Stephanitis pyrioides (azalea lace bug)
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Stephanitis pyrioides Family: Tingidae Common name: azalea lace bug Adult size: 2.5 mm (0.1 inch) Type: Pest |
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Life cycle: Generations per year: two to four Description & life cycle: Adult lace bugs are roughly 2.5 mm (0.1 in) long. Their cream-coloured body is slightly flat and elongated. The clear wings are laced throughout with tan-brown veins and they lay neatly folded and flat over the abdomen, extending just over the extremities. Given their colour and clear wings, these adult lace bugs can be rather difficult to spot with the naked eye on an infested shrub. Adult longevity is variable; one to four months within a temperature range of 20.5 °C (69 °F) and 32 °C (89.5 °F). Each day, a female lace bug pierces the lower epidermis layer along the leaf midrib or margin in which to lay 5 – 7 eggs. She then covers them with a brown secretion which hardens to protect the eggs from damage and predators. Over their lifetime, females can lay about 300 eggs, or more. The white eggs are tiny at a mere 0.36 – 0.43 mm (0.014 – 0.017 in) long and 0.16 – 0.23 mm (0.006 – 0.009 in) wide. They are oval-shaped with a slightly curled neck, resembling a tiny flask. The egg incubation period generally lasts for about 22 days when temperatures hover around 20.5 °C (69 °F); shorter at about 12 days when temperatures rise to around 32 °C (89 °F). The young nymphs stay together and feed near the egg remnants for the first couple of instar stages before seeking out other feeding spots as they develop through the remaining three instars. They are very pale in their initial instar stages, gradually darkening to dark brown or black and forming spines around the lateral edge of their body. Nymphs are extremely minute at 0.1 mm (0.004 in) in their first instar to 1.8 mm (0.07 in) in their fifth instar. Nymph stage lasts for about 11 days at 32 °C (89 °F), up to 23 days at 20.5 °C (69 °F). Special Notes: Native to Japan, the azalea lace bug has spread quite widely through the global movement of its very popular, and desirable, host plant. It was positively identified in New Jersey as early as 1915, and more recently in Washington State in 2008 and Oregon in 2009. The young lace bugs develop on the underside of the leaves, inserting their stylet into the stomata and sucking the sap from the inner leaf tissue. As their population increases, the effects of this feeding results in a yellow mottled appearance on the upper side of the leaves. Azalea lace bugs feed on both evergreen and deciduous azaleas and rhododendrons. Large populations of this pest can cause serious stress to the plant, even causing death. Typically, lace bug populations are higher on plants situated in a sunny location versus a plant in a shadier area. Remedial actions: Spray the upper- and undersides of the leaves with horticultural oil during the winter. This is to minimize killing any beneficial insects which may be nearby, feasting on the lace bugs. Beneficial insects include: ladybugs, lacewings, earwigs and spiders. Repeat to ensure all eggs have been coated with oil and thoroughly smothered. Through the growing season, provide adequate water and fertilizer for the benefit of healthier plants which are better able to withstand pest damage. Placing mulch underneath the plant will help to keep the soil moist.
Posted on December 3, 2018 |
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Brevicoryne brassicae (cabbage aphid)
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Brevicoryne brassicae Family: Aphididae Common name: cabbage aphid Type: Pest |
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Life cycle: Generations per year: up to 15 during growing season
Description: A minute, soft-bodied, sap-sucking insect; elliptical in shape, becoming more round as it matures through the nymph stages. Has six, long, thin legs; two long, six-segmented antennae which are carried over the body; sucking mouthparts called stylets which are enclosed in a sheath called a rostrum; a pair of very short, upright, backward-pointing tubes called cornicles (or siphunculi) located on the 5th or 6th segment of the abdomen; a shorter projection called cauda located above the anal plate. The cabbage aphid is greyish-green in colour. Aphids have a complicated life cycle. In temperate climates, overwintering eggs hatch in spring. The first generation of wingless females (called stem mothers) are already pregnant…reproducing by parthenogenesis (without fertilization). The offspring are born live, called viviparity…a unique phenomenon in this insect. Stem mothers continue to reproduce throughout the summer, typically giving birth to 5 or 6 nymphs per day. When the host plant becomes overcrowded, or its resources reduced, some of the offspring will develop into adults and grow two pairs of large, clear, membranous wings. Once able to fly, these winged adults, called alates, leave the host plant in search of another, fresh plant. In northern climates, towards the end of the season, the stem mothers produce both male and female offspring. This is timed to dropping temperatures and lowering light levels as the season winds down. After mating, the females lay their eggs in the plant debris of the host plants at soil level, where the eggs will overwinter. (In warmer climates, there is no egg stage in the aphid life cycle. The stem females reproduce continuously throughout the year.) Cabbage aphid eggs are black in colour.
Special Notes: Originally native to Europe, the cabbage aphid is now found worldwide. It is generally thought aphids have been on the planet for roughly 280 million years, placing them in the early Permian period. The oldest aphid fossil was found several years ago in China…an almost complete insect, minus part of the antennae and part of its legs. It has been determined to be a completely new species of aphid and named Dracaphis angustata. The aphid fossil was dated and found to have actually lived during the Middle Triassic Age…after the Permian period. To explain some of the body parts on the aphid…the cornicles, or siphunculi, those slightly elevated, slender protrusions on the back of an aphid, are defensive apparatuses which will exude a fluid that hardens when it comes in contact with air as a deterrent to predators. The substance is also thought to contain alarm pheromones. The shorter cauda tube, located above the anal opening, serves to collect the honeydew excreted from the anus and hold it raised so it does not foul the body.
