Check out the latest links to a couple new Turfgrass Team Times!

The spined oak borer is a longhorned beetle native to the eastern parts of the United States, including Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Horismenus is an Eulophid parasitoid wasp found along with spined oak borer. The relationship between the spined oak borer and Horismenus, represents a classic example of biological control in nature, where one species helps regulate the population of another.

This longhorn beetle is the only species reported in its genus, but widespread in the eastern United States.

You may notice your sidewalk turning black this time of year. What’s happening? Time to look up.

Check out the latest edition of the OSU's Turfgrass Team Times (TTT).

My friend Ron Rothhaas (Arbor Doctor, LLC, Cincinnati, OH) texted a series of images last week showing a pin oak (Quercus palustris) festooned with small, white structures superficially resembling insect cocoons. However, a closer look revealed the structures to be “ovisacs” of the Oak Felt Scale (OFS), Acanthococcus quercus (formerly Eriococcus quercus), family Eriococcidae.

I received an email message this past weekend from Brad McBride (The Davey Tree Expert Co.) alerting me that Willow Pinecone Galls are reaching their full glory on their namesake host near the Everett Covered Bridge in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It’s certainly worth a visit to enjoy this picturesque wonder, and perhaps look at the bridge too.

So-called galls on goldenrod (Solidago spp.) leaves produced in association with the midge fly Asteromyia carbonifera (family Cecidomyiidae) appear as white, circular structures on both the upper and lower leaf surfaces. As the galls mature, they develop a faint black ring near the outer edge making them look target-like.