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Pest Activity -- April 16
Pest Activity
> April 16
Welcome to the Woody Ornamental Pest Scouting Report for Western Pennsylvania
brought to you by Penn State Cooperative Extension. This message will
be updated weekly with growing degree day counts and insect activity
through the end of June. If you would like an email copy of this report,
send your request to mcm2@psu.edu.
As of April 14, the following growing degree days with a base temperature
of 50 degrees have accumulated.
| Uniontown |
85
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Mercer |
42
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| New Stanton |
69
|
Franklin |
37
|
| Pittsburgh |
61
|
Meadville |
40
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| Wexford |
49
|
Erie |
31
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| Butler |
34
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Harbor Creek |
34
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Pest Activity
Cooley Spruce Gall
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Many of the Cooley Spruce Gall Adelgids observed this past
week on Douglas-fir in Westmoreland County were completely
covered
by the white waxy strands as shown to the left. This protective
covering greatly reduces insecticide efficacy, so if this
pest
has reached this stage of development in your area, control
measures should be delayed until the Fall. If you are located
further north, and the adelgids look like the picture below,
you still are able to reduce the population.
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Fact
Sheet
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Eastern Tent Caterpillar
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Young, first instar eastern tent caterpillars were spotted
on a crapapple in Westmoreland county on Friday. At this stage,
the pest can easily be clipped out and removed from the site.
Populations of this insect tend to rise and fall in a cyclical
pattern and based on the 6-8 areas I have monitored this year,
the number of overwintering egg masses are lower than in the
past 3-4 years. Of course, by saying this, I am setting myself
up for people in some areas to experience populations on the
increase. Time will tell.
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Fact
Sheet
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Hemlock Rust Mite
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Regularly monitored populations
in Westmoreland County continue to increase. |
Fact
Sheet
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White Vine Weevil
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Evidence of feeding on the
terminals of Eastern White Pines was spotted in Westmoreland
County
this past week. Nurseries or landscapes with a previous history
of white pine weevil problems should be scouting Eastern White
Pine, Norway Spruce, Oriental Spruce, and Colorado Blue Spruce
at this time, looking for evidence of recent feeding. Insecticidal
treatments should be applied when the sap flow from the adult
feeding is observed. Registered controls for this pest can be
found here. |
Fact
Sheet
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Weed of the Week
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Small Flowered or Wild Geranium
This weed is usually a biennial, which means, the seed germinated
last fall, and the plant will develop flowers and seeds, before
it dies in late summer/early Fall.
Control strategies for this and other landscape weeds can be
found in the Controlling Weeds in Nursery and Landscape Plantings
( 431kb pdf ) .
More
information.
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The next scouting report will be on
April 23
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