Willie Chance – Page 24 – Center for Urban Agriculture

People and pests head indoors for the winter

September 24, 2015December 9, 2013 by Willie Chance

Editor’s note – Although this article is written for homeowners, this information may help pest control professionals to identify these occasional pests in the home. Fall is a great time to be proactive in pest management and to pest proof homes. See this publication for information on proactive pest management.

Sharon Dowdy, news editor with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

As temperatures begin to drop, people head indoors. Unfortunately, insects like to stay warm, too, and often choose our homes as refuge. “We are getting cold snaps at night, and it triggers insects to find some place to come inside for the winter,” said Dan Suiter, a University of Georgia Extension entomologist. “They are just reacting to external conditions.”

Caulk and spray

To help keep pests from picking your home as a winter retreat, Suiter says inspect your home for openings that insects use as entryways. Seal any cracks and crevices with caulk, or fill them with steel wool.As an extra precaution, spray an insecticide around the perimeter or your home, especially to those areas on the structure where they might enter.“It’s not a bad idea to do some spot applications of insecticides. This way when the insects encounter those deposits they will be exposed to the insecticides and be killed,” Suiter said.

Photo credit – Asian lady beetle, W. Louis Tedders, Jr. USDA ARS SE Fruit and Tree Nut Laboratory, Byron GA and Beneficial Insectry, Oak Run, CA

Lady beetles

Multicolored Asian lady beetles are the most common unwelcome house guests this time of year. In the summer months, these beetles are a welcome sight in gardens as they eat aphids, a pest of many vegetable plants and ornamental plants.

“They are great for biological control, but in the fall they start coming indoors and it’s a different story,” Suiter said.

Smokybrown Cockroaches

Probably the most unpopular pests of homeowners is often found scurrying across kitchen floors at night – the smokybrown cockroach. Just one cockroach egg capsule holds about 15 to 18 eggs and a female lays one per week in her six-month life.

“There are peak populations this time of year. It came from Japan, and it’s been here a long time,” Suiter said. “It’s really desiccation susceptible, so it’s especially in areas where relative humidity is very high.”

Suiter said many urban pests are indicators of more severe problems.

“Usually, it’s a moisture problem. If you have a lot (of pests) in your attic, you probably have a leak,” he said.

Stink bugs

Brown marmorated stink bugs also like to overwinter indoors. Native to Asia, this stink bug was first spotted in Georgia in 2010. It can be found on a wide range of host plants.

“It’s a major, major nuisance pest in the Northeast and it’s headed south,” he said. “We see them in Georgia, we just haven’t seen the numbers they have seen in the North.”

Boxelder bugs and carpet beetles

Another indoor pest, the boxelder bug, can be found on maple trees, too. Ironically, when you kill boxelder bugs, you will likely end up with a secondary pest – carpet beetles, Suiter said.

“If you kill them inside you can end up with carpet beetles. They feed on dead boxelder bugs and their populations can be enormous,” he said.

Sugar cane beetles

Sugar cane beetles may not come inside homes, but they will chew on the outside. They are a late summer invader that shows up in large populations and feeds on grasses. “It’s a scarab beetle, and when it emerges it’s attracted to lights on houses,” he said. “They have really strong hind legs and can chew through siding.”

Chinch bugs

Chinch bugs are fall pests that also feed on grasses. They are about a half-inch long and show up by the thousands. “They may not come indoors, but they like to crawl under siding,” Suiter said.

When selecting a treatment method for these pests, Suiter warns homeowners not to purchase ultrasound devices.“They have been researched by multiple research facilities, and there’s a lot of data to show they don’t work,” he said.For more on controlling household pests, see the UGA Extension publication Management of Pest Insects In and Around the Home. This publication has information on identifying insects, preventing pest problems and other control methods.

Discount Available for Armitage’s Sun Perennials Online Class

September 24, 2015December 6, 2013 by Willie Chance

Armitage’s Herbaceous Perennials for the Sun, a self-paced, self-study online certificate program from the University of Georgia, is authored by Dr. Allan Armitage, one of the world’s leading experts on perennials.

