EPA releases Proposal to Protect Bees from Acutely Toxic Pesticides

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing restrictions to protect bees used for pollination services from harmful pesticide exposure. Large numbers of bees may be exposed to pesticide spray when growers contract with beekeepers to provide pollination services. EPA believes that strong regulatory measures should be in place to protect bees used for pollination services.

EPA’s Proposal to Mitigate Bee Exposure to Acutely Toxic Pesticides in docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2014-0818. EPA will accept public comments on the proposal starting May 29, 2015.

Proposed Restrictions 

EPA is proposing to prohibit the applications of pesticides that are highly toxic to bees when crops are in bloom and bees are under contract for pollination services. These restrictions would prohibit application of most insecticides and some herbicides during bloom.

Growers routinely contract with honey bee keepers to bring in bees to pollinate their crops that require insect pollination. Bees are typically present during the period the crops are in bloom. Application of pesticides during this period can significantly affect the health of bees.

These restrictions are expected to reduce the likelihood of high levels of pesticide exposure and mortality for bees providing pollination services. Moreover, EPA believes these additional measures to protect bees providing pollination services will protect other pollinators as well.

The proposed restrictions would apply to all products that have:

• Liquid or dust formulations as applied; 
• Foliar use (applying pesticides directly to crop leaves) directions for use on crops; and 
• Active ingredients that have been determined via testing to have high toxicity for bees (less than 11 micrograms per bee). 

The proposed restrictions would not replace more restrictive, chemical-specific, bee-protective provisions that may already be on a product label. Additionally, the proposed label restrictions would not apply to applications made in support of a government-declared public health response, such as use for wide area mosquito control. There would be no other exceptions to these proposed restrictions.

The list of registered active ingredients that meet the acute toxicity criteria is included as Appendix A of EPA’s proposal.

At this time, EPA is not proposing changes to product labels for managed bees not being used for pollination services.

Spotted Lanternfly found in Pennsylvania

On Sept. 22, 2014, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, confirmed the presence the Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) in Berks County.

The Spotted Lanternfly is a planthopper from Asia, specifically found in China, Korea, India, Vietnam, and parts of eastern Asia. It is an invasive insect in Korea where it was introduced in 2006 and since has attacked 25 plant species which also grow in Pennsylvania. In the U.S. it has the potential to greatly impact the grape, fruit tree and logging industries. This pest attacks many hosts including grapes, apples, pines, stone fruits and more than 70 additional species.

More information can be found at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture website

Field Scouting with Google Glass? Group Will Study the Potential

There has been a lot of hype about using newer web-connected technologies to carryout field scouting and surveys in agricultural commodities.  In a feature article in the October 2014 issue of Growing Georgia, Allison Floyd provides an overview of new project funded by U.S. Department of Agriculture that will evaluate how Google Glass technologies can be used in pecan production.     

See:  http://growinggeorgia.com/features/2014/10/field-scouting-google-glass-group-will-study-potential/     

The green menace strikes again! Human health effects of Emerald Ash Borer

Steven Valley, Oregon Department of Agriculture, Bugwood.org

PBS NewsHour just published a piece on How Removing Trees Can Kill You as related to the loss of ash in Detroit, Michigan as a result of Emerald Ash Borer. 

Geoffrey Donovan noted "Increased rates of death from cardiovascular and lower respiratory mortality in the counties with emerald ash borer. And interestingly, what we found was the effect got bigger the longer you had an infestation, which makes sense because it takes two to five years for a tree to die typically."

I've always touted the fact that trees in urban environments make it a better place to live. It takes something like this to make you appreciate just how important they can be!

Maps for the National Distribution and Trends of Pesticide Use from 1992-2009

Ever wonder what fungicides, insecticide or herbicides are used across the county?  Have you been curious to know the levels of use?  The US Geological Survey now has interactive maps to let you explore the trends of pesticide use from 1992 to 2009.

The new interactive national maps and trend graphs (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/pnsp/usage/maps) show the distribution of the agricultural use of 459 pesticides for each year during 1992-2009 for the entire conterminous U.S. The maps and supporting national database of county-level use estimates for each pesticide were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey for use in national and regional water-quality assessments.

Introducing the Ohio State University node of the Bugwood Image Database

Several institutions help to curate the Bugwood Image Database.  The Ohio State University has recently joined Colorado State University, Cornell University, and the University of Georgia in helping to build the Bugwood Image Database.  Their involvement will be unique as there are multiple departments within the university who will be collaborating including Entomology, Plant Pathology, Natural Resources, and Horticulture and Crop Sciences. We look forward to this new partnership and are excited to see what new innovations it will foster.

