Recent News

This spring and early summer have certainly been seasons for the record books. Abundant rains and cool temperatures have everyone wondering if this is the midwest or the pacific northwest.

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Codling moth. Pheromone trap captures continue to show great variation from orchard to orchard.

Insect repellents were researched and reviewed by Consumers Union and the results published in the July, 1993, issue of Consumer Reports magazine.

Perennial flower gardeners really appreciate plants with an extended season of bloom. The perennial flower that immediately comes to my mind when thinking of long bloom is coreopsis.

Ivy is susceptible to a number of fungal leaf spots. The spots are caused by a variety of fungal species. They cause round to irregular spots in a variety of colors.

Some years back, we reported on what, at the time, seemed like one of the least intelligent and most misdirected tick "management" schemes we could imagine.

'Large black ants' have become the most common topic of discussion for callers to the Extension Entomology office during the past week.

Not many of us can go into the lumberyard and pick up everything we will need to build a home or business without prior planning. Creating a landscape that fits our needs requires much the same thought and consideration.

Some people find it hard to believe that plants must flower in order to set seed. In many woody plants the flower isn't very attractive. For some, the flowers are barely distinguishable from the leaves.

Pine wilt is a serious disease of pines, especially Scots pine, in the Midwest, including Iowa. Infected trees wilt and die within a matter of weeks to a few months.

Black flies are not very common in most of Iowa, though a few samples and calls are received every year.

Strawberry leaf spot is caused by the fungus Mycosphaerella fragariae. Characteristic leaf symptoms make this disease easy to identify. At first, small purple spots develop on the upper leaf surface.

With the wet weather this spring, conditions have been favorable for the development of anthracnose on shade trees. Anthracnose is a fungal disease that occurs most commonly on ash, maple, sycamore, and white and bur oak.

The continued wet weather favors outbreaks of the major foliar and fruit diseases on apples and strawberries. Insect pests are becoming active, too.

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Vertical gardening has become a way of life for many whose gardening space is limited. However, even those with extensive amounts of space enjoy the beauty of gardening upward.

May is the month when the European pine sawfly larvae feed on the old needles of pine trees. Larvae are usually present from the beginning of the month, or about the time redbuds begin to bloom.

This must be a particularly good year for ants to dig in lawns and cause unsightly, unwanted mounds, based on the number of calls I am receiving. There are many species of ants which occur in lawns and other turfgrass areas.

Some people have expressed concern about using treated wood in close proximity to plants. Specifically, individuals are worried about chemicals leaching from the wood and being absorbed by the plant.

Pictured on the next page are adult and larvae of our two most common species of carpet beetles, the black carpet beetle and varied carpet beetle. Though closely related, they vary in overall appearance.

One benefit of spring's slow start this year is that there's still time to clean up home gardens. Getting rid of last year's dried-up plant refuse now can help you have fewer, less severe disease problems as the season progresses.