VanWingerden International Open House

Have you ever wondered what goes on inside those big time commercial greenhouses??? Well now is your chance...

The VanWingerden International, Inc. 22nd Annual Open House is happening on November 9th from 10am - 3pm at 4055 Haywood Rd, Mills River, NC... Tour the greenhouses and enjoy the acres of poinsettias while learning about the environmentally friendly growing practices! Bring your walking shoes!  Questions, please call (828) 891-4116

Pesticide Safety

Please take a moment to read the excerpt from the 'North Carolina Pest News' below on the use of a specific type of systemic insecticides...


NORTH  CAROLINA  PEST  NEWS

NORTH CAROLINA COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE
North Carolina State University * College of Agriculture & Life Sciences of Entomology * Box 7613 * Raleigh, NC 27695
Volume 28, Number 14, July 12, 2013

CAUTION !

The information and recommendations in this newsletter are applicable to North Carolina and may not apply in other areas.
______________________________________________


ORNAMENTALS AND TURF

From: Steve Frank, Extension Entomologist

News About Neonicotinoid Insecticides

Neonicotinoids include products such as imidacloprid (Merit, Marathon, various homeowner products made by Bayer), dinotefuran (Safari), acetamiprid (TriStar), and thiamethoxam (Flagship). All the chemicals in this group are systemic and move to plant issue once applied. This includes nectar and pollen. These products have been under scrutiny lately due to their negative effects on pollinators. See this report: http://ecoipm.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/neonicbees.pdf

Recently there was a large bee kill in Oregon apparently due to misapplication of a neonicotinoid to a flowering linden tree. Labels typically state “Do not apply to flowering plants or when pollinators are present” or something similar. In response the Oregon Department of Agriculture has temporarily restricted use of dinotefuran while it investigates the incident. More information about this incident is in a recent article: http://www.nurserymanagementonline.com/oda-restricts-dinotefuran-use.aspx

It is important to correctly use all insecticides by professionals and homeowners.

Warmer Weather

Warmer weather brings all sorts of great things... new leaves on the trees, spring flowers, active bird populations, and mosquitoes!!! Yes, I said it, mosquitoes! Many times homeowners are not overly concerned with mosquitoes until they become a pest, literally. But what can you do now? 

According to Dr. Michael Waldvogel, Extension Associate Professor & Specialist, Structural & Industrial Pests, now is the time to start prevention methods for mosquito control. Eliminate standing water around your home. Even small areas that collect water such as a sagging tarp on a boat, or an old tire, can be a haven for mosquito larvae. Clean out your gutters to ensure that water flows freely and does not get stopped up to create a pool. Also, make sure to clear any drainage ditches around your home. A drainage ditch is meant to collect and redistribute runoff in a timely manner. It should not have standing water where mosquitoes can breed. 

Last but not least, Dr. Waldvogel says, "Convince your neighbors to do the same because mosquito control takes a community effort."

Image Courtesy of www.cals.ncsu.edu

Ground Nesting Bees

I just received an email from Mike Waldvogel, NC Extension Specialist, Structural & Industrial Pests. Since I do receive calls every year concerning these bees I thought I would get the word out in advance. If you still have questions, please feel free to call.

In the near future, you may start seeing either small mounds of soil in your yard or "swarms" of bees showing up in the landscape. Schools and child care facility managers often panic because they think these are swarms that ose a health risk to the children. They are most likely the solitary bees such as the "colletids" and "andrenids" that often emerge at this time of year. Even with the cooler weather we've experienced, rain that has softened the soil and open exposed areas warm more quickly contributing to this burst of activity. 

 

The bees begin foraging for food and seeking out new nesting sites. This activity will continue for about the next tow months depending on  the area of the state and the species of bee. They dig vertical tunnels in the soil on which they make small side chambers that they store pollen for their offspring. These bees are "solitary" which means there is not a true colony. A lot of the "swarming" that you see are male and female bees. (Think of your lawn as a big singles bar for bees). These bees frequently make small mounds in the soil, often where the soil is loose and vegetation may be sparse. You frequently see clusters of these nests but they are all made by individual queens which do the work without the help of workers as occurs in a honey bee nest.