YOU can help STOP the Brown Marmorated Stinkbug!

The brown marmorated stink bug damages a huge range of fruit, vegetable, and ornamental crops in North America. StopBMSB.org features the latest findings from more than 50 researchers working to solve the mysteries of this pest.

The web site provides a photo identification guide and recommendations for how to control BMSB. Visitors can connect to our researchers' sites, send a specimen for identification, and report a sighting.

 

YOU can help by reporting this fearsome foe! The more we know about where is is, the better strategies we can come up with to limit it's spread and impact.

You can help stop this pest!

Tell us what you need from extension in the south!!!

The Southern IPM Center wants to know what people consider a proirity for extension. If you are a person managing pests and you know the one thing that if extension put out would solve one of the biggest problems in your industry, then this survey is for you.

The Southern Region IPM Center has a relatively small pool of funds available, so we hope, with your help, to identify a "short list" of projects that will optimize delivery of positive impacts. You can access the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/93MLD5Q.

The survey is fairly short. You will be asked to describe one or two situations in which pest management could be improved if only the managers were better-informed or educated about a new method or tactic. We welcome responses about either agricultural or non-agricultural settings. Responses are anonymous, but the survey does include a few questions about your interest in IPM.

We expect to keep this survey open for approximately two weeks after which responses will be analyzed and results made public. The Southern IPM Center will use results to inform our own funding program. We and our partners may use the information in other ways, including prioritization of future projects.

At the end of the survey, you will have the opportunity to sign up for SIPMC's mailing list, as well as subscribe to blogs, Twitter feed and Facebook. You must already have an account with Twitter to follow the Twitter feed.

If you have questions about the survey, please direct them to Jim VanKirk at jim@sripmc.org, 919-513-8179, or Rosemary Hallberg at rhallberg@sripmc.org or 919-513-8182.

Your participation in this survey will help us focus our priorities for our next RFA and fund projects that will help us generate big impacts.

Please forward this e-mail to anyone that you think would have an interest in participating in the survey, especially Extension agents and other IPM professionals in your state.

New guide for dealing with kudzu bug in soybean

Soybean growers in the south have had to find effective ways to control kudzu bug. Fortunately, the United Soybean Board has worked with researchers at Clemson University, North Carolina State University, and University of Georgia to release a new guide for growers dealing with this pest.

The guide includes information on how to identify the different life stages of the pest, where it can be found, how it lives, and current management practices for trying to manage this new invader. You can find a link to it here or on our page for growers.

Kudzu Bug on the Move and Becoming Nuisance!!

Kudzu bugs congregating on porch in North Carolina

Cooler temperatures signal emergence of kudzu bug adults from their preferred plant hosts in search of sites to spend the winter months. Unfortunately, this is often inside of houses! North Carolina homeowners are reporting high numbers on homes this week. Their more southern neighbors might expect the same within a matter of days or weeks as temperatures cool and host plants senesce.

Dan Suiter and Wayne Gardner have just released a new alert for homeowners dealing with these invasions.

Pest Management for Organic Production Systems

On July 26 at 1 p.m. Eastern Time, a webinar entitled “Pest Management for Organic Production Systems II” will be broadcast by the National Center for Appropriate Technology.  It will discuss ecologically friendly practices that support organic pest management, including trap cropping, perimeter trap cropping, crop rotations, pheromone use, and other techniques, as well as their impacts on pests and beneficials.

NCAT Program Specialist Rex Dufour will be the webinar presenter. The webinar will build on an earlier one, Pest Management for Organic Production Systems. That webinar covered conservation practices such as soil management, hedgerows, and other beneficial habitat-management practices and strategies. It is available at https://attra.ncat.org/video/index.php.

To register: Click on the following link https://attra.ncat.org/pestmanagement.

About the presenter: Rex Dufour's background is in entomology and integrated pest management. His work experience includes managing sustainable development projects in Thailand and Laos. Mr. Dufour has worked as both project manager and program specialist for NCAT and heads NCAT's California office. In addition to the ATTRA project, he is involved in several minority farmer outreach projects.

Give us your common dandelion seeds!!!

Some of you remember our recent call for oak caterpillars.  We have another researcher who wants your unwanted critters...Dandelions!

John Cardina at The Ohio State University needs your dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) seeds.  He's looking at their genes to find out how much diversity is in the population and determine if they mainly with themselves or if they cross with other dandelions.  To do this, he needs dandelion seeds from all over the country AND he needs to know where the seeds came from!

 Here’s how to collect dandelion seeds:

1. Select 4 healthy dandelion plants from different parts of your yard or field.  They could also be from different parts of your life – one on the way to work, one in the park, one in the flowerbed next to the grocery store, etc.  In other words, not four plants right together (but if that’s all you can get, that’s fine too).
2. Pick one flower head (puff-ball) per plant.  He needs the seeds (achenes) – with or without fluff (pappus) - from one individual flower head per plant
3. Pluck the seeds (the entire puff-ball), and put them into a coin envelope or folded paper. Please keep the four puff-balls separate (different envelopes or in separate folds of paper).
4. Label each one with information on where and when you found each one.  GPS coordinates are preferred but zip code, street address, road intersection, or other reference will work.  The date is collected on is all we need for the when.
5. Send the seeds to John at:
        John Cardina
        OSU/OARDC
        1680 Madison Ave.
        Wooster, OH  44691

As an added bonus, We'll be working with John to post the occurrence data into EDDMapS.  Right now our data on dandelion is pretty sparse.

Give us your Oak Caterpillars!!!

Researchers at the University of Georgia are initiating a regional-level study on oak caterpillar outbreaks in the southeastern U.S.  Our project objectives are to better understand the ecology and distribution of caterpillars feeding on oak trees in early spring, and to provide guidance on management of caterpillars. 

 

For the purpose of this project, we are requesting all folks who have seen caterpillars in large numbers on oak trees on their properties to send us samples.  Specific instructions for collection are as follows:

1. Collect as many caterpillars from oak trees as possible.  Caterpillars are nocturnal, and can be collected using tweezers directly from the tree.  Bands of cloth can be placed on the tree trunk to stop the caterpillars from climbing the trees and to collect many insects at the same time. 
2. We prefer >10 caterpillars per tree, but we will take up to 250.  Place caterpillars in a small plastic container or a bag, and freeze them.  Similarly, collect 4-5 leaves from each oak tree, and freeze them separately in a plastic bag.  Collect from as many trees as possible from your property. 
3. Number caterpillar and oak leaf bags from each tree individually.  So, plastic bags labeled Tree 1 will have caterpillars and leaves collected from that tree, bags labeled Tree 2 will have caterpillars and leaves collected from that tree, etc.
4. Put all samples together in a small box, and include information about location and date of collection.  Location information should include county and if possible full address so that we can estimate latitude and longitude.  This information will be kept strictly confidential.
5. You can drop the caterpillars and oak leaves at the local extension office, and send us an email about it.  Or, you can ship the frozen caterpillars and oak leaves (1-day shipping) to the address as follows:

Evelyn Carr
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources
180 Green Street
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602

If you are unable to do either of these things, then please contact us to pick up samples.  The samples need to be either alive or frozen so that we could extract DNA from them to determine caterpillar species.  Any assistance with learning more about our native caterpillars will be greatly appreciated!  Thank you for your participation in the project.

February issue of National Plant Diagnostic Network News

The February issue of NPDN News is now available at www.npdn.org/newsletter.  Highlights for this issue include:

• A node is born: Introducing Cornell-Bugwood
• New host plants added to Phytophthora ramorum regulations
• Diagnostic tip: cleaning up mite infested fungal cultures
• IT security: using strong passwords
• GPDN webinar series

Flat Mites of the World

CPHST’s Identification Technology Program (ITP) is pleased to announce the release of its latest identification tool, Flat Mites of the World. This tool is aimed at enhanc­ing our diagnostic capabilities for key taxa and to ultimately allow plant protection and quaran­tine services to develop rapid solutions to serious biosecurity threats.

Flat mites remain one of the most economically significant of all acarine groups. All species are phytophagous and the species that have been identified as pests have shown the potential to cause severe economic damage to agricultural crops, ornamentals, and timber. They cause dam­age directly through feeding on host plant tissue and indirectly through the transmission of plant viruses.

Flat Mites of the World will help you identify, via interactive keys, diagnostic fact sheets, and an image gallery, the 36 genera of flat mites present throughout the world, including specific diagnostics for 13 species of Raoiella, 14 species of Brevipalpus, and Tenuipalpus pacificus. