Weather Experts Are Cautioning Our First Frost (Freeze) May Arrive This Weekend

The calendar has turned to October, and with it, harvest and fall activities will accelerate over the next few weeks. We have already experienced a few chilly nights this past week with patchy frost in some areas, but when do we typically see our first freeze conditions? This first (last) official freeze is defined as the first fall (spring) day where the overnight low reaches 32°F.
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Authors
Amy Stone

Plant of the Week - Pokeweed

A weed, or not a weed? Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) is a native herbaceous perennial that can grow 4 to 9 feet tall. It is considered to be an agressive plant by some because of its ability to self-seed and become weedy in nature. While an adaptable type of plant, it does prefer a medium moisture, well drained site in full sun to partial shade. It does prefer and will perform better in a consistently moist soil, it can tolerate short periods of drought.
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Authors
Amy Stone
Curtis E. Young

What’s Eatin’ Sedum?

Brightly colored flea beetles feeding on stonecrop (family Crassulaceae) in southwest Ohio were first reported in the BYGL in 2011. The leaf and stem damage caused by both the adults and larvae was so severe on Orpine (Hylotelephium telephium (synonym Sedum telephium)) ‘Autumn Joy’ it was difficult to identify the plants as sedum.
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Authors
Joe Boggs

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 ...

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Authors
Erik Draper
Joe Boggs

Tribble Troubles?

On October 1, 2020, I posted a BYGL Alert titled, “Are Oaks Raining Tribbles?”  The Alert focused on small, fuzzy, tan to reddish-brown to deep-red leaf galls detaching from oaks in Ohio, primarily in the northern part of the state.
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Authors
Joe Boggs

Ambush Bugs: A Pollinator Peril

I posted a BYGL Alert earlier today about dramatic insect pollinator activity on Late-Flowering Thoroughwort (Eupatorium serotinum, family Asteraceae). I didn’t mention in the Alert that lurking within the flower clusters were numerous Jagged Ambush Bugs (Phymata spp., family Reduviidae) intent on snagging a few plant pollinators.
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Authors
Joe Boggs