Insects

The New Tick on the Block in Ohio – Gulf Coast Tick

– Tim McDermott DVM, OSU Extension Educator, Franklin County (originally published in Farm and Dairy)

Right now you are probably getting tired of hearing from me about new tick species and the diseases and potential allergies they vector to producers, livestock, and companion animals in Ohio that we have to worry about. I wrote an article for All About Grazing back in June of 2019 warning about the mammalian muscle allergy that can make you allergic to red meat from a Lone Star tick bite. My colleague Erika Lyon submitted an All About Grazing article introducing you to the Asian Longhorned Tick in January of 2019 and I submitted an article as a follow up to the Asian Longhorned tick in Ohio in July of 2020.  Now we have a confirmed case of that invasive in Gallia county and are keeping our eye out for further spread. It is enough to make your head spin even further in this challenging 2020 year

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Asian Longhorned Tick; a new tick known to attack animals in large numbers!

– Tim McDermott DVM, OSU Extension Educator, Franklin County (originally published in Farm and Dairy)

My colleague Erika Lyon wrote a great article in the January 24th, 2019 All About Grazing column in Farm and Dairy (link) that discussed the invasive Asian longhorned Tick. I want to give an update on where that tick is now, where its new host range is located, and what potential disease problems to look out for.

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Spotted Lanternfly Continues to Develop

Author: Amy Stone

Originally posted on the Buckeye Yard and Garden OnLine

Life-Cycle Illustration of SLF

While the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) (SLF) has not been detected in Ohio, the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA), along with the Ohio State University (OSU) and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) are urging Ohioans to continue to be on the look-out for this invasive insect. Many are using the Great Lakes Early Detection Network (GLEDN) App to report tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima), a favorite food or host for this plant hopper, especially as an adult, and then revisiting the tree looking for signs and symptoms of SLF throughout the year.

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Early Season Cucurbit Pests

Jim Jasinski, Dept. of Extension, Celeste Welty, Dept. of Entomology

Although it’s been wet over most of the state recently, the temperatures are warming up allowing growers to get into their fields to direct seed or transplant pumpkin, squash, melon and cucumbers through May and into June. By now most decisions about how to manage key early season pests may have already been made with the purchase of systemic seed treatment or plans to treat transplant water using neonicotinoid insecticides. Some growers may have decided to forego systemic treatments and rely on scouting and treatment using foliar insecticides when thresholds are exceeded.

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Beware of armyworm on early sweet corn and other crops!

 

Originally posted in the VegNet Newsletter on May 17, 2020

We have detected an extremely large population of armyworm moths in Columbus during the past week. This pest prefers to feed on grasses, including corn, wheat, rye, and grassy weeds, but if those plants are in shortage and if populations of armyworm are large, it can infest other crops including alfalfa, beans, cabbage, cucumbers, lettuces, onions, peppers, and radishes. Infestation can be worse in no-till fields than in tilled fields. Any early-planted fields of these crops should be scouted for presence of armyworm. Scouting is best done near dawn or dusk because armyworm larvae are nocturnal and hide in the soil during the day. The name armyworm is given because of the ability of older larvae to form large aggregations that move together from field to field. Infestations can appear quite suddenly in a field, and much damage can occur in a short period of time.

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Mining Bees Can Cause Minor Panic

By: Joe Boggs- Buckeye Yard and Garden OnLine – April 4, 2020

Last week, I came across one of the largest collections of soil “mining bees” that I’ve ever seen in Ohio. The “colony” was located in a picnic area and numerous males were making their low-level flights in search of females.  The sparse turfgrass coupled with early-evening lighting made conditions perfect for taking pictures.

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Spotted Lanternfly Slowly Approaching Ohio

The Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) is a newly discovered invasive pest from Asia. It is primarily a pest of trees like apples, cherries, black walnut, poplar, maple, tree of heaven and vines such as grapes and hops but it’s not reported to attack most vegetable crops. This pest was first detected in Berks County, PA in 2014, and has since spread to NJ, DE and VA; it has also been observed in MD, NY, CT and NC. Continue reading →

Venomous Caterpillars

By: Joe Boggs, Originally Posted on Buckeye Yard and Garden OnLine, September 11,2019

Smaller Parasa Slug Caterpillar

Participants in last week’s Ohio Plant Diagnostic Workshop looked at but didn’t touch, the Smaller Parasa (Parasa chloris).  They kept their distance because the deceptively named caterpillar packs a venomous punch that’s far from small.  As with many creatures in Nature (e.g. crocodilians, mamba snakes, grizzly bears, etc.); these caterpillars should not be handled.

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White Masses on Stems of Redbud

Joe Boggs, Extension Educator. Originally posted on the Buckeye Yard and Garden Online

Small, sticky, snowy-white masses are appearing on the stems of redbuds (Cercis canadensis) in southern Ohio.  They could easily be mistaken for soft scales, mealybugs, or insect egg masses.  However, they are the “egg plugs” of a treehopper originally named the Two-Marked Treehopper (Enchenopa binotata, family Membracidae).

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