Managed Microcosm Maintaining your lawn and landscape and protecting them from pests and disease provides more benefits than just aesthetic value. Landscape conservation, pest control, disease prevention and lawn maintenance are beneficial to your household financially and aesthetically, but they also provide ecological benefits to your local community and region as well as for wildlife…
Affliction Appearance The first breeding populations of Asian long-horned beetles (Anoplophora glabripennis or ALB) was discovered in 1996 in New York. This incredibly invasive and destructive species was accidentally introduced through shipping cargo from Asia. While three states, Massachusetts, New York and Ohio, are under federal quarantine, suitable habitat is found in almost every state. Federal…
Current Conditions Fluctuating weather conditions continued over the past couple of weeks, with a cold front replacing warm temperatures with raw, windy, damp weather. Seasonal temperatures were mixed in with brief periods of heavy rain in some places and drastic overnight lows. Crabapples, cherries, horsechestnuts, rhododendrons, azaleas, redbud, Amelanchier, lilacs and viburnums are coming into…
Current Conditions Our slow to start and fluctuating spring has earned the region an average of 82 growing degree days. The cool, overcast, damp days had initially given way to warmer than average temperatures but have leveled out to seasonal temperatures for this time of year. Soil temperatures have increased and are appropriate for encouraging root…
Strange Suspect There has been a lot of talk on this blog about colony collapse, pollinator problems and the various causal factors. It would seem there is a convergence of issues affecting pollinator populations today, which may on their own or, more likely, combined, are contributing to the stress and reduction of honey bees and pollinator…
Current Conditions Spring moves on at a seemingly glacial pace, yet the slowly increasing growing degree days do favor the development and surge of the insect communities. Temperatures have been unseasonably cool for this time of year in much of the northeast, and while actual rainfall has not amounted to much, dampness persists. While this sort…
Critter Concerns Insects like fruit trees for many of the same reasons we like fruit trees, sweet smelling, pollen filled flowers and ripe, juicy fruits and seemingly sweet leaves and bark. While we want to attract and protect pollinators and beneficial insects, injurious insects can cause serious damage, inhibiting fruit production or fouling fruit, stunting or gnarling…
Vector Vexation Depending on where you live different species of mosquitoes will be prevalent and they can carry various diseases. Mosquitoes are one of the most common and virulent vectors (insects or organisms which transmit pathogens). They are responsible for spreading diseases like malaria, West Nile encephalitis, western equine encephalitis and dengue fever. Mosquitoes can also…
Advantageous Animals Not all insects are pests to the plant kingdom, in fact, many species have evolved alongside plants and participate in a a mutually beneficial relationship. Pollinators such as bees and butterflies are the most commonly known among the beneficials but also helpful in the microcosm of your landscape are insectivorous insects; insects that…
Winter moths, what of it? Did you see these guys banging up against your windows during the winter? Attracted to the light and warmth of the cozy living room in which you were hunkered down against the cold, winter moths (Operophtera brumata) have to brave the brutal conditions in order to procreate. Adult winter moths…
