Can't tell a Honeybee from a Bumble Bee? This New Tool May Help!

Bees are more than honey bees. They’re bumble bees, carpenter bees, cuckoo bees and others, and you can identify more than a dozen of them - types you’re likely to see on your farm or in your landscape - using a new pocket card from The Ohio State University.

It’s just in time for this week’s National Pollinator Week, June 20-26, which is meant to raise awareness of pollinators - bees and their buddies - and the good they do for crops and in nature.
“Bees are essential pollinators,” said the card’s developer, Denise Ellsworth, who’s the program director of the Honey Bee and Native Pollinator Education Program in Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “They’re beautiful, important and diverse creatures that positively impact our lives.”

Single copies of Common Bees of Ohio, a 4-by-6-inch laminated card, are free through June 30 by sending a self-addressed, stamped, business-size envelope to Ellsworth at Department of Entomology, OARDC, The Ohio State University, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH 44691. If you miss the deadline, you can buy the card throughout the year in quantities of 25 - good for handing out to groups - for $9.99 from the college’s online store at go.osu.edu/BeeID.

Rose Rosette - A Devastating New Rose Disease in Indiana

Rose rosette is a quickly spreading disease that is a threat to virtually all cultivated roses (Rosa spp.) in Indiana, regardless of cultivar. Even rose cultivars known for their exceptional disease resistance and hardiness are susceptible to rose rosette disease. Losses can occur in home and commercial landscapes, nurseries, and botanical garden plantings.

Rose rosette symptoms are initially observed during spring, intensifying as the season progresses. Symptoms are highly variable, depending on cultivar, plant age, and growing conditions. 

Some common symptoms include: 

•   Increased growth/rapid elongation of shoots 

•   Abnormal red discoloration of shoots and foliage 

•   Witches broom (prolific clustering of small shoots) 

•   Spiral pattern of cane growth

•   Shortening of internodes (shorter stem length between leaves) 

•   Distorted or dwarfed leaves 

•   Overabundance of thorns 

•   Atypical flower coloration (e.g. mottling of otherwise solid-colored roses) 

•   Deformed buds and flowers 

•   Increased susceptibility to other diseases, such as powdery mildew
•   Lack of winter hardiness

The disease-causing agent has only recently been identified as a virus, which has been named rose rosette virus (RRV). RRV is transmitted by an eriophyid mite and through grafts. Once introduced into a plant, the virus becomes systemic.

Growers should take precautions to reduce the risk of introduction of rose rosette virus. There is no cure for rose rosette disease once bushes become infected. Thus, early detection is essential to prevent the virus from spreading to nearby roses.

Infected plants, including roots, must be removed completely, Diseased plants should be immediately bagged and removed from the vicinity so that the pathogen is not spread to healthy plants. Alternatively, where permitted, infected plants may be destroyed by burning. Care must be taken when digging diseased plants to avoid scattering disease-carrying mites to nearby rose shrubs. Remove and destroy any regrowth that occurs from roots remaining in the soil after rose rosette-infected plants are removed. 

Exerpts taken from this publication from University of Kentucky. Rose Rosette Disease -PPFS-OR-W-16.

Indiana continues the fight against gypsy moths this summer - Purdue Extension Got Nature? Blog

In the late 1860s, French scientist Étienne Trouvelot brought over a seemingly harmless insect from Europe called the gypsy moth to conduct breeding experiments with American moths. When they escaped his backyard and entered into an ecosystem without their native predators, their population exploded. 150 years later, these moths are still a destructive forest pest in Indiana and other states, and every year an effort is made to attempt to curb their population. This year, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources will continue the fight to save our forests from these invasive insects.

This year’s budget for gypsy moth eradication is $119,000, and the strategy is two-fold. Phase one consists of a crop dusting of bacterial chemical spray over the gypsy moth catepillars’ food sources. This spray is harmless to humans and native wildlife, but is lethal to the caterpillars. Later in the summer, a pheromone will be dispersed over the moths, disrupting the mating process and causing fatal exhaustion.

This huge undertaking isn’t estimated to stop the gypsy moth – in fact, state entomologists don’t see an end in sight. We can only continue to manage this forest pest and aim for reducing populations to a level where local predators can manage them on their own.

For more information, check out Kokomo Tribune’s article “State launches annual effort to wipe out gypsy moths,” and visit Purdue Extension’s Gypsy Moth website to learn more about the gypsy moth in Indiana.

Shade Trees and Scale Insects in Hamilton County Landscapes

High populations of scale insects are drawing attention in Hamilton County yards this spring. The insects, commonly called lecanium scales, feed on the sap of a variety of trees including maple, oak and many others. This week alone we have had two samples come into our Educational Center for problem diagnosis. One sample was found on oak while the other was a mature maple.

The first signs of scale infestation are often noticed before one sees the insect itself. Most noticeable is the sticky, wet substance on under-story plants, yard furniture, or automobiles. This material, known as honeydew, is excess fluid that is excreted as the insects feed. Under-story leaves and other surfaces may be lightly speckled or heavily coated with the shiny drops of honeydew. Eventually a sooty mold fungus grows on this substrate, blackening the foliage, twigs, and bark, and other objects beneath scale-infested trees. Dieback of twigs and branches and premature leaf drop may result as heavily-infested trees compete with scale insects for necessary moisture.

Lecanium scales can vary in size and color but are generally oval in shape. Females molt several times before reaching adulthood. With each molt, the female’s body grows bigger, while her legs and antennae become proportionately smaller. By the time of the second molt, the female scale, with her hardened, brownish, hemispherical body, is incapable of moving from the spot on which she has become fixed. Male scales are delicate, flat and nearly transparent.

Normally, scale populations are kept in check by environmental factors and natural enemies such as ladybird beetles. Heavily-infested trees may show some dieback of twigs and branches and there may be some early leaf drop. Landowners can reduce other stress on trees to help them recover. For landscape trees be sure to water in times of drought and avoid disturbances such pruning and root damage. When populations are heavy on specimen trees, horticultural oils and other insecticides can be applied.  For more information, click here for a great publication from Michigan State University Extension.

Excerpts were taken from Vermont Dept. of Forestry Lecanium scale fact-sheet.

Purdue Extension Education Center Now Open at Fairgrounds in Noblesville

Purdue Extension Hamilton County just opened a new Education Center on June 1. The small meeting space and resource room is located in the Exhibition Center on the Hamilton County 4-H Fairgrounds, 2003 Pleasant Street. A variety of resources and educational materials on gardening, health and nutrition, and food preparation and preservation will be available.

The Hamilton County Master Gardener Association, Inc. (HCMGA) will be available to answer calls and walk‐in questions on lawn and garden on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. You can also email your horticulture questions to HamiltonGardenline@gmail.com.

The Purdue Extension staff will be on hand to answer questions about food preparation and preservation. Visitors can also schedule an appointment to have their pressure canner gauge checked for accuracy.

Purdue Extension offices across the state provide educational opportunities to Indiana’s communities - our educators, specialists, and volunteers live and work in all 92 counties. Purdue Extension provides practical solutions to real issues – transforming lives and livelihoods in Indiana and around the world.

For more information about the Education Center or Purdue Extension Hamilton County, contact your local office at (317) 776-0854 or visit www.extension.purdue.edu/hamilton.

Click below to view some photos from today's opening.  Hamilton County Education Center - Grand Opening Today