing, or flapping its...
Spring Bird Watching is Fantastic
With the recent pleasant spring weather, I hope many of you have had some time to get outside with your binoculars for a few hours of quality birding! Migrant songbirds have been making their way back to Ohio from warmer, tropical regions for the past several weeks now. Turkey vultures are soaring, Canada geese are nesting and many songbirds can be heard calling as their nesting season gears up. Eastern phoebes, red-winged blackbirds, yellow-rumped warblers, brown thrashers, blue gray gnatcatchers, wood thrush, hooded warblers, and common yellowthroats are just a few of the migrants that...
Overwintered European Elm Flea Weevils are Attacking Their Namesake Hosts
Overwintered European elm flea weevils (Orchestes alni) are attacking emerging elm leaves in southwest Ohio. A close examination will reveal weevils feeding and frolicking (mating) among the newly expanding leaves. Adults produce small feeding holes and females produce additional damage by laying eggs into mid-rib veins and major lateral veins of the leaves.
As leaves expand, the feeding holes become larger and more apparent producing the characteristic "shothole" leaf damage associated with this weevil. Damage caused by oviposition also becomes more noticeable with...
European Pine Sawfly Larvae are Munching Mugos
Early instar European pine sawfly (Neodiprion sertifer) larvae are now large enough to cause noticeable damage to their pine hosts which include Scotch, mugo, red, jack, Table mountain, and Swiss mountain pines. White and Austrian pines are occasional hosts. The larvae are grayish-green with bulbous shiny black head capsules; their color and small size make the difficult to see as they feed on the needles.
All larval stages feed in colonies and practice the same feeding behavior. They start by aligning themselves with their head at the tip of a needle and...
Overwintered Calico Scale Females are Puffing Up and Dripping Honeydew
Overwintered calico scale (Eulecanium cerasorum) females are now "puffing-up" and pumping out impressive quantities of clear, sugary honeydew in southwest Ohio. This is a non-native "soft scale" meaning that mature scales are protected by a soft shell. The scale's common name comes from the starkly contrasting calico pattern of black-and-white markings on the hemispherical-shaped shells of mature females. The mature females measure about 1/4" in diameter and their distinct markings make them easy to recognize, particularly on bark and branches that are blackened by sooty mold...
Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) Will Begin Gypsy Moth Treatments
On Thursday, April 20, 2016, the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) announced that they will soon begin aerial treatments designed to control the gypsy moth population in Ohio. Treatments on 1,474 acres in Perry, Ross and Scioto Counties will begin in late April, as larva and leaf development reaches the optimal threshold for treatment.
Brett Gates with ODA shared that treatments are administered using a low-flying aircraft that flies just above tree tops just like the photo shared with this article online. High humidity, low...
Earth Day Can Be Everyday in the Green Industry
On Friday, April 22, 2016 people across the world will be observing Earth Day. United State Senator Gaylord Nelson was the founder and organizer of first Earth Day. Observed beginning in 1970, Earth Day was developed as a day of education about environmental issues. In 1990, Earth Day went global. According to the Earth Day Network (EDN), over 200 million people in over 140 nations participate in this observation. Some areas celebrate not just a single day, but rather an entire week. And the green industry could be recognized for celebrating Earth Day all year long!
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From Snow to Sunshine
If you have lived in Ohio for any length of time, you have probably heard someone say, "if you don't like the weather, just wait, because it will change." There was a big weather change that occurred just over a week ago. On Friday, April 8 and Saturday, April 9, a storm bringing snow blew through Ohio. Snowfall totals ranged from minor accumulations, up to 12". Northwest Ohio seemed to get the brunt of the storm, and Toledo made the national news as the surprising April snow storm caught some off guard. The snowfall total last weekend exceed any other measurable snowfall totals from...
Spruce - Phomopsis Canker
Branch dieback in spruce can have many causes such as the generalized dieback we see as roots fail from root rot or various root injuries. Cytospora canker is a very well-known disease of spruce, particularly blue spruce (Picea pungens). A dead branch in a spruce is often attributed to Cytospora but that is not always the case as was evident in a recent blue spruce sample.
Look closely at the dying branch. Trace the dead and dying tissue back to where it transitions to healthy. Carefully scrape the bark at that transition looking for discoloration of the...
New BYGL Ready for Review
The new BYGL website for 2016 is now available. On the home page you will see many interesting ideas related to navigation, presenation and visual identity.
- PHOTOS - The top banner is a rotating set of timely graphics linking to selected stories while along the bottom of the site is a visual navigation to each of the most recent articles.
- CONVENIENCE - The main menu enables users to access anything in just one click. Learn about: usage permissions, profiles of ENLT Team members, browsing articles, searching...
