Annual Dog-Day Cicadas emerging in southwest Ohio are being “welcomed” by their nemesis, Cicada Killer Wasps. This is the largest wasp found in Ohio and the annual cicadas are their select prey. An abrupt halt in the buzzing of a cicada, often punctuated by a high-pitched screech, usually means a wasp has committed an insecticidal act

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.

 

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Participants at yesterday’s S.W. Ohio Diagnostic Walk-About viewed two problems on purple coneflowers; one potentially more calamitous than the other. The first was the handiwork of the Sunflower Head-Clipping Weevil (Haplorhynchites aeneus) which included dangling seed heads and stems that looked like soda straws. The second were stunted plants and deformed plant parts caused by the phytoplasma disease known as Aster Yellows.

Quarantines are a primary tool in preventing the spread of Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) (Anoplophora glabripennis) in Ohio and elsewhere in North America. They stop the beetle from hitchhiking to new locations in infested materials such as logs, firewood, pruned branches, etc. Yesterday, the ODA, ODNR, and USDA APHIS announced an expansion of the ALB quarantine in Clermont County, OH.

There is nothing "sweet" about Oriental bittersweet. This non-native species appears to be popping up, and then growing up, in NW Ohio. While it was an occasional invader in natural areas, forests and fence lines, more and more people are having to manage this invasive species.

Earlier this week, Joe Boggs reported localized high populations of Japanese beetles via a BYGL Alert, Japanese Beetles Abound - http://bygl.osu.edu/node/811  The report included excellent photos and on the ground reports from BYGL readers. 

I drove past four upright European hornbeams (Carpinus betulus ‘Fastigiata’) today that were riddled with Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) damage; or so I thought. However, bagworms are sneaky feeders; their damage may be blamed on other pests.

I probably don’t need to post a BYGL Alert! to make you aware that we are seeing large numbers of Japanese Beetles (Popillia japonica) in Ohio this season; you have no doubt seen them for yourselves. In fact, some of you have literally run into the beetles.

The Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) is potentially the most devastating non-native pest to have ever arrived in North America. The beetle kills trees belonging to 12 genera and, if it escapes eradication, ALB would cause a catastrophic loss of trees. Early detection is essential to eradication success. Learn how you can help stop ALB!

 

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...