My favorite bug, the bagworm, has hatched and are beginning to secretly reek havoc on unsuspecting evergreens and some leafy plants. They are small right now – maybe only a 1/4 of an inch long – but the just keep getting bigger every day and eating more and more until the needles are gone! I have discovered them on a large planting of weeping white pines (you have to look close, but the browning needles were a hint to look), and when they’re this size, they are very susceptible to sprays of Bt, or the new Captain Jack’s Deadbug Brew (both a form a Eco-friendly bacteria). So this morning, we will spray the weeping pines with the new spray and see what the Captain can do! I’ll report back next week. In the meantime, check your evergreens for these miniature needle eating machines! (Junipers, pines, spruce, chamaecyparis, arborvitae, etc.) PS – I found a few on the closely planted Knock Out rose leaves as well, so they will get on leafy plants. But, its usually not as much of an issue as those plants recover – many of the needled plants do not (after severe damages).
This week, Buggy Joe Boggs is reporting bagworm hatch (duh, Joe, we already covered it!), increased reports of wild turkey damages in suburban gardens (another reason why you don’t drink and garden), iron chlorosis showing now in many trees including oaks, river birch and sweetgum, black medic showing up in many thinned out lawns (looks like clover with a yellow flower), pear sawfly on, nope not pears, crabapples (got cha!), arborvitae leafminer tip damage, mites on junipers, needle blight on Austrina pine, canker on Witchita Blue juniper, abiotic problems of holly leaf drop, leaf scorch on dogwood and red oak, and iron deficiences in river birch, gypsy moth caterpillars out and about, hickory tussock moth feeding on, nope, American elm leaves (got cha again! – they actually feed on a wide range of trees including hickory), magnolia serpentine leaf mining caterpillars on, yes, you got it this time, magnolias, WARM SEASON MITE populations now starting to rise, with the most notoriuous being the two-spotted spider mite (symptoms include tiny yellow spots on leaves which produces leaf chlorosis, browning or bronzing, and subsequent defoliation (burning bush deal with this every summer – also seeing it more and more on roses), sod webworm cases (looks like a cigarette wrapper on the grass) showing up in lawns, as well as the adult moths flying out of the lawn, masked chafers have begun to emerge, reports of tiny pockets of Japanese beetles are starting to come in, and last but not least, a reminder to NOT over feed your tomato plants, which could result in the over abundance of foliage but not tomatoes (or smaller fruit set).
Catch The Buggy Joe Boggs Report every Saturday at 8:42am on 55KRC The Talk Station (550AM).
Helpful Links: www.emeraldashborer.info and www.gardenswithwings.com
Tags: bagworms, bagworms hatching
