When ants invade

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carpenter ant adult
carpenter ant adult

One ant may not be a big deal, but hundreds or more can be enough to drive you out of your home. This carpenter ant normally lives in a tree, but will gladly take up residence in an attic, wall or even hollow door.

It’s ant season, and garden centers around Texas are swarming with folks looking for a quick solution to ant invasions.

Ants have been the bane of humankind since before the first picnic. But who could imagine how much misery and anger a tiny little insect like an ant could produce? But of course it’s never just one ant that’s the problem.  As I was recently reminded, one ant can quickly turn into dozens on the floor, on counter-tops and in the bathroom.

My wife and I experienced that frustration a couple of weeks ago; but I should have expected it. The night before, as I was turning out lights I noticed just two little ants in the middle of the carpet of our living room.  “Strange place for ants, but at least there are only two,” I thought.  The next night at dinner my wife started noticing ants around her chair. To her horror and my consternation, ants were not only on the chair, but on the carpet, the hardwood floor and generally covering a swath of square footage from kitchen to back door. I should have predicted this event from my discovery the night before.

Now folks, here’s one of the few benefits to being married to an entomologist. I was able to quickly identify the ants as fire ants. Knowing that fire ants nest outdoors, I checked the back door casement and sure enough found the entry point. Following the trail outside to the patio I saw the source of the trail was a small drill hole in the brick of our exterior wall. The ants had built a nest, at least temporarily, in our wall.

Know your enemy

This brings me to my first piece of advice when controlling ants. Know what ant your dealing with, and select the best control method for that pest. Although ants can be difficult to identify, it’s not too hard to guess the identity of the common household ants in Texas with the help of this factsheet: https://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/household/ants-house/ent-2013/ 

Fire ants, I knew, are easily controlled with fire ant bait.  Fortunately, I had some fire ant bait that I used at the end of summer last year, and had kept stored indoors through the winter.  A quick sprinkling of the bait around the edges of the patio told me the bait was still highly attractive, with ants almost immediately picking it up and carrying it into the hole. Very satisfying.

If I had used that bait on anything other than fire ants, it wouldn’t have worked. Fire ant bait is pretty selective for fire ants (harvester ants will also take it); other ants might sniff it, but will not eat it or carry it back to their nest. Neither of us have seen a fire ant in the house since I treated these ants.

Confuse your enemy

The first thing we did before attacking the outdoor nest was to clean the floor with a household cleaner (we used Murphy’s Oil soap on our hardwood floors, but most any soap will do).  This does two things: it kills many ants quickly, since soap is a decent insecticide; but it also destroys the scent trail ants use to find food, water or whatever else attracts them. So my second piece of advice is to wash down any hard surfaces with soap to destroy the pheromone trail bringing the ants to your inner sanctum. If you can find where the ants are getting in this is also a good time to seal off those entry points with some silicon or other sealant.

Attack your enemy

Sometimes just confusing the enemy and sealing their points of entry is enough, and keeps ants from returning for a while. But insecticides can be useful in helping kill and keeping ants out of the home. Decide where you need to treat and choose the best insecticide. For outdoor ants like odorous house ants, Argentine ants and fire ants, look for the nest. Follow the ant trail as far as you can. Often you will get an idea, like I did, where the nest or nests is located.  A garden insecticide labeled for ant control, and a sprayer, is all you need to treat ant nests in the soil. A dust insecticide in a squeeze bottle will allow you to treat ants going into a wall void or hollow tree.  Look under potted plant dishes, in clogged gutters, under mulch, stepping stones or the garden gnome–anything under which ants might find shelter. Once you’ve found and treated all the nests you can, use your sprayer (a hose-end sprayer is especially good) and apply a residual insecticide like bifenthrin to the soil around the house and  to the lower foot or so of the foundation. This will help keep ants from re-entering the home for days.

Indoors, the best choice for ant control is usually a bait. Sprays are messy and pose unnecessary risks, especially in the hands of us amateurs. Baits require less insecticide, therefore are safer, and they are generally more effective than sprays if you match the right bait to the pest.