Why you’ll love this course:
Focused	The course delivers Dr. Armitage’s insights on how to plant, propagate, and care for 20 of his favorite perennials. You’ll learn to identify the various species within the plant’s genus.
Engaging	You’ll benefit from Dr. Armitage’s extensive career in horticulture. In audio clips, the witty lecturer and researcher describes each plant’s origin, characteristics, bloom time, flower structure, and optimum growing conditions.
Convenient	The course is online, so you can progress at your own pace, on your own schedule.
Definitive	The course’s required textbook, written by Armitage, is renowned in the horticultural world. With more than 1,000 pages, the book is packed with extensive plant descriptions and accompanying photographs, so you’ll use it over and over long after you complete the course!

Dr. Armitage and UGA have a gift for you this holiday season: $110 off the standard rate for the course! To take advantage of the $139 special rate, register between November 11 and January 24. Tip: At this low price, the course makes a great holiday gift for a friend, relative or “significant other”!

What past students say about this course:

“A great course! Very informative and entertaining. I highly recommend it.”
— J. Weed
“If in-class stuff is not for you, then take this course. Online is AWESOME!”
— Brandon Siler
“A great course for those master gardeners and home gardeners who want a deeper knowledge of perennials. The knowledge, appreciation, and stories I gained from this course made it well worth the time I invested in it.”
— Matt Torrence

Register Now!

Click here for detailed information on the course, the course author, and a list of the plants you’ll study.For other professional development courses, visit UGAKeepLearning.com

Cool wet summer will probably be followed by dry winter with temperature swings

September 18, 2015December 6, 2013 by Willie Chance

Pam Knox, Agricultural Climatologist with UGA Department of Crop and Soil Science

In the last 12 months Georgia saw the tale of drought and one of the wettest springs and summers on record. Then abnormally dry conditions returned. 2013 has been a climatic roller coaster to say the least.

Overall, the above-normal rainfall delayed planting, prevented farmers from getting into their fields and increased some fungal diseases and pests. The rain did result in lush growth, but persistent cloudiness across the state also delayed crop development once they were established.

As the rainfall diminished in the fall, abnormally dry conditions returned to some parts of the state as the growing season came to a close. This caused grazing pastures to turn brown earlier than usual.

A year for the record books

Several stations in the state accumulated noteworthy rainfalls this growing season, measured during the seven-month period from May through October.

Most notable was Macon, which had its third wettest April to October in 122 years of record keeping, with 41.71 inches. Climatologists had to go back to 1928 to find a wetter growing season. That year climatologists reported 42.89 inches during the same period.

Macon is also currently setting a record for year-to-date rainfall with 60.45 inches, ahead of the 59.88-inch record set in 1929. Macon also had its fifth coldest summer this year, due in part to the cloudiness and rainy conditions.

Atlanta experienced its fourth wettest year, in the 136 years that people have been keeping records, with 39.37 inches. The last time Atlanta received this much rain was in 2009 (40.87 inches), which included the significant flooding event of September 2009 that affected much of the Atlanta metropolitan area.

Columbus reported its fourteenth-wettest growing season in 66 years of record. However, it is interesting to note that Columbus experienced three of its five wettest growing seasons in the last decade — in 2003 (fourth), 2005 (third) and 2009 (second).

Drier times return

Despite this summers’ rains, conditions have become much drier across Georgia this fall, and abnormally dry conditions returned to a significant part of Georgia for the first time since April. The National Weather Service cooperative observer in Warrenton (Warren County) reported no precipitation in October. This was the driest October they have had in 100 years of record.

The Climate Prediction Center of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predict these drier than usual conditions will continue through the next few months. The highest chance of dry conditions is in southern Georgia, stretching south into Florida.

No El Niño or La Niña, so expect lots of fluctuation

According to NOAA, there are equal chances for above, near or below normal temperatures through the winter.

One reason this trend can be projected is the current status of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is neutral, which means that neither an El Niño nor La Niña is likely to occur this winter. These neutral ENSO conditions are expected to continue until at least next summer.

In neutral ENSO conditions, Georgia does not experience a strong trend toward above or below normal rainfall or temperature. However, the state does tend to experience large swings in temperature between warm and frigid conditions. The chance of a late frost in the spring following a neutral winter is increased, although still relatively rare.

If we experience a warm spell in early spring, gardeners and farmers are likely to want to get started planting early to take advantage of the warm conditions. However, the increased chance of a swing back to cold temperatures, and the potential for frost, should make them proceed with caution. Watch the weather carefully before starting the planting process.

For more information see November’s lows and highs are a preview of winter’s weather

Brown Recluse Spider isn’t Typically a Southerner

October 13, 2015November 21, 2013 by Willie Chance

Sharon Dowdy, News Editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

A University of Georgia researcher says brown recluse spiders in Georgia are being wrongly blamed for wounds they don’t cause.

