The MA Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) announced on September 28, 2021, that a small, established, and breeding population of the invasive spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) was detected in Worcester County, MA, in the city of Fitchburg. Residents and professionals living and working across the Commonwealth should learn the life stages of the spotted lanternfly and be able to identify their eggs, immatures, and adults.
Spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula, “SLF”) is an emerging invasive insect of concern in New England. Spotted lanternfly(SLF) was first detected in Pennsylvania in September 2014. It feeds on a wide range of fruit, ornamental and woody trees, with tree-of-heaven being one of the preferred hosts. It can spread long distances by people moving infested material or items containing egg masses. We must stop this pest could before it seriously impacts the country’s grape, orchard, and logging industries.
West Laurel Hill Cemetery, a level-II accredited arboretum located in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, features a unique space called “Nature’s Sanctuary.” This one-acre space, which previously served as the cemetery’s dumpsite, now uses a managed successional plan that will gradually transition from a sunny meadow to a meadow/woodland combination and, finally, a mature forest. This article focuses on the range of native plant species grown in this one-acre space and doing so with deer pressure.
Winter is here and we have all moved our plants indoors. Everything is fine—for a few weeks. Then you notice a few leaves falling off your plants. You don’t think anything of it at first, but then your vibrant plants start to go downhill fast. After a careful inspection, you discover your plants are infested with insects. Learn the most common house plant pests and how to manage them.
By Bruce Wenning
Not all plant diseases are caused by parasitic microbes, some are caused by parasitic weeds. The dodder vine is one of those weeds. Dodder attaches itself to healthy plants and makes them more vulnerable to other diseases and insect pests. Find out all about the dodder lifecycle and best practices for ridding your landscape of this fascinating but noxious vine.
By Emily May
One of the most fulfilling aspects of spending most of my time at home over the past few months has been watching the flowers in my yard blossom and buzz with bees, flies, butterflies, hummingbirds, and more. I also notice when things go awry, like when I spotted deformed flower heads on my bee balm (Monarda fistulosa) and later on my purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). What was going on and what could I do about it without the use of harmful pesticides which pose risk to both humans and insects alike.
By Karen Boussolini
Bees are smart. They recognize high-quality food and habitat. The buzz has gone out that my house is a happening place for carpenter bees. In a quest to rid my house of carpenter bees, understand their life cycle, and find alternatives that don’t involve them eating my house I discovered some simple steps to save both my house and these gentle beneficial insects.
by Bruce Wenning
There are many garden pests out there, but this paper describes several of the more commonly encountered pests in the garden and provides information about options for control.
by Joe Magazzi
Get the latest on organic treatments for lawns in autumn. No aspects of organics have come further along in the last couple of years than organic weed and pest control – with major advances in technology and knowledge available to growers, designers, and applicators.
by Bud Reaves, Anne Arundel Forestry Board
Mantises are one of the most ferocious predators in the animal kingdom. Able to capture and kill prey much larger than themselves, they have adapted into efficient, ruthless hunters and are valuable in the control of insect pests; however, exotic mantises may do more harm than good where they become too numerous
by Bruce Wenning Introduction There are many species of bark beetles in the United States which are destructive to both hardwood and softwood tree species. Some have been historically devastating to many valuable timber species because certain bark beetle species kill their host trees when large populations build up to the point of overtaking their…
The spotted lanternfly is a non-native sap-feeding planthopper also known as the lanternmoth. The first sighting of the spotted lanternfly in the United States was in Berks County, Pennsylvania in 2014. In 2017 a single individual was found in Delaware in November and a few days later in New York. January 2018,…
