Pest Activity -- April 9, 2001
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April 9, 2001
Welcome to the Woody Ornamental Pest Scouting Report
for Western Pennsylvania for April 6, 2001, brought to you by Penn
State Cooperative Extension. This tape 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 4, the following growing degree days using
a base temperature of 50 degrees have accumulated:
| Wexford |
4 |
| Butler |
1 |
| Uniontown |
14 |
| New Stanton |
5 |
How cold is this spring? A quick look at the
growing degree day records for the past 5 years indicates it has been
a very cold spring.
| Year |
Date |
Growing Degree Days |
| 2001 |
April 4 |
5 |
| 2000 |
April 5 |
93 |
| 1999 |
April 7 |
77 |
| 1998 |
April 8 |
142 |
| 1997 |
April 10 |
103 |
| 1996 |
April 3 |
35 |
The immature adults of Cooley
Spruce Gall Adelgids were observed this past week on Douglas Fir
in Westmoreland County. Feeding damage from his pest will cause bent
or distorted needles on Douglas Fir and galls on the terminal growth
of Colorado Blue and Oriental Spruce. Now is the time to check for
the presence of the black colored adults on the needles of Douglas
fir and Colorado spruce to determine if a spring control measures
for this pest is warranted. Controls should be applied before the
black colored adults are covered with white waxy filaments and pesticide
efficacy is greatly reduced. Remember that good coverage is essential
for control.
Eastern Spruce Gall Adelgid, the pest responsible for the pineapple
shaped galls on Norway Spruce, is also active now. Trees with a past
history of this pest should be scouted at this time.
Eriophyid
mites were observed feeding on hemlocks in Westmoreland and Allegheny
counties this past week. High populations of this pest will cause
needles to yellow before dropping. If you noticed this occurring in
the landscape or nursery last year, check now for small worm-like
creatures with two pairs of legs. Eriophyid mites are much smaller
than spider mites and a hand lens is required for detection. Registered
insecticides applied according to label directions should be used
at this time.
There is another Eriophyid Mite that feeds on white pines with severe
infestations responsible for turning last years’ foliage brown.
Since white pines are very sensitive to salt injury and winter desiccation
it is wise to check the foliage under a stereo microscope or a 15x
hand lens.
The foliage on crabapples in the city of Pittsburgh poked out this
past weekend, which means that possible apple scab infections are
just around the corner. Recent research indicates that a combination
of the fungicides Banner and Daconil provides very good control of
apple scab with the first spray applied at the early pink stage and
a second one applied three weeks later.
The next tape update will be on Friday, April 13th.