“Most of the state of Georgia doesn’t even have brown recluse spiders,” said Nancy Hinkle, an entomologist with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “If the spiders in the state caused all the wounds that are reported as brown recluse bites, they would be some very busy spiders.”

The Brown Recluse is not a Southerner

From 2001 to 2007, Hinkle tracked verified findings of brown recluse spiders in Georgia. The study was prompted by Hinkle’s arrival from California.

Brown Recluse Spider isn’t Typically a Southerner — Brown recluse, Lisa Ames, UGA, Bugwood.org

“When I first came to Georgia, I heard several people say they knew someone who’d seen or been seriously wounded by a recluse,” she said. “I found that odd since the recluse is a Midwesterner, not a Southerner.”

The brown recluse is mostly brown but has a darker, violin-shaped design where its legs attach. With its legs extended, it’s only about the size of a quarter.

Hinkle has received hundreds of spider samples from Georgians all across the state. Rick Vetter from the University of California at Riverside identifies the samples. He is the world’s expert on brown recluse spiders.

Only Two out of Twenty-five are Recluse Spiders

Lisa Ames with the UGA CAES Homeowner Insect and Weed Diagnostic Laboratory in Griffin also collects spider samples submitted by homeowners and pest control companies. In 2003, 2004 and 2005 she received an average of 25 samples each year. Only two samples annually were recluses.

Through 2007, the UGA scientists had collected only 14 verified brown recluse spiders. And they had confirmed the spider in just 26 of Georgia’s 159 counties, mostly in the northwest.

“Another reason for doing this study is to help the medical community rule out brown recluse bites from portions of the state that don’t have the spiders,” Hinkle said. “A diagnosis of a brown recluse bite in Savannah is highly questionable.”

Most Likely not Spider Bites

Hinkle hopes the study will educate Georgia’s medical community and reduce the number of erroneous recluse bite cases. A mark on the skin that looks like a spider bite could be something much more serious.

She believes many assumed brown recluse bites could be methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. MRSA is a type of staph infection that’s resistant to antibiotics like penicillin, amoxicillin and oxacillin. MRSA causes mild skin infections which result in pimples or boils. But it can also cause more serious skin lesions or infect surgical wounds.

MRSA and Brown Recluse Wounds can Look Similar

“Over the past five to 10 years, the number of MRSA cases has exploded,” Hinkle said. A MRSA infection can look like a brown recluse wound.

A brown recluse spider’s bite often isn’t the painful part of the experience. The spider’s venom destroys the tissue at the bite site. Several hours later, a blister-like sore appears and grows. It can become as small as a pin to 8 inches across.

Almost all brown recluse bites heal nicely without medical intervention, Vetter said. And in spite of all the horror stories, only 3 percent require skin grafts.

Incorrectly diagnosing MRSA as a spider bite, and vice versa, can result in a patient getting the wrong therapy, Hinkle said. “The required treatment for a brown recluse bite is totally different from the treatment needed for MRSA,” she said. “Common antibiotics don’t touch MRSA. And you obviously wouldn’t need to spray insecticides when you aren’t dealing with a spider problem.”

Peaceful Co-exsisters

Brown recluse spiders aren’t vicious and are not looking to bite people, Vetter said. A Kansas family collected more than 2,000 brown recluses from their home in six months. “They’ve been living there for eight years and still have shown no evidence of a single bite,” he said. “People tend to overreact and believe the worst.”

For more information:

Why You Need Not Fear the Poor, Misunderstood Brown Recluse Spider

How to identify and mis-identify a brown recluse spider

IPM directory of least-toxic products available

September 18, 2015November 21, 2013 by Willie Chance

Article taken from Southern Region IPM News

(Editor’s note – this guide lists low toxicity alternatives for pest control. It does not mention the effectiveness of each option. This can be a starting point for finding low toxicity options for pest control but more research will be needed to determine the efficacy of each option. WC)

The IPM Practitioner’s 2013 Directory of Least-Toxic Pest Control Products is now available online. This Directory lists more than 2,000 products such as baits, traps, pheromones, microbials, biocontrol agents, and other materials needed for IPM.

Contact information is provided for more than 600 national and international suppliers. The Directory can be found at the following link:

http://www.birc.org/Directory.htm

And take a look at the October 11 post in Insects in the City for a little more information about the directory and its publisher.

