As of July 1, 2011, all "assessment survey" activities have been completed. The cooperative response effort is now conducting "delimiting surveys" in the village of Bethel and throughout Tate Township in Clermont County in southwest Ohio. This survey work consists of visual surveys of all host trees within a given radius of the initial find. As of July 12, 2011, the following numbers pertain to the delimiting survey activities: the number of ALB infested trees confirmed - 162; the number of trees surveyed on July 12, 2011 - 293; total number of trees surveyed since July 5, 2011 - 3,859; and the number of square-miles under regulation remains the same - 56.

Key messages being communicated by USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) include: residents in the ALB regulated area established for Tate Township within Clermont County cannot move firewood or wood debris outside of the regulated area and outside of East Fork State Park; residents are discouraged from moving firewood and wood debris inside the regulated area; residents can report suspected ALB by calling 1-855-252-6450 or by going online to www.BeetleBusters.info; and residents can also call 1-855-252-6450 to report any movement of firewood or wood debris within or outside of the regulated area over the past 5 years.

Regardless of the approach that will be taken to address the ALB infestation in Tate Township, USDA/APHIS wants to assure area homeowners that they will not incur costs for the removals of infested trees by the state or federal government.

An informational update meeting will take place this evening, July 14 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the Bethel Community Center, located at 135 North Union Street, Bethel, Ohio.

This season has also seemed to have been good for several ant species. I have had several emails with images of winged ants and the question, "What are these?!" Each ant species has a different strategy for releasing new queens and kings. Most tend to release their "swarmers" in the late afternoon, often after a brief rain shower which is followed by emergence of the sun. I noticed that the little thief ant and the common turfgrass ants do this. However, pavement ants and carpenter ants often release swarmers after dark.

Last week, nearly a hundred pavement ant queens and a lesser number of kings were attracted to my back porch light and many ended up in an empty bucket that I had sitting under the light!

Where we run into trouble is when the smaller species, like the little thief ant is also attracted to lights at night, especially lights left on inside a room that has the window open. These tiny ants, even though winged, are able to squeeze through the holes in standard window screening. Having hundreds of these little winged ants crawling frantically over tables, chairs, and even people can be pretty disconcerting! Fortunately, these winged ant releases usually happen over a few days each year, and the releases won't be repeated until next season.

What is pretty interesting about these ants is how the mated females (which may eventually become queens) start a new colony. After mating, often while flying, the female rips off her wings, and digs into soil and form a small brood chamber. Of course carpenter ant queens dig into decaying wood or form a chamber under loose bark of a dead log. The chamber is sealed off and the female ant begins to lay a few eggs. These eggs hatch and the female will continue to produce a few eggs which are fed to the developing larvae. After a few weeks, these larvae pupate and some smaller than normal workers finally emerge. These workers break out of the chamber and begin foraging for food. If the workers are successful, they feed the queen and she produces more eggs which are now fed and cared for by the workers.

In many cases, the queen runs out of fat researves before her initial brood is completed. In other cases, when the new workers open up the brood chamber, nearby ant colonies raid the nest, destroying the queen, workers and any remaining brood. It's a tough world out there for a young ant colony!

Bottom line, even though these ant swarms can be annoying, they are nothing to become overly concerned about! I know that thousands of cans of "bug spray" are used every season to kill swarming ants, but most will die off anyway. Just sweep them up if they get inside and ignore the ones outside!

Last week, I noticed that the tops of some coneflowers were hanging down. Upon close inspection, the stems of these flowers had been neatly cut, as if someone had taken snips and cut the stem through except for a tiny thread! This is evidence of the head-clipping weevil which was first described last year! This appears to be a newer pest and it does this strange behavior as part of its reproductive cycle.

While some would reach for an insecticide option, this weevil can be pretty easy to manage if you do a daily inspection of your coneflowers! As soon as you see a flower clipped, cup your hands below the actual flower and raise it up inside your cupped hands. The weevil female usually has her beak deeply imbedded into the flower surface! If you move slowly, she will continue with her feeding and egg laying behavior. If you disturb the flower too much, she'll try to drop off the flower, but if cupped hands are below, she'll drop into your hands! In any case, these weevils rarely reach really large numbers, so a few days of capturing them and disposal will stop them for the season!

On the other hand, if you feel you need to nuke them, they appear to be pretty susceptible to most pyrethroid insecticides. A reason why I avoid such sprays is that you have to spray the flowers, the same place that beneficial pollinators visit!