Category Archives: Pests of landscapes
Crape myrtle bark scale reduces bloom
As the crape myrtle bark scale spreads throughout Texas, one of the first questions we hear is “will the scale kill my tree?” The answer appears to be “no”, at least not often. To date we’ve not been able to show any crape myrtle tree death as a result of a bark scale infestation. But like many sap-feeding scale insects, these little scales can stress and reduce the appearance of the trees, while producing a prodigious amount of sticky “honeydew” that can coat the leaves and anything under the tree… Read More →
Time to bait for fire ants!
If you haven’t tried them yet, fire ant baits are the best tools for really managing fire ants. They are relatively inexpensive, require little labor to apply, and are safe for both you and the environment. The biggest drawback of baits is that they cannot be used all year round. Instead applications must be timed to periods when fire ants are actively looking for food, foraging in ant worker lingo. Many years ago a researcher at Florida State University, named Sanford Porter, spent an entire year of his life (three times… Read More →
Homeless insects and energy audits
When cold weather comes knocking, it should be no surprise that hundreds, or even thousands, of insects may be waiting for you to open the door this fall. It’s not like you can really blame them. They are just temporarily homeless critters looking for a warm place to spend the winter. I was staying at a hotel this week in Austin for the Entomological Society of America’s annual meeting, and on my 23rd floor window I looked out and saw dozens of hackberry nipple-gall maker insects on the… Read More →
A squirrelly problem
Squirrels may be cute, and I enjoy watching squirrels in the woods as much as anyone. I’m less entranced, however, by the squirrel cartel currently occupying my backyard. A few weeks ago, after returning home from an out of town trip, I noticed something wasn’t quite right with the cedar elm tree in my backyard. An entire branch of the tree appeared to be dead. Inspection close to the trunk revealed that the bark had been peeled off, chewed off actually, girdling the entire branch. I had noticed… Read More →
What is a beneficial parasite?
The words “beneficial” and “parasite” are not normally heard together. But when talking about gardens, and parasitic wasps that attack pests, the word pairing makes good sense. Many insects in both natural settings and the urban landscape have long been recognized by humans as “beneficial”, as in benefiting man. Predators of pest insects, in particular, have attracted admiring fans, especially farmers. As early as ninth century China, farmers were modifying their orchards to aid the transfer of predator ants for control of citrus pests. By the 18th century… Read More →
New pest of lilies in Texas
While on a garden tour in Tyler, TX this week, Smith County Horticulture Agent Keith Hansen was alerted to a new pest of lilies in town. Some visiting Louisiana scientists pointed out signs of the daylily leafminer, Ophiomyia kwansonis, on daylilies in the Tyler Rose Garden. This new invasive leafminer fly was first confirmed in 2011 from Apopka, Florida during a nursery inspection, though daylily growers and collectors were aware of unusual leafminer damage since at least 2008, and the first possible picture of it was reported from… Read More →
Honey bees at center of controversy
What could present a more peaceful, bucolic image than the scene of beekeepers tending their bee hives? Beekeepers are traditionally seen as the gentlest of agriculturalists, not killing for food but merely reaping the labor of an industrious insect in exchange for nurture and protection. Yet there is little peaceful about the verbal and political battle swirling about beekeepers and honey bees at the moment. You may have seen the headlines in recent years proclaiming the doom of the honey bee. The domestic bee industry in the U.S…. Read More →
An odd “pest”
Even when not an insect, if an object is small and mysterious, it will often be called a “bug” and end up on the desk of an entomologist. Such was the case with a specimens I received last week. They were described by a pest management professional as “tiny bugs” that appeared on the south side of a customer’s house every year. No mulch or trees or shrubs were reported nearby. I thought at first that these tiny (1.3 mm length) objects might be spores from the artillery… Read More →