Get the most from your pansies!

September 18, 2015November 20, 2013 by Willie Chance

By now, most pansies are in the ground. Now it is time for winter care to improve their performance! UGA Extension has an excellent publication on growing pansies – Success with Pansies in the Winter Landscape: A Guide for Landscape Professionals. It provides info and the practices that help us get the most from our pansies.

Here are some examples of info from this publication. Did you know?

Once the weather cools and soil temperatures drop below 60° F, pansies grow better when fed a liquid feed program using a fertilizer containing at least 50 percent of its nitrogen in the nitrate form.

Fertilizers containing more ammonia can be used more once soils warm in the spring – starting about March 15.

Reduce fertilization during warm weather to control plant growth.

Pansies grow best in soils with a pH of 5.4 – 5.8. Higher pH encourages boron and iron deficiencies while making plants more susceptible to black root rot.

Removing frost-damaged and old and faded flowers improves the looks of the bed, encourages more flowering and can reduce disease incidence.

You can trim lanky branches to produce stocky plants with more branches and flowers.

Several insects and diseases affect pansies. For help identifying these problems, contact your local Extension Office.

For more information, see the entire publication here.

New fungicides for ornamental disease control

September 24, 2015November 5, 2013 by Willie Chance

Jean Williams-Woodward, UGA Extension Plant Pathologist

Several fungicides for ornamental production have come on the market within the past couple of years. Below is a summary of some of the products.

Many of the products control Oomycete diseases including downy mildews and Pythium and Phytophthora root rot and blights. This is great news since there were few good Oomycete fungicide options available previously other than Subdue MAXX, Aliette and the numerous phosphonates/phosphites. Oomycete pathogens develop fungicide resistance readily.

Current research on Phytophthora and Pythium populations within GA nurseries and greenhouses has shown that approximately 5-25% of the isolates from individual production facilities are resistance to mefenoxam (Subdue MAXX). To reduce fungicide resistance development, always use products according to label rates and restrictions and rotate applications with products with a different mode of action (i.e. different FRAC numerical code).

Brand Name	Active Ingredient	FRAC #	Sites¹	Diseases Controlled
Adorn	Fluopicolide	43	G, L, N	Downy mildew, Phytophthora, Pythium: Must be tank mixed with a product with a different mode of action (different FRAC #) for fungicide resistance management
Disarm O	Fluoxastrobin	11	G, N	Broad spectrum – Rhizoctonia, Phytophthora, downy mildew, powdery mildew, anthracnose, leaf rusts, various fungal leaf spots and blights
Micora	Mandipropamid	40	G, N	Downy mildew and Phytophthora foliar blight and root rot: Provides a good rotation partner to Subdue MAXX, Segway and Adorn.
Orvego	Ametoctradin + dimethomorph	45 + 40	G, N	Downy mildew and Phytophthora: Contains the same active ingredient as Stature fungicide. Use in rotation with products with different mode of action.
Pageant	Boscalid + Pyraclostrobin	7 + 11	G, L, N	Broad spectrum – Anthracnose, powdery mildew, various fungal leaf spots, Botrytis, downy mildew, Phytophthora, Rhizoctonia, Cylindrocladium
Palladium	Cyprodinil + Fludioxonil	9 + 12	G,L, N	Provides good Botrytis control, plus other diseases including Rhizoctonia, powdery mildew, Cylindrocladium, Sclerotinia, Sclerotium rolfsii, Fusarium, certain fungal leaf spots
Segway	Cyazofamid	21	G, L, N	Downy mildew, Phytophthora, Pythium.
Torque	Tebuconazole	3	G, L, N	DMI fungicide with same mode of action as Strike, Banner MAXX, and Systhane. Controls powdery mildew, rusts, Sclerotium rolfsii, black spot, and various other fungal leaf spot diseases.
Tourney	Metconazole	3	L, N	For use on woody ornamentals (not floriculture). DMI fungicide. Controls anthracnose, powdery mildew, rusts.
Trinity TR	Triticonazole	3	G, L, N	Supplemental labeling for use on ornamentals. DMI fungicide. Controls anthracnose, powdery mildew, Fusarium, Rhizoctonia, Sclerotium rolfsii, Sclerotinia, certain fungal leaf spots
Veranda O, Affirm	Polyoxin D	19	G, N	Botrytis, Colletotrichum, Alternaria, Fusarium, Rhizoctonia, Sclerotinia

¹ Location where product is registered for use: Greenhouse (G), Landscape (L), Nursery (N)

Better Trap on Tap for Red Flour Beetle Control

September 18, 2015November 5, 2013 by Willie Chance

Source – Jan Suszkiw in the Southern Region IPM News

Better control of red flour beetles and other costly stored-product insect pests could be on hand, thanks to a new pitfall trap designed by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers.

