Monday, October 25, 2010
Pesticide Licensing & Certification
The following is a link to a fact sheet with information about the new requirements for pesticide licensing and certification. http://ipm.ncsu.edu/pesticidesafety/AG714W.pdf
Friday, September 17, 2010
Thousand Cankers Disease
Another new pest could be coming our way. Thousand Cankers Disease has be identified in Tennessee. Thousand Cankers Disease (TCD)is a disease of Black Walnut. TCD poses a serious problem to the health of the black walnut tree. Walnut trees are important because of their nut crop and the desired wood for various products. TCD is a progressive disease that kills a tree within two to three years after initial infection. The disease-causing fungus, Geosmithia, is transmitted by the walnut twig beetle. Branches and trunk tissue are killed by repeated infections by the fungus, as the beetles carry the fungus into new bark cambium tissue.
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has issued a quarantine of all plants or plant part of the genus Juglans coming into the state from Tennessee and many other western states that already have Thousand Cankers Disease established.
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has issued a quarantine of all plants or plant part of the genus Juglans coming into the state from Tennessee and many other western states that already have Thousand Cankers Disease established.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Spruce Spider Mite
Growers should be keeping a watch for spruce spider mite with the hot, dry weather we have been having recently. Growers should be scouting to determine the presence of mites and they should review the economic thresholds to determine if or when they would need to treat.
The economic thresholds used by most growers are listed below. However, each grower has different needs for tree quality. These numbers should be adjusted up or down by each grower based on his or her own experience and needs.
Size of Tree
Less than waist high 40%
Waist high to year before sale 20%
Year of sale 10%
*Percentage of infested shoots to sampled shoots
The economic thresholds used by most growers are listed below. However, each grower has different needs for tree quality. These numbers should be adjusted up or down by each grower based on his or her own experience and needs.
Size of Tree
Less than waist high 40%
Waist high to year before sale 20%
Year of sale 10%
*Percentage of infested shoots to sampled shoots
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Elongate Hemlock Scale
Elongate Hemlock Scale seems to be exploding this year over most Christmas tree farms in Mitchell County. The treatment window for this summer is getting close to closing so now if the time to be out scouting and evaluating the amount of infestation you have from Elongate Hemlock Scale.
The elongate hemlock scale, sometimes known as the fiorinia scale, is a serious armored scale insect pest of hemlock and Fraser fir. It is believed that this armored scale insect was unintentionally introduced into the United States from Japan.
The EHS is found almost exclusively on the underside of needles and will be found on multiple years of growth. On infested branches, scale numbers average 10 per needle and there can be as many as 30 on a single needle with scales sometimes found on top of each other.
When infestations are heavy, trees may have yellow blotches or patches on the needles and growth will be stunted. However, such symptoms are not commonly seen on Fraser fir in western North Carolina. More commonly what is seen are the white, waxy excretions of the male scales found on the upper surface of needles especially during summer months when males are maturing. Infestations that do not reduce tree growth can still make trees un-saleable because of this white covering to the needles.
The EHS has two, overlapping generations in the southern Appalachians. Because of this overlap, all life stages can be found almost any time of year, though proportions of one stage to another will vary. Crawlers emerge throughout the growing season and even in winter months, but peak crawler emergence is in May into June and again in late October into November.
The crawlers must find an appropriate feeding site. Crawlers may move somewhere else on the same needle, crawl onto the new growth, or move passively through wind or bird movement onto other trees or fields. Once a feeding site is found they molt, never moving again.
Immature scales appear to burrow under the waxy layer produced by the needle, making them even more protected against pesticide applications and predators. As the scale matures, it forms behind the original yellow immature, making it look as if a smaller scale is attached to a larger. The feeding tube of the immatures is as long as it is, appearing as a tiny coppery wire. The scales feed in epidermal cells.
Immature female scales go through three stages of development while males have additional prepupal and pupal stages. Males emerge as a tiny winged insect with large black eyes and long antennas. Before they emerge, they can sometimes be found under the white cotton of the pupal stage. They have no mouth-parts and live only a few days, mating with females. Eggs are produced six to eight weeks after mating. Each female produces 12 to 16 eggs at a time, which hatch within a month. Mature females may live for more than one year.
The elongate hemlock scale, sometimes known as the fiorinia scale, is a serious armored scale insect pest of hemlock and Fraser fir. It is believed that this armored scale insect was unintentionally introduced into the United States from Japan.
The EHS is found almost exclusively on the underside of needles and will be found on multiple years of growth. On infested branches, scale numbers average 10 per needle and there can be as many as 30 on a single needle with scales sometimes found on top of each other.