Don’t waste your money on the solid puck-type ant baits found on most grocery store shelves. Most household ants are sugar lovers, so look for liquid ant baits like Hot Shot® or Terro®.  These can be placed around the home wherever ants are found. Though most of these baits are pretty low toxicity and child resistant, keep them out of reach of children, dogs, cats, ferrets, chinchillas or any other curious household pets.  Carpenter ants and pharaoh ants (see the ant ID factsheet) will not usually be tempted by these sugar-based baits; but they both have specialized baits available online (Google ‘carpenter ant bait’ or ‘pharaoh ant bait’ and select one of the DIY retailers).

Know when to retreat

One final piece of advice: be patient, but if DIY treatments don’t get you relief within a week, call a professional.  Professionals do this all day and are more likely to correctly identify and select the right treatment. If you live in the Gulf Coast areas of Texas, now home to the infamous tawny crazy ant, good luck. You will probably need professional help to keep that particular ant at bay.  Argentine ants can also be difficult to tackle on your own.

You don’t need to live with an entomologist to successfully defend your home from ants. But having a pest control expert on speed dial can be a good thing.

 

Chigger season

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chigger life cycle

Does your lawn have chiggers? Keeping grass clipped short, use of a good repellent and proper use of insecticides can help.

If my phone calls are any indication, this appears to be a whopping chigger season.  Don’t know what I’m talking about?  You should count your blessings.

Chiggers are my personal worst nightmare. They are tiny mites, barely visible to the eye, that live on the soil surface and, in their larval stage, are parasites on humans and other vertebrate animals. Chigger bites itch terribly for 1-2 days, then slowly shrink to mildly itchy red marks that take 1 or 2 weeks to disappear. The only good thing I can say about chiggers is that, as far as we know, they don’t carry disease.

Bites typically occur in the most sensitive of places, especially around areas of tight clothing (belt line, sock line) and thin, sensitive skin (you can imagine where).

So why do chiggers seem worse this year? If I had to guess, I’d say it’s been our high humidity and above average temperatures the past month. Chiggers love hot and humid.

The most common places to encounter chiggers is in bramble patches, woods and fields with long grass. But in a year like this, chiggers can be a problem even in manicured lawns. Chiggers are often said to prefer shaded areas, but workers in our blazing-sun-drenched turfgrass plots at the Texas A&M AgriLife Center in Dallas have annual problems with chiggers beginning around late May and early June.

Your first protection against chiggers is a good repellent. DEET, our most popular mosquito repellent provides significant protection against chiggers.  Dusting sulfur is a cheap and convenient alternative for some. Traditionally old-time Texans make it a habit to carry around an old sock filled with sulfur (in the pickup truck of course). When getting out of the truck they swing the sock against their shoes and lower legs to dust themselves before they set off to ride, roundup, plant, fix bob wire, or whatever else good Texans do these days.

chigger life cycle

The larval chigger (circled) is the only biting stage in the chigger life cycle. Larval chigger season runs from May through August in north Texas. Drawing modified from Mullen and Durden, Medical and Veterinary Entomology. Artist: Rebecca L. Nims.

Here are my three tips for self protection in chigger country:

  • Use a good repellent, applying to your shoes, socks and pants legs before stepping into chigger danger.
  • Tuck your pant legs into your socks to make it harder for chiggers to get in your pants and find the tender places.
  • Scrub yourself well in the shower after you think you might have been exposed. Chiggers typically take several hours to settle down and begin feeding. If you can shower before they begin chowing down, you can reduce the number and severity of bites.

If you have chiggers in your lawn or backyard, consider using a liquid insecticide spray like bifenthrin. These sprays can significantly reduce chiggers.  Before spraying, mow your lawn. This reduces humidity on that critical soil surface and makes it easier for sprays to contact the chiggers.

If your lawn is full of dandelions, clover or other flowers, make sure you spray for chiggers in the evening to avoid spraying pollinators, like honey bees, while they are foraging. Follow all label directions to avoid harm to good insects.

Good luck, and may the chiggers stay on the other side of the fence for you this year. For more information about chiggers, see our factsheet, E-365.

