Forestry

NW Ohio Newsletter 2025

📬 The 2025 Northwest Ohio Newsletter is Coming!

Exciting news! The 2025 Northwest Ohio Newsletter will be hitting mailboxes near the end of December! 🗓️

Packed with the latest updates on agriculture, Extension programming, and community opportunities, this newsletter is your go-to resource for staying informed and connected.

Prefer to read online? 📲 Check out the Virtual Version here.

Stay tuned—there’s a lot to look forward to as we kick off a new year together! 🌾

#Agriculture #Extension #NWOhio #StayConnected #LeanOnYourLandGrant #PauldingCountyStrong #OSUE

Ohio Maple Days 2024

Registration is now open for Ohio Maple Days 2024.

Friday, December 6th we will be offering a workshop on transition and estate planning featuring Ohio State University’s own David Marrison and Robert Moore.  While this workshop is a part of Ohio Maple Days it is open to any landowner who wants to participate.  Registration is available here.

 Saturday, December 7th is a day for everything maple.  Topics this year include an expert panel on filtering, cost-share programs, managing a timber sale, marketing for producers, and a grading and tasting session to name a few.  Visit with vendors and enjoy a maple-themed lunch.  Registration is available here.

Maple Days Flyer 2024

Woodland Wisdom – New Course

Registration is now open for a new online course and webinar series Woodland Wisdom: Learn to Balance What You Have with What You Want.  This new online course offers woodland owners a way to enhance their land management skills.  There are 7 sessions covering a wide range of topics designed to help woodland owners focus on opportunities their land offers.

Registration is open here.

Farm Science Review is just around the corner!

LONDON, Ohio – More than 50 companies will join the ranks as exhibitors for the 61st Farm Science Review Sept. 19-21 at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center. The new exhibitors represent various sectors in the agriculture industry including livestock handling, equipment advancements, agronomic technology, agricultural policy, and more.

Paulding County Extension Office has tickets for sale at a discounted price total of $10 per ticket. Tickets will be for sale until Monday, September 18 at noon. Continue reading Farm Science Review is just around the corner! →

To mulch or not to mulch?

Are you planning on spreading mulch around your trees and landscape this year? Master Gardener Volunteers see this common practice of mulch placed under trees and right up the tree trunk!

Another mulch volcano! That is a big NO, NO! It’s important to keep mulch off the tree trunk because the covered tree trunk will grow roots under the mulch. As the new roots grow in the soft mulch, the deep roots begin to die off. Eventually, a tree with a weak root system could be blown over by a strong windstorm.

For more information on mulching trees see this excellent article written by Joe Boggs that can be found on the OSU Buckeye Yard & Garden onLine (BYGL), https://bygl.osu.edu/node/1494.

Ohio’s Woodland Stewards: Friday’s Escape to the Forest series on February 10

Included are very high-resolution images of the Emerald Ash Borer Beetle. Specimens provided by Dr. David Wagner of the University of Connecticut.

Join us for our first Friday’s Escape to the Forest webinar of 2023.  Ohio State Extension Specialist in Forest Entomology, Kayla Perry will be our presenter as we get up to date on what is going on with emerald ash borer (EAB) and how our forests are doing post-invasion. She will discuss the status of Emerald Ash Borer in post-outbreak forests.

Join OSU’s Kayla Perry, State Extension Specialist in Forest Entomology, as we talk about Emerald ash borer (EAB; Agrilus planipennis). EAB has caused widespread decline and death of ash trees throughout eastern North America since it was first detected in southeastern Michigan in 2002. This presentation will provide an update on the distribution, management, and ecological impacts of EAB, with a focus on forests that have experienced the longest duration of invasion by this insect.

Register here for the webinar.  Continuing education credits for ISA and SAF will be offered. Continue reading Ohio’s Woodland Stewards: Friday’s Escape to the Forest series on February 10 →

2023 Ohio Woodland Water and Wildlife Conference

Registration is open for the 2023 Ohio Woodland Water and Wildlife Conference

Join us on March 1st for a diverse set of talks that will offer continuing education credits for ISA, SAF, and pesticides where applicable.  The program flyer is attached here WWW 2023 flyer.  You can register here.

Early registration per person – $65 before 2/10/2023 and $85 after 2/10/2023
Last Date To Register: 2/17/2023

Registration includes continental breakfast, lunch, breaks, and a resource notebook.

Bagworm Eggs are Hatching: The Game’s Afoot!

Authors Joe Boggs
Published on
bagworm

Overwintered common bagworm (Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis) eggs are hatching in southwest Ohio.  The 1st instar caterpillars are very small with their bags measuring around 1/8″ in length.

Bagworm

The tiny 1st instar bags are constructed with pieces of tan to reddish-brown sawdust-like frass (excrement) stuck to the outside of silk and look like “dunce caps.”  As the caterpillars mature, they begin weaving host plant debris into the silk which provides structural stability and helps to camouflage the caterpillar bag-abodes. Continue reading Bagworm Eggs are Hatching: The Game’s Afoot! →

Box Tree Moth Alert

Box Tree Moth

Boxwoods (Buxus spp.) are some of the most common plants found in Ohio landscapes and they remain a mainstay of our nursery industry.  Box Tree Moth (Cydalima perspectalis) caterpillars defoliate boxwoods and will strip bark once they run out of leaves to eat.  The moth has multiple generations per year, depending on geographical locations, and sustained high populations are capable of killing boxwoods.

Continue reading Box Tree Moth Alert →

What’s going on with Lumber Prices?

By Brent Sohngen, Professor Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, The Ohio State University

In case you haven’t noticed, lumber prices have increased a lot over the last year.  Based on the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Lumber Price Index, which you can find here, lumber prices have increased 180% since April 2020.  This increase started last fall and has continued ever since. So, why have they risen, and how high will they go?

Let’s start with the first question, why have they risen?  The economic explanation is relatively straightforward: Demand rose rapidly due to pandemic-related building, and supply is really inelastic, as we say in economics.  Thus, while the demand for wood has increased dramatically, the supply of wood hasn’t been able to keep up.  Let’s break this down.

Consider the demand side first.  The construction sector, specifically building and remodeling houses, is one of the largest demanders of lumber in the US and around the world.  New home starts and construction spending cratered at the beginning of the pandemic, but they rebounded pretty quickly.  Remodeling in particular seems to have picked up a real head of steam. Continue reading What’s going on with Lumber Prices? →