Host plant list: Cabbage aphids are a particular pest to cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, rape, radishes, numerous mustards, and kale.
Remedial Actions: There are several predator insects which hunt aphids…lady beetles, ant-lions (green lacewing larvae), yellow jackets, European paper wasps, and others. Organically…usually a strong jet of water from the hose, repeated every few days, will dislodge these pests. If possible, and if there are no beneficial insects feasting on the aphids, grasping the affected area of branch between two fingers and sliding them up the branch will squish many of the offenders. Same goes for rubbing fingers over infested leaves. Another plan of attack is to hit the aphids with a soapy water solution…2 teaspoons (10 ml) of dish soap into 4 cups (1 L) of water, but first check to see if there are any beneficial insects present before you start spraying. Concentrated, repeat forays against this pest are required in order to eradicate them. With the fast turnaround in their reproduction cycle, their numbers can get out of hand very quickly.
Posted on November 8, 2018 |
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How To: Compost an Excess of Leaves
Do not burn those leaves! They are a very necessary part of building soil. Their composition adds rich humus as they break down and the nutrients they contain are released back into the soil to feed plants.
Leaves are composted naturally in all wild and neglected environments. Just look at what happens in a forest.
And we can do the same in our own gardens…even speed up the process a little by shredding the leaves first with a leaf shredder, a mulching lawn mower, or a rotary push mower.
Step 1: Prepare an area to compost your leaves. Lay a tarp or piece of heavy plastic on the ground or in the bottom of one of your compost bins.
Step 2: Add nitrogen. This can be lawn clippings, manure, seaweed, or a nitrogen supplement. (See list below.)
- If using lawn clippings: lay down roughly three inches of leaves first, then sprinkle the clippings evenly over top until this layer measures an inch.
- If using manure: lay down roughly four inches of leaves first, then sprinkle the manure evenly over top until this layer measures an inch.
- If using seaweed: lay down roughly three inches of leaves first, then sprinkle the seaweed evenly over top until this layer measures an inch.
- If using a nitrogen supplement: add a dusting to one wheelbarrow load of leaves. Lay down wheelbarrow load of leaves first, then sprinkle the nitrogen supplement sparingly over top.
Step 3: Build up your heap of leaves in increments following the amounts noted in Step 2. Cover the heap with plastic to keep warmth in and the moisture constant.
Step 4: Remove the plastic and turn the heap every now and then. This will re-generate heat within the pile which aids in composting. How frequently you turn the pile will determine how fast your heap of leaves will compost down into rich humus material.
Nitrogen supplements: use any one of these if you do not have enough grass clippings on hand or easy access to a manure or seaweed source. Follow directions in Step 2.
Plant-based:
- Alfalfa meal
- Coffee grounds
- Cottonseed meal
- Soybean meal
Araneus trifolium (pumpkin spider)
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Araneus trifolium Family: Araneidae
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Description: Abdomen colour of the pumpkin spider is variable…white, yellow, orange or brown. No matter the colour, there is a smattering of small white dots marking their back and several dark round indentations. Another distinct identifying feature are the white and brown bands on their legs. They also have bristles running the length of each leg, as well as a third claw on their “foot” which helps them manipulate their silk as they are weaving and to walk across their web. These spiders have the trademark number of eight eyes…two rows of four…but their vision is surprisingly poor.
Pumpkin spiders prey on insects, usually paralysing whatever gets caught in their web with a toxic bite and then wrapping it for eating it later. If the insect is itself venomous, the pumpkin spider will wrap it first and then paralyse it with its bite.
Special Notes: Native throughout much of North America. They are not often seen in spring due to their small size upon hatching. However, as they grow, particularly the larger females, they are spotted more frequently in late summer and autumn. Beneficial insect for pest control. While the pumpkin spider’s bite is toxic to insects, it is rarely of consequence to humans. The exception is those people who have more sensitive immune systems or sensitive skin.
In our Zone 7a garden: The cross orb weaver spider, Araneus diadematus, is much more common in our garden but every now and again a pumpkin spider appears sometime in August. Most recently, a female appeared at our compost bins mid-August 2017. She, or another female pumpkin spider built a bower in a few strands of our silver maiden grass, Miscanthus sinensis var. canadensis ‘Cosmopolitan’ in the second week of September. The female remained on guard of her eggs until the first week of October when the temperatures dipped to 0.5 °C (32.9 °F) and -1.0 °C (30.2 °F) two nights in a row.
Note: The camera lens cap next to the female pumpkin spider gives some representation to her size. The lens cap is 2 inches (5.2 cm) across.
Posted on October 11, 2018 |
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Apple ‘Akane’
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Malus domestica ‘Akane’ Family: Rosaceae |
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Special Notes: Developed at the Morika Experimental Station in Japan in 1937 but was not introduced globally until 1970. This apple typically ripens early in the mid-season range of the harvest period…usually in September. Good eating and cooking apple with a firm texture, keeping its shape throughout cooking. Good keeper if kept in cold storage at 4 °C (39 °F). Outside of cold storage, ‘Akane’ will only keep for 2-3 weeks.
Posted on October 3, 2018 |
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