Caring about the Other Bees

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bee hotel
bee on flower

The European honey bee visiting this Aster is just one of thousands of different kinds of bees. Its relatively large size, with lots of good PR from the beekeeping industry, make it our most recognizable bee.

In my experience, most people like bees. Aside from the occasional bad encounter with a sting, most of us know that bees are good, and a necessary part of our spaceship-earth zoo.

Recently, we’ve heard about honey bee die-offs due to a variety of problems. These stories are almost always about domesticated European honey bees, not native and wild bees.  These problems are largely cultural and have to do with sanitary bee management, not so much with ecological issues. Bees are important to agriculture and will be well taken care of in the long run.

But European honey bees are just one of 4,000 plus unique kinds of native bees found in the U.S. and Canada.  Most of these other bees are not well-known, yet are (arguably) far more important to our natural ecosystems than honey bees. These are the ones we should worry about.

longhorn bees on roost

An all-male roost of long-horn bees, genus Melissodes, gets ready to settle down in my garden for a night’s rest. The plant is Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’

Native bees differ from honey bees in many ways. None of our natives are honey producers (unless you count the unpalatable dark nectar stored in wax cells by bumble bees). While honey bees make above-ground nests out of wax, few of other bees make wax, and 70% of them live in the ground. Only about 1% of bees, including the honey bees and bumble bees, are social. Most of the remaining species live alone (are solitary), with each female in charge of building and provisioning her own nest.  Unlike the honey bees and bumble bees, these nonsocial bees do not attack and sting when their nest is disturbed; and their pollination skills are often equal, or superior, to the domestic honey bee.

bee hotel

My bee hotel is a focal point of our garden, and has succeeded in attracting native bees.

As a gardener, my goal is to attract and sustain these native bees. To do this, a few years ago my wife and I began a pollinator garden–a site with bee-attractive plants that would remain in bloom from spring to fall. Now in our third year, we are seeing the fruits of our labors.

Last summer I was delighted to see long-horned bees (bee tribe Eucerini) in our garden.  So named because of the male’s long antennae, they are similar in size to honey bees.  The males of this tribe have an unusual–and charming–roosting behavior. While the female bees spend the night in underground burrows, male Eucerines gather together on the twigs of certain plants and sleep in groups of up to 20 or so. Last night, my wife pointed with concern to a suspicious black mass on the tips of one of her flowering salvias. A closer look showed the black mass to consist of a cluster of 18 bees.

To keep from falling off the plant at night these bees close their jaws around a suitable stem, lock in, and drift off to bee dreamland, or wherever sleeping bees go. Very cool.

Another native bee family is the leaf cutting bees (family Megachilidae).  Leafcutters are common in Texas gardens. Look for their characteristic cuttings on rose leaves, photinia, ligustrum and other plants. Leaves are cut by female bees, and used to build a “nest”, actually a swaddling wrap for a small ball of pollen and a single bee egg.  These leaf wraps are stuffed into hollow plant stems or other natural, or man-made, cavities. You can recognize leafcutter bees by the way they carry pollen on the undersides of their abdomens.

Leafcutter bees are one of the bees that will take advantage of artificial bee hotels. This summer I’ve been enjoying watching leaf cutter bees, and others I have yet to identify, taking advantage of the bee hotel I installed two summers ago.  I estimate about 1/3 to 1/2 of the holes I drilled for bees have been occupied by bees at some time in the last two years.  As a bonus this year, a Carolina wren took refuge in a gap I left at the top of my bee house!

Megachilid (leaf cutter) bees carry pollen on special hairs on the undersides of their bodies (top).  Once you know what to look for it’s common to see the cutting activities of megachilids (middle).  Leafcutter bee nests consist of the cut leaves wrapped around pollen and an egg (or larva) and stuffed in a hollow twig or other convenient hole.

Despite an unforgettable sting early in life, I’ve always liked bumble bees. For me, bumble bees are one of the main attractions of a garden, adding sound, motion and color to the landscape. The scientific name for bumble bees, Bombus, comes from a Greek word meaning “buzzing sound.”  Only about 50 species of bumble bee occur in North America, and of all the native bees, these may be the most vulnerable.   Some scientists fear that that in addition to loss of habitat due to urbanization, some bumble bees may not be able to adapt to warming climates. Gardeners can, however help on the habitat end. In cities good nesting sites (underground animal burrows, piles of leaf litter, etc.), are rare. But bumble bee houses can remedy that to some extent.  My project for next year is to install several potential bumble bee nest pots in corners around the yard.  It may take awhile to attract bumble bees, but I’m patient.