When infestations are heavy, trees may have yellow blotches or patches on the needles and growth will be stunted. However, such symptoms are not commonly seen on Fraser fir in western North Carolina. More commonly what is seen are the white, waxy excretions of the male scales found on the upper surface of needles especially during summer months when males are maturing. Infestations that do not reduce tree growth can still make trees un-saleable because of this white covering to the needles.
The EHS has two, overlapping generations in the southern Appalachians. Because of this overlap, all life stages can be found almost any time of year, though proportions of one stage to another will vary. Crawlers emerge throughout the growing season and even in winter months, but peak crawler emergence is in May into June and again in late October into November.
The crawlers must find an appropriate feeding site. Crawlers may move somewhere else on the same needle, crawl onto the new growth, or move passively through wind or bird movement onto other trees or fields. Once a feeding site is found they molt, never moving again.
Immature scales appear to burrow under the waxy layer produced by the needle, making them even more protected against pesticide applications and predators. As the scale matures, it forms behind the original yellow immature, making it look as if a smaller scale is attached to a larger. The feeding tube of the immatures is as long as it is, appearing as a tiny coppery wire. The scales feed in epidermal cells.
Immature female scales go through three stages of development while males have additional prepupal and pupal stages. Males emerge as a tiny winged insect with large black eyes and long antennas. Before they emerge, they can sometimes be found under the white cotton of the pupal stage. They have no mouth-parts and live only a few days, mating with females. Eggs are produced six to eight weeks after mating. Each female produces 12 to 16 eggs at a time, which hatch within a month. Mature females may live for more than one year.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Emerald Ash Borer
This week the Tennessee Department of Agriculture announced that emerald ash borer has been found in Knox and Loudon counties. This places it very close to Swain and Graham counties in North Carolina. The Tennessee Department of Agriculture and USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service are expected to issue quarantine measures on the movement of firewood, ash nursery stock and ash timber.
Emerald ash borer beetles can kill an ash tree within three years of the initial infestation. Adults are dark green, one-half inch in length and one-eighth inch wide, and fly from April until September, depending on the climate of the area (probably more like May to August in North Carolina). Larvae spend the rest of the year beneath the bark of ash trees. When they emerge as adults, they leave D-shaped holes in the bark about one-eighth inch wide.
For more information, see the USDA Forest Service’s Pest Alert on the emerald ash borer at http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/pest_al/eab/eab.pdf. If you want help identifying an ash tree, go to http://www.anr.msu.edu/robertsd/ash/ashtree_id.html.
From: Steve Bambara and Steve Frank, Extension Entomologists
Emerald ash borer beetles can kill an ash tree within three years of the initial infestation. Adults are dark green, one-half inch in length and one-eighth inch wide, and fly from April until September, depending on the climate of the area (probably more like May to August in North Carolina). Larvae spend the rest of the year beneath the bark of ash trees. When they emerge as adults, they leave D-shaped holes in the bark about one-eighth inch wide.
For more information, see the USDA Forest Service’s Pest Alert on the emerald ash borer at http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/pest_al/eab/eab.pdf. If you want help identifying an ash tree, go to http://www.anr.msu.edu/robertsd/ash/ashtree_id.html.
From: Steve Bambara and Steve Frank, Extension Entomologists
Monday, July 26, 2010
2010 Marketing Season
The 2010 marketing season is fast approaching. Below are three tips to get you thinking about the upcoming season.
1.Begin making contact with the customers that you had last year. Make phone calls or personnel visits to discuss this years plans.
2.Look for ways to get your business name out to more potential customers. Design a website if you don't have one, join a growers association that can help market for you, buy adds in papers, magazines or journals that may target the area you want to market in.
3.Deliver great customer service. I read an article recently that discussed the importance of customer service. It stated that customer service was more important than quality when it came down to a determining factor of whether a customer was going to purchase from you or someone else.
1.Begin making contact with the customers that you had last year. Make phone calls or personnel visits to discuss this years plans.
2.Look for ways to get your business name out to more potential customers. Design a website if you don't have one, join a growers association that can help market for you, buy adds in papers, magazines or journals that may target the area you want to market in.
3.Deliver great customer service. I read an article recently that discussed the importance of customer service. It stated that customer service was more important than quality when it came down to a determining factor of whether a customer was going to purchase from you or someone else.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Chemical Mowing Rates
I have had a few calls about rates for chemical mowing applications. Even though the new growth of Fraser fir is out and seems to be hardening up, I would caution going back up to a full 8 oz. per acre rate of RoundUp at this time. You may want to stick to the 4 oz. per acre rate for another couple of weeks if you have fields that need spraying right now.
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