According to chemist Peter Teal with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the commercial traps now used are typically dome-shaped devices baited with pheromones or other attractants that lure the beetles into pits or onto glue strips. However, the new design, named the “Terrestrial Arthropod Trap,” takes this “fatal attraction” to a new level, adds Teal, who leads the Chemistry Research Unit at the ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology in Gainesville, Fla.

He co-developed the technology with Lee Cohnstaedt of the ARSCenter for Grain and Animal Health Research in Manhattan, Kan., and Adrian Duehl and Richard Arbogast, both formerly with ARS at Gainesville.

The red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, is a primary target of the team’s trap design research because the pest eats both raw and processed cereal grains. It commonly infests flour mills, but can also be found in warehouses, storage bins and household food pantries, causing millions of dollars in losses annually.

Among its features, the new trap is pyramid-shaped and sports slender fins that coax inquisitive beetles into a central pit where they can be captured. The trap is also fitted with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) whose colored light—set to wavelengths of 390 nanometers (nm)—attracts beetles from long distances, ensuring they get a whiff of pheromone as they approach.

In laboratory trials, red flour beetles visited LED traps set to 390 nm approximately 16 times versus two to five times for traps set to other wavelengths. Moreover, the team determined, positioning the LEDs at the trap’s top captured more beetles (approximately 55 total) than placing the diodes at the bottom (12 captured). Combining the LEDs with attractant made the pyramid design even more effective, capturing 70 beetles versus four using a standard dome design.

Read more about this ARS-patented technology in the October 2013 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.

Free video helps to provide training on the newly revised OSHA Safety Data Sheets

September 18, 2015October 28, 2013 by Willie Chance

(Editors’ notes – these changes impact pesticide applicators in several ways:

SDS sheets should replace the MSDS sheets used in the past. You will want to update your MSDS sheets with these new 16-section format Safety Data Sheets. These sheets need to be available to employees so they can understand the risks associated with using these chemicals at work.
Employee training on the new system is required by Dec 1, 2013. The following article includes an online video to help with this requirement. Additional employee training may also be needed.

Pesticides will remain under US EPA regulation. EPA is not requiring pesticide labels to make any changes. The OSHA regulated SDS and the signal word will not match the EPA pesticide label. This OSHA training focuses on chemical label elements that are NON-pesticide.)

Original article found on this website

“Exposure to hazardous chemicals is one of the most serious threats facing American workers today,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. “Revising OSHA’s Hazard Communication standard will improve the quality and consistency of hazard information, making it safer for workers to do their jobs and easier for employers to stay competitive.” This update to the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) will provide a common and coherent approach to classifying chemicals and communicating hazard information on labels and safety data sheets. Once implemented, the revised standard will improve the quality and consistency of hazard information in the workplace, making it safer for workers by providing easily understandable information on appropriate handling and safe use of hazardous chemicals.

Hazard Communication Standard

In order to ensure chemical safety in the workplace, information about the identities and hazards of the chemicals must be available and understandable to workers. OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) requires the development and dissemination of such information:

Chemical manufacturers and importers are required to evaluate the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import, and prepare labels and safety data sheets to convey the hazard information to their downstream customers;
All employers with hazardous chemicals in their workplaces must have labels and safety data sheets for their exposed workers, and train them to handle the chemicals appropriately.

Major changes to the Hazard Communication Standard

Hazard classification: Provides specific criteria for classification of health and physical hazards, as well as classification of mixtures.
Labels: Chemical manufacturers and importers will be required to provide a label that includes a harmonized signal word, pictogram, and hazard statement for each hazard class and category. Precautionary statements must also be provided.
Safety Data Sheets: Will now have a specified 16-section format.
Information and training: Employers are required to train workers by December 1, 2013 on the new labels elements and safety data sheets format to facilitate recognition and understanding.

Employee training – This video explains the new GHS labeling system adopted by OSHA when they revised their hazard communication standard in 2012. Employers must provide training on this particular topic to their workers by no later than December 1, 2013. This video is free for employers to use for worker training, compliments of OSHA Training Services Inc.

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