I’m glad we built a garden for the “other bees.” Every night I find different bees to identify, butterflies and a variety of insect life, some of which makes good food for my new wren friends. It’s certainly made me want to get out more in the garden.

If you want to learn more about bees in your backyard, check out the excellent book, The Bees in Your Backyard, by Joseph Wilson and Olivia Messinger Carril.  They provide an excellent photo guide to all the bee families, and instructions for studying and attracting bees to your yard.

Oak catkin mirid

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adult oak catkin mirid, Tropidosteptes quercicola
adult oak catkin mirid, Tropidosteptes quercicola

The oak catkin mirid, Tropidosteptes quercicola, is one of our seasonal bugs that can show up for a week or two then disappears back into nature. Photo by Mike Merchant.

Naturalists in Texas have no shortage of interesting insects to observe. If you were paying attention over the past couple of weeks, you may have noticed a small bug present in large numbers, especially around live oak trees.

I’ve received several samples, some of which were sent by curious homeowners and some by pest control professionals. In some cases, they were observed clustering around doorways, other submitters just remarked that they were “very common right now.”

Given the large number of small brown plant bugs on Bugguide, I initially gave up trying to identify this insect beyond its family (Miridae, plant bugs), but thanks to entomologist Mike Quinn, the mystery has been solved.  The oak catkin myrid (MEER id), Tropidosteptes quercicola, is a tiny but attractive, mottled bug.  At only 6 mm it is easily missed most years (I’ve never noticed it before), but occasionally can become very abundant (like this month).

oak catkin mirid on door

An aggregation of oak catkin mirids on a doorway by Anthony Hernandez.

Bugguide describes it as one of the most commonly collected mirids in oak-juniper woodlands of Central Texas.  As its common name implies, it breeds on live oaks and is called a catkin mimic (blends in well with the male flower parts).  It is very abundant on live oaks, especially.

Little seems to be known about whether this bug feeds on the oak plant itself, or perhaps on oak pollen; but if you see it around your home, don’t worry. This is one of many native insects that occasionally reproduces in large numbers, but rarely causes damage. If it makes you feel better, these insects are likely considered delicacies by the song birds in your neighborhood. And without bugs we wouldn’t have the birds, or lizards, or toads or lots of things that keep life interesting and fun.

 

Treehoppers

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treehopper adult, Glossonotus acuminata
treehopper adult, Glossonotus acuminata

Glossonotus acuminata, a comparitively large treehopper, sports an impressive hopper fin.

Every year brings its own oddities of entomology. Some years caterpillars strip trees bare in the spring, other years grasshoppers arrive in hoards.  This spring I’ve had a couple of reports of a small insect called a treehopper, sometimes in large numbers.

Treehoppers are surely one of the most curious looking insects encountered by gardeners. They feed on plant sap, like many insects found in trees, but rarely seem to do much damage.  The most distinctive feature of the treehopper family is an upright, fin-like structure arising from the shield behind the head (pronotum).  In many species this structure resembles a tree bud or a thorn, and leading to one common name for this group, “thorn bugs.” There are thought to be about 280 species of treehoppers in the US, Canada and Mexico.

treehopper adult

This pretty green and black treehopper may be common on some oak trees this summer. Photo by Jonathan Garcia.

Last week I was alerted to a swarm of treehoppers landing on a family’s car in Dallas, TX (thanks to Master Volunteer Entomology Specialist, Mary Morrow for this video).  The pretty black and green insects were Smilia camelus, a relatively common treehopper on oaks.  I’ve never noticed these insects before, nor have I had reports or questions about them in 28 years here in Dallas. It is just another example of how nature can surprise us, and of the amazing diversity of life one can find even in the middle of a city.

treehoppers with egg cases

The twomarked treehoppers are among the most common treehoppers across the central and eastern U.S.

