Insects
Spotted Lanternfly – Be on the Lookout
By Jim Jasinski, Extension Educator, Originally posted on July 29,2018 on the VegNet Newsletter
The Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) is an invasive bug, not a fly, from Southeast Asia that was first observed in Pennsylvania in 2014. This pest has sucking mouthparts and is known to feed on the stems, vines, and trunks of many crops grown in Ohio such as grapes, hops, apples, plums, cherries, peaches, and nectarines where it produces sap weeping wounds in the plant.
Sap weeping from spotted lanternfly wounds.Burgeoning Beetles
Originally posted in the Buckeye Yard and Garden onLine, June 22,2018
By: Joe Boggs
I’m seeing large numbers of Japanese Beetles (Popillia japonica) in southwest Ohio. Compared to previous seasons, the beetles appear to be more evenly distributed; they are not hard to find. I’m hearing similar reports from the central part of the state.
Monitoring for Ticks When Working Pastures
Originally posted on the BEEF Newsletter, By: Timothy McDermott DVM, OSU Extension Educator, Franklin County
There has been an increase in tick-vectored diseases in Ohio to livestock, companion animals and humans over the last several years. This has occurred as the different tick species that inhabit Ohio have increased their habitat range and gradual spread from the south and east towards the north. The increase in awareness of tick-vectored diseases is now only starting to catch up as a public and livestock health awareness priority.
Despite an increase in tick-vectored diseases throughout Ohio, it’s common to believe that ticks such as this deer tick are only present during spring or summer.
Hopeful news about stink bug biocontrol
Originally posted March 10, 2018 in the VegNet Newsletter
The news about the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) has generally been bad over the past few years, as this new invasive pest has continued to expand its range within the USA, causing increasing problems as a pest of fruit, vegetable, and field crops. We know that our native natural enemies have not been able to provide much biological control of BMSB, but there has been hope about potential biological control of BMSB by a tiny wasp that parasitized BMSB eggs in China. The wasp is Trissolcus japonicus, nicknamed the samurai wasp.