Invasive Species and Smartphone Technology
Non-native Invasive species issues are commanding a lot of natural resource professional's attention these days. Whether it concerns insects, diseases, plants, mammals or aquatic species there is something out there for everyone! One thing that is true across the board is that early detection is key to dealing more effectively with all of these.
As a group of Extension professionals were discussing our new Asian longhorned beetle infestation in 2011 we kept coming back to how do we get these things reported early when they are still on a relatively small scale. We were...
Silver Maple Flower Fascination
Ever wonder why when passing a Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) in flower, one week the blooms appear to be a green-yellowish cast and then suddenly, a little while later, the blooms appear to have turned red? Then the questions begin like, did I misidentify the tree or did I really see light yellow blooms on the branches? First and foremost, you are not going crazy, and in the case of the silver maple, it is perfectly normal to see both colors of blooms! According to Micheal A. Dirr's Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, silver maple blooms are described as follows: "...
Eastern Tent Cats to Arrive Soon
The accumulated Growing Degree Days (GDD) that predicts eastern tent caterpillar (ETC) (Malacosoma americanum) egg hatch is 92. Cincinnati has reached 89 GDD meaning that ETC eggs are poised to begin hatching in southwest Ohio. ETC spends the winter in shiny, blackish-brown egg masses wrapped around twigs on their host plants. A close examination will reveal that the eggs are encased in a structure that resembles bubble-wrap.
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MGVs Connect With Community Garden Organization
Last week, Master Gardener Volunteer (MGV) Interns from Lucas County held their weekly class at the Robert Anderson Urban Agriculture Center in Toledo, Ohio. The Center is home to Toledo GROWs - Gardens Revitalize Our World, the community garden outreach of the Toledo Botanical Garden. In addition to spending time in the classroom, MGVs also were able to tour the Center that included seeing the farm stand, greenhouses, bee hives, chickens, and outdoor growing areas.
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New Book: Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf
A book review recommendation for all is a wondrous book by Andrea Wulf, titled The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt’s New World.
How is this for reviews of this life: “One of the great ornaments of his age.” from Thomas Jefferson.
“Nothing ever stimulated my zeal so much as reading ‘Humboldt’s Personal Narrative” from Charles Darwin, and according to Andrea Wulf “…saying he would not have boarded the Beagle, nor conceived of the “Origin of Species” without Humboldt.”
Quoting from Wulf...
Spring Cankerworms Appreciate Warm Weather!
As I was walking into one of the offices on The Ohio State University Campus this morning, a small grey-colored moth caught my eye. Upon closer inspection it was a male of the spring cankerworm, Paleacrita vernata (Lepidoptera, Geometridae)! After my meeting I walked around the building and quickly spotted one of the females, also on a wall. The females are unusual in that they have no wings. They look like little fuzzballs! The females release a pheromone which attracts males for mating. Soon after mating, the females attach eggs, usually onto potential host trees, mainly...
Sampling Seedlings for Diagnosis
A good sample is critical for successful diagnosis. Recently, seedlings were received at OSU’s C. Wayne Ellett Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic. Diagnosticians often examine poorly packaged samples which arrive in poor condition.
Seedling samples are challenging to package and ship; they deteriorate rapidly. Send the entire tray if they are being produced as plugs or cut out a portion of the tray to allow samples to arrive in the best condition. If plugs are being removed from the tray wrap the roots and associated media in foil or plastic wrap to keep the media on the roots...
Heavenly Hellebores
Now that winter seems to have finally arrived, we will soon be seeing some harbingers of spring; the nodding flowers of hellebores. There are approximately 15 species within the Helleborus genus. The most commonly found are Helleborus niger (Christmas rose) and Helleborus orientalis (Lenten rose), most cultivars found in stores are hybrids of Helleborus orientalis and are listed as Helleborus x hybridus. Despite its common name it is not closely related to the rose family.
In spite of its beauty and other attractive...
Skunk Love is in the Air!
The skunk mating season is underway (mid-February – April), and homeowners may see an increase of skunks this time of year, or rather smell an increase in skunks! Male skunks are polygamous and right now are traveling far and wide in search of females, which accounts for the increase in sightings and smellings this time of year. During these travels and times of increased activity, skunks are more likely to encounter threats, and therefore spray. Skunks spray for the primary reason of defense from a perceived threat. That threat could be a human, pet, or another wild animal....
Painted Hickory Borers Show Up in Homes
At this time of the year, we often get reports of folks seeing the locust borer, Megacyllene robiniae, in their homes! In fact, they are finding the painted hickory borer, Megacyllene caryae. Both beetles are in the same genus and they look nearly identical unless you hold them side-by-side. The adult beetles are just over an inch in length and generally black with yellow bands and chevrons across their backs. The locust borer has larvae that can attack black locust trees and the adults are commonly seen on goldenrod in September until the first killing frost hits. ...