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 (...

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Jim Chatfield

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...

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Jim Chatfield

Red-Spotted Purple

Look closely at woodland edges and you may see a flicker of iridescent blues accented with splashes of red; the calling card of a red-spotted purple butterfly (Limenitis arthemis astyanax).  The red-spotted purple is so named because of its overall purple hue and for the red to orangish-red spots on the underside of the wings.
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Joe Boggs

Wee Beasties

  During the course of this summer a number of beasts of various sizes have passed by my lens. These often turn into bygl-alerts, for example 17-year cicadas and monarch butterflies. A few have not qualified – until now. Here are just a few beauties of the summer bestiary.
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Jim Chatfield

Tar Spots of Maple

  Tar spots of maple, caused by species of the Rhytisma fungus, are prominent now, although mostly not as severe as in wetter summers. There are two different tar spot diseases of maple, one affecting silver and red maples, caused by Rhytisma acerinum, resulting in dense, tarry spots that truly reflect the “tar” spot name (first picture below).
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Jim Chatfield

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.  

 

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Jim Chatfield

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...

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Jim Chatfield
Curtis E. Young

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...

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Joe Boggs

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...

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Amy Stone