Although the damage can be unsightly with large numbers of mounds in the yard, it is mostly a cosmetic issue. The bigger problem is usually that people walking by panic because they assume that these are swarms of honey bees, or similar species, that will likely attach them if they venture to close to the nest. Turf nesting bees can sting but rarely do so, since they are not "social" and you don't have a large number of worker bees that are trying to protect a nest. There is no "mass attack" as might occasionally occur with a close encounter of the yellowjacket kind!

These bees are beneficial and should be left alone if possible. If you want something done, you can apply almost anything that you would tyically use outdoors for perimeter treatments. One problem is that the bees often try to dig into the sand in play ares at schools, childcare facilities, etc. Of course parents and teachers are concerned about stinging incidents particularly if a child is hypersensitive to bee stings. In those instances, I still strongly discourage any chemical treatment particularly in sandy play areas where kids come into direct contact with the soil.

If the bees try to next in a sandbox, a simple solution is to cover it during the day but it will take a few weeks for you to deter most of the bees that show up over time. While the tarping approach isn't always successful, wider areas can be saturated with plain of soapy water which will bring the bees out. Since sopa will work as an insecticide to some extent, it will kill some of the bees in the process but I still consider this preferable over the use of conventional insecticides. The waterlogged soils will hopefully deter the bees but again we're looking at activity that can take place over several weeks. 

Information, including pictures, of these bees and the "damage" that they cause can be found at:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/Insects/O&T/lawn/note100/note100.html

The Produce Lady

Have you ever wondered what to do with your extra veggies? or How to prepare that spaghetti squash that a friend gave you seed from? The Produce Lady is a program created through North Carolina Cooperative Extension that encourages the residents and farmers of North Carolina to produce and purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables. It is a great resources for recipes, preparation help, proper production practices, and much more! The Produce Lady uses YouTube videos to make learning a fun and interactive process. Links to great resources and statewide events are also all easily found on the website. So hurry on over to www.TheProduceLady.org, check out a recipe, head off to your local farmers market for supplies, and I'll be over for dinner!

Uninvited Holiday Pests

I just received an email from Steve Frank, Extension Entomologist at North Carolina State University about unwanted pests that you may find on your Christmas tree. It is a two part article that you may find interesting and helpful. Hope you enjoy.

Uninvited Holiday Guests: Part 1

Christmas trees like other crops have many pests that feed on them. Also like other crops, they are grown outside. Thus, many insect species may be unfortunate enough to stop for a rest just as the tree is bundled up and trucked to your local box store. Every year people report arthropods that have hitchhiked into their house on a Christmas tree. Here are a few of the most common.

Cinara sp. aphids feed on Christmas trees and are sometimes present at harvest time (http://www.freshfromflorida.com/pi/pest-alerts/christmas-tree-aphids.html). These critters feed on tree sap and are often mistaken for ticks once inside a house. They are easily distinguished from ticks because they have 6 legs whereas ticks have 8. In addition they are round whereas ticks are flat. These aphids cannot survive long without a living tree and will soon fizzle out as the tree dries.

Spruce spider mites are another Christmas tree pest that could come in on your tree. You would have to be looking very hard to see these guys. They are very small. 

Cooly spruce gall adelgids are Christmas tree pests and super interesting (http://www.bugoftheweek.com/BugOfWeek_52C.html). They have a complex life cycle in which they alternate between two hosts. The produce galls that look like cones that actually contain hundreds of young aphids. 

It is important to remember that all of these pests feed on live trees. The will not set up shop under your couch or on your dog. As the tree dies so will they. If there are more than you can handle then return the tree and pick a new one. It is very unlikely you would get another infested tree even from the same dealer.

Uninvited Holiday Guests: Part 2

We discussed arthropod pests of Christmas trees that people find once they bring trees into their home. In this article we will discuss arthropod hitchhikers that do not feed on Christmas trees but were unlucky enough to be on one when it was cut, bundled, and shipped. When you get home with your tree these critters may wander off and startle the kids or amuse your cat but will not cause harm to people or become permanent residents of your home. They do not want to be there any more (probably way less) than you want them there. 

Many arthropods spend the winter as eggs that their parents laid in the fall. The eggs typically hatch when warm weather comes in the spring. However, if the eggs are on a tree that you place in front of your warm yuletide fire they will hatch (please don’t put your Christmas tree near a fire, yuletide or otherwise). 

Spiders frequently lay eggs on trees and hitchhike into homes on Christmas trees. Spider hatchlings get around in nature by climbing to the top of plants and ballooning on silk threads. Essentially they get blown around and hope to land in a good spot. In your living room there is probably not much wind (though Grandpa always complains about the draft) but they will still string silk around the tree as they try to catch a breeze. Eventually they will give up and crawl off the tree where you might spot them on the wall. 

Praying mantids are a fun insect to rear. The egg case looks like brown foam from which hundreds of small mantids emerge. The young mantids are an inch or so long and very quick. They climb all over and really freak people out who aren’t expecting them. Young mantids are hungry, voracious predators so maybe they will eat the other bugs you didn't know you had. A lot of bugs live in your home no matter how clean it is. Our friends at http://www.yourwildlife.org can tell you all about this.

People also report adult and larval lady beetles or green lacewings. Of course people often find Asian multicolored lady beetles in their house that come in through vents and cracks to spend the winter. It is possible that adult or larval lady beetles of other species could be hunkered down for the winter on your Christmas tree along with green lacewings and their larvae. Green lacewings are beautiful delicate insects as adults and predators as larvae. They are very cool to watch and to feed if you happen to have some other bugs lying around. 

As we mentioned yesterday, Christmas trees are a natural product grown outdoors. Any insect that happened to land on a tree and get bundled up will emerge in your living room. Other things we have found include bark beetles, psyllids, stinkbugs, weevils, and moths. Just vacuum them up. It is very unlikely any human pest, like ticks, or structural pest, like termites, would ever get transported on Christmas trees. So don’t worry. Watch the cat go crazy and enjoy the wildlife!

Fall Invadors

It seems like every year we have more and more insects looking to our homes to escape the oncoming winter. First there were lady bugs to boxelder bugs and now we have to worry about kudzu bugs and marmorated stink bugs. It all seems so confusing as we try to figure out how to get rid of these nuisance pests. Another home invader that we often experience as cooler weather approaches is the paper wasps. While all the workers are dying the surviving queens are seeking some out of the way place to spend the winter. Unfortunately, these wasps will often find their way indoors. You will often see them bouncing off windows, ceilings, and light fixtures. They will also tend to congregate in attics where you may find several flying about on warmer days.

Some things to remember about these occasional wasp sitings are:

First - seeing these wasps do not mean that there is a nest in the wall. Paper wasps prefer to be outside on overhangs or under a porch.

Second - Since these are queens looking of overwintering sites and not workers defending a nest, they are not aggressive and not likely to sting. Stings do occasionally happen, however, when one of these wasps crawls into a shoe left on the floor or in a jacket left hanging where they can access it. If you leave shoes on the floor or clothing hanging on a door, shake them before putting them on so you can see if a wasp flies out.

Third - Spraying indoors to control these wasps is futile. There isn't a specific target area to treat and the wasps are likely to be hiding in an area where it will not be affected. The most effective way is to just keep a rolled up newspaper nearby and swatting any unwelcome visitors.

For additional information:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/Other/note144/note144.html

http://insects.ncsu.edu/Urban/paperwasp.htm 

Information for this post was obtained from an email from Michael Waldvogel.