Oaks support the greatest diversity of treehoppers, though each species has its own tree preferences.  Another interesting treehopper I’ve photographed is the twomarked treehopper, actually thought to be a complex of closely related species. Adults of this genus are easily identified by two white spots on the back of its thorn-like horn, and by the white, cottony egg masses they lay on twigs.  The exact species within this genus are difficult to identify, though some species specialize in just a few plants.

treehopper nymph

Unknown species of Telamona treehopper nymph. Photographed from the Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve, Travis County, Texas, by Mike Quinn.

The nymphs of treehoppers look like something you’d expect to encounter at a prehistoric punk rock concert.  I half expect, when looking at one through the microscope, to see it sporting a nose ring.  Treehoppers go through a gradual form of metamorphosis, so there is a sort-of resemblance between the nymph and adult. But nymphs have a more razor-backed appearance and the prominent fin is usually not as evident. The nymphs commonly stay together after birth, and may be seen following an adult, presumably mommy.

It’s surprising to me, given the beauty and oddness of treehoppers, that more is not known about these insects. So let me encourage anyone with a keen eye and clear camera lens to consider photographing thorn bugs whenever you encounter them, and submit your pictures to Bugguide.net. This is one small way to increase our knowledge of this beautiful and quirky family of insects.

 

When is Sevin not Sevin?

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dog
dog

The name Sevin® has long been associated with flea control in pets, as well as with vegetable garden pest control.

Any gardener who’s been around the block a few times has probably used the insecticide Sevin®, known generically as carbaryl. First introduced to the public in 1956, carbaryl was the first commercially successful product in the carbamate insecticide class.  Since then, it has been a pest control workhorse for vegetable gardeners and fruit growers.  It’s relatively low cost, broad spectrum activity, and relatively short (usually 3-day) interval between application and harvest made carbaryl a popular choice for growers.  Its relatively low oral and skin toxicity to mammals also made carbaryl a favorite treatment choice for on-pet use against fleas.

In recent years, newer, more powerful pyrethroid insecticides have come to dominate store shelves, making carbaryl harder to find. A few years ago the Sevin® trade name was purchased by the pesticide distributor GardenTech.  This year, GardenTech is switching the active ingredient in Sevin® Insect Killer from carbaryl to zeta-cypermethrin, a newer pyrethroid insecticide.

According to one industry rep, GardenTech “upgraded” the active ingredient in most Sevin® products to zeta-cypermethrin this year. Sevin® Insect Killer Lawn Granules are changing their active ingredient to bifenthrin + zeta-cypermethrin.  The Sevin® Ready-to-Use 5% Dust is not changing immediately. It is still carbaryl, though this may also change.

Manufacturers commonly change ingredients in brand name products; however I can’t recall a similar name change in an insecticide active ingredient so closely tied to a trade name as carbaryl and Sevin®.  It will be hard for me to disassociate myself from thinking of Sevin® as anything other than carbaryl. It is something akin to changing the active ingredient in Tylenol® to something other than acetaminophen.

So if you expect to be getting carbaryl the next time you go to the store, look carefully at the label. If it’s a GardenTech product you may be getting a different active ingredient than what you expected.  That’s not to say the change will be bad. Zeta-cypermethrin and bifenthrin are both excellent active ingredients with longer staying power than the old carbaryl. In some, if not most, cases, it will likely perform better than carbaryl. But for some pests it may not.

To verify the active ingredient in Sevin® or any other insecticide, look in the list of active ingredients at the bottom of the front label.  You should see a generic active ingredient name followed by its percent content in the product by weight. This is one of the first things I look for when shopping for a pesticide.  It’s a wise gardener who knows what they’re spraying on their plants.  For more information, see our fact sheet on Understanding Common House and Garden Insecticides.

 

Bug bombs away

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Raid spray ad

Mr. Raid, from an early 1950s TV commercial, has influenced our thoughts about pest control.

For many of us, the ultimate solution for cockroaches and bed bugs and other household pests is the “bug bomb.” Remember the old Raid commercials, where bugs flee from Mr. Raid, only to be followed home by the ominous cloud of death?  The implication is that the cloud from a bug bomb is like a heat seeking missile, able to follow pests into their deepest safe houses.

