Oh Sir, what’s that pretty beetle?

I had to have a chuckle the week before last when an emerald ash borer landed on my light green shirt and one of the participants asked the above question. In central Ohio, we are in the midst of the peak emergence of this beetle, but additional adults will continue to emerge over the next three weeks. In more northern locations, the adults haven’t even shown up yet, but will do so within the next week.

I’m always amazed at how most people are totally unaware of this pest and don’t realize that the tops of their ash trees dying out is one of the first, easily observed symptoms. We also get green tiger beetles, green stink bugs and even Japanese beetle adults submitted as suspect EABs. EAB adults are very slender and usually ½ to ¾ inch long. In the sun, they usually show emerald green to coppery green iridescence. In the shade, they may be a dark olive green to brown color. When they take flight, they usually flash a red to purple iridescence that is the upper surface of the abdomen, which is normally hidden by the wing covers. There is still time to treat valued ash trees, but we always recommend that the earlier you can get to this, the better the results will be. Homeowners are currently paying between $100 to $160 for a single tree to be injected, but they can purchase one of several imidacloprid products (Bayer Advanced, Fertilome, and Bonide are the most commonly found products) which will usually cost less than $30 to treat most landscape trees (really large ash trees may take two containers). I prefer the liquid formulations that have the customer mix up the product in a bucket of water an pour around the base of the tree. This gets the maximum amount of insecticide into the tree. Granules don’t seem to do as well. For more info go to website http://ashalert.osu.edu

Baby Bagworms? I’ve been noticing the little grass bagworms in considerable numbers in and around landscapes where I have been looking at trees and shrubs. However, last week, my wife finally asked me if I had seen what looked like tiny bagworms attached to our front door. After irritating chuckle, I said, that ‘Indeed, I had.’ Well?? They aren’t actually little bagworms, but mature larvae of the grass bagworm. This little caterpillar makes its bag out of small section of grass blades attached to a small silk bag. While the larvae are feeding on grass, they are virtually invisible, but when they are ready to pupate, they move onto nearby trees, shrubs, and building. On these locations, they stand out once they turn brown. Once the larvae have settled on these more permanent surfaces control is not possible. You can only pick them off and toss them aside.

Japanese beetle season is upon us!

I can’t believe that I found my first adult beetle almost three weeks ago, but finding quite a few masked chafer adults in my light trap last week is the warning the Japanese beetle adults will certainly begin to emerge in mass over the next three weeks.

I mention this because now is the time to begin treatments for the adult beetles. The neonicotinoids, imidacloprid and clothianidin, need some time to be taken up by trees and shrubs that need to be protected (like lindens, roses, etc) drench these plants now for protection over the next four weeks. It also looks like we have the old standard, Sevin, with us again this season and regular application of this product is still very effective, but only for about 10 to 14 days. We still don’t recommend using the pheromone traps.

Glo little grow worm glitter glitter (Mills Brothers, boy does that date me). Here’s some great explaining of those night lighters.

Just as I was afraid of. Wet and cool, then hot and dry. but, much of Ohio is still getting short downpours as cool and warm fronts collide and skirt across Ohio.

My ultimate harbinger of summer arrived last week – lightening bugs (aka, Fireflies). As I was leaving the lab after dark last week, I was startled at seeing hundreds of the dim flashes going off over the Waterman Farm Fields (the Bee Lab sits in the middle of the farm). I know that I’m going to get questions from folks about seeing high numbers or almost no fireflies. As I’ve explained before, these are predatory beetles and the larvae feed primarily on squishy things – snails, slugs and worms. Where we had sufficient moisture last year to support good slug populations, you are likely to see lots of fireflies. On the other hand, if it was dry and the slug population crashed, you may see few fireflies. I don’t buy into some of the web sites that claim significant decreases in firefly populations around the world, primarily due to those dirty, nasty, pesticides.

Most of the decreases (world wide) appear to be the result of habitat loss and loss of suitable food resources.

Spittlebug
Taken from the B.Y.G.L. (Buckeye Yard and Garden Online) Newsletter
Contributing Authors: Pam Bennett, Joe Boggs, Cindy Meyer, Jim Chatfield, Erik Draper, Dave Dyke, Gary Gao, David Goerig, Tim Malinich, Becky McCann, Bridget Meiring, Amy Stone and Curtis Young

Curtis Young and Joe Boggs reported that the frothy, spittle-like masses produced by spittlebug nymphs are now appearing on a number of plant species in western and southwestern Ohio, respectively. Most types of spittlebugs do not cause significant harm to their hosts and are primarily viewed as oddities; however, the PINE SPITTLEBUG (Aphrophora parallella) can potentially cause significant harm to their namesake hosts.

Spittlebug nymphs are found embedded with the frothy mass. The foamy "spittle" has several important functions including keeping the nymphs moist and protecting them from predators and parasitoids. Despite the common name, the bubbly mass is not produced by the nymph's mouth; it arises from the other end. The nymphs feed by using their piercing mouthparts to extract plant sap. They then use special glands near their anus to pump air into the processed sap after it passes through their gut. Thus, an alternative common name proposed by Dave Shetlar is "anal bubble bugs."

Pine spittlebugs may be found on Scotch, Austrian, and eastern white pines as well as all spruces and firs. Heavy infestations sometimes occur and can produce significant damage. Intense feeding activity can clog the vascular system causing new shoots to be stunted or killed. Black sooty molds may colonize the heavy flow of spittle as it drops onto needles and branches producing an unsightly mess. Additionally, spittlebug feeding wounds have been found to serve as entry points for certain infectious fungal diseases such as Diplodia tip blight.

Fortunately, spittlebugs usually occur in relatively low numbers and they seldom cause significant harm other than affecting plant aesthetics. They can be effectively controlled by crushing the nymphs by hand. An insecticide labeled for use on the affected conifer may be needed to suppress heavy infestations.