So how well do bug bombs really work?  It turns out, not nearly as well as the animated ads suggest. Give a bed bug even a slip of cotton fabric to hide under, and even highly pesticide-susceptible bed bugs are unaffected by a total release fogger (bug bomb) blowing its top only a few feet away. This, according to a study conducted at Ohio State a few years ago.

Pest control professionals have long known that bug bombs in kitchens and other areas rarely eliminate cockroaches. Rather they seem to drive pests deeper into walls and utility areas.  It turns out that aerosol insecticides do not penetrate cracks and crevices where pests spend most of their time.

Then there’s the growing concern about safety. A recent CDC report documented 3200 illnesses resulting from use of TRFs in just a few states between 2007 and 2015.  Of these cases, 92% occurred in homes.  Symptoms of exposure included cough, shortness of breath, chest irritation, vomiting, nausea, and cramping.  78% of cases were classified as low severity, and four out of the 3,222 cases were fatal.  Some cases occurred when users did not vacate the treated areas while treating. Other times people entered too soon, or before the home was adequately aired. Moderate and severe illnesses occurred in men over 60, people with preexisting asthma, or who did not leave the treated area as instructed on the label.

Insects that escape into cracks and crevices are tougher than TV ads would have you believe. Insecticide fogs are not designed to penetrate under or inside furniture or walls.

This is no “smoking gun” report, implying that TRFs cannot be used safely indoors. Rather it seems to indicate that many people are not following fogger label directions, and thus reaping unhealthy consequences.

And then there are those folks who guess as to how many bug bombs they need, rather than following the label. It seems to be a universal human belief that when it comes to insecticides, “if a little is good, more will be better.” But besides increasing the risk of pesticide overexposure, using too many TRFs can lead to explosions, especially when aerosol particles build up around an open flame, like a stove or water heater pilot. This fact helped elevate bug bombs into the follies section of Snopes.com (a myth busters website dedicated to exposing urban legends).  In this case, Snopes investigated the idea that bug bombs might cause explosions and found that indeed explosions can result from using too many bug bombs at a time. One recent explosion, not only destroyed an apartment, but killed the owner’s cat.

The lesson from all this is that foggers are not very effective for insects that spend most of the time hiding, such as immature fleas, cockroaches, bed bugs and ants.  They can help rid a room (temporarily) of flying insects, or insects otherwise in the open; but these problems are much less common. There are many other, better, ways of managing cockroaches and bed bugs that you can read about in the Citybugs website.

Personally, I don’t often recommend total release foggers.  But if you choose to use one, take the time to calculate the size of the room (length X width X height) before your purchase.  Then read the product label in the store to calculate how many TRFs you need. Do not buy or use more than recommended. It is a waste of money and potentially dangerous to you and your pets.

A day in the life of a mint

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sweat bee

A type of sweat bee, Agapostemon splendans, on mountain mint in a Connecticut schoolyard. Photo by D. Cappaert.

 

Growing plants is so much more interesting when you get to know your garden’s wildlife. Few of us will ever take the time to spend an entire day watching all the insects, spiders, birds, and reptiles attracted to our backyard garden. But if we did, we would probably be amazed at all the critters calling our yards “home.”

Fortunately for us impatient folk, retired entomologist David Cappaert has done just that. Last summer, after noticing an unusual abundance of insect life attracted to just one kind of plant in his local school garden, he decided to spend 12 hours of a day photographing all the fun.  The result is a 12-minute video showing 52 different insect and spider species attracted to the mountain mint, Pycnanthemum sp., in a Connecticut schoolyard.

The kind of insect diversity illustrated by this video is not something one will only find in Connecticut, or in a nature preserve, or in a uniquely special Eden. David’s school garden resides in a [biologically] “degraded urban habitat,” as he describes it.  The point is that there is much beauty to see in the plainest of flower patches.

The most famous of U.S. entomologists, E. O. Wilson, has observed that one could easily spend an entire scientific career peering into the life and chemistry of a shovelful of soil, or a trunk of a tree. “When you thrust a shovel into the soil or tear off a piece of coral…You have crossed a hidden frontier known to very few. Immediately close at hand, around and beneath our feet, lies the least explored part of the planet’s surface.”

I hope you’ll check out David’s video and, when spring returns, spend a little time observing the visitors to your garden.

 

Give the love of insects this Christmas

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Kids who can touch and manipulate real insects are most likely to connect with, and love nature.

Parents, here’s a Christmas idea for your kids. A hand lens, an insect net, a set of pins and an insect collection box could provide a doorway to the love of nature for your child. For some kids an insect collection can be the best way to learn about insects and connect with the outdoors. Photography is also good, but collecting engages all the senses in ways that a camera cannot.

Many entomologists got their start collecting insects. An insect collecting kit as a Christmas present got one of my entomologist friends started on his lifelong love of insects.  And though young entomologists more often than not drift into other interests, like biology or medicine or other sciences, one thing I know: Anyone who spends much of their childhood in the woods and fields hunting insects (or snakes or frogs, or whatever) will love nature more than someone who did not. And goodness knows, our planet needs these kids more than ever.

A 2016 publication by the Louisiana State Arthropod Museum, and the Clemson University Arthropod Collection, provides a great introduction for anyone wanting to start their own insect collection.  Click here to download your copy The two page brochure provides simple instructions starting with how to get specimens for your collection, where to get the basic supplies, and how to pin your catch.

To this I would add these simple recommendations:

At this point, you may be asking yourself if you want to encourage your child to kill things. Great question! No gentle soul likes to kill something, but an insect collection with real insects is the best way to know the true identity of an insect. And all knowledge of insects starts with an actual collection. You shouldn’t worry about endangering an insect population through collecting. The benefit to nature from a child getting to interact with, respect and even love his or her catches will far outweigh the sacrifice of a few insect lives (and insects have very short lives).

A butterfly-collecting acquaintance of mine maintains a large personal collection at his home. He will tell you that each of his specimens, along with the labels he painstakingly recorded collection data on, represents a memory and a connection with the place where it was collected. Hunting and fishing probably come closest to a similar bond, but insect collecting is, I think, more personal.

Lastly, if your child loves being outdoors and learning about all kinds of animals and plants, consider 4-H.  It provides a great opportunity for kids both in rural and urban settings. Two of my entomologist friends and colleagues got their start in 4-H by making a collection (1st place insect collections at the Minnesota and Indiana State Fairs!). If you’re in Texas and want to learn more, check out the entomology site for Texas 4-H.  Not all counties will have an organized entomology club, but some do. And you can always be the one to start one.

2nd Edition of Garden Insects of North America

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Whitney Cranshaw with book
Whitney Cranshaw with book

Whitney Cranshaw shows off his new book at the Entomological Society of America annual conference in Denver.

The Master Gardeners I have trained over the years may remember the big stacks of books I bring with me to every insect class.  I love books and use them a lot in my job. One of the most useful references I use and recommend to Extension volunteers is the Princeton University Press Garden Insects of North America.  It’s been a great resource, and a bargain to boot, since it came out in 2004.

Now Garden Insects of North America has a second edition.  The original author, Whitney Cranshaw from Colorado State University, is joined in the new edition by David Shetlar, professor of urban landscape entomology at the Ohio State University. Together, these two guys make the most knowledgeable and experienced ornamental entomology writer teams I can imagine.

Both authors are experienced photographers and have taken many of the pictures in the book. In any case, the original edition has been enhanced by more and larger pictures (3,300 total!), and the text significantly updated.  If you’re serious about knowing what’s chewing-on, boring-in, or sucking-from your plants, you need this book.

Fair warning: this book is about the insects. It does not provide control recommendations. But knowing the insect on your plant, and its biology and behavior, is the first step in finding a solution.

Cost is $35 ($24.50 with discount) and it is expected to ship in early December.  To view information about the book or to pre-order, go to https://press.princeton.edu/titles/11145.html  and make sure you select the 2nd edition. When you go to the checkout, use the promotion number EX213 to get the discount. It could make a nice gift for any gardener on your Christmas list.  I’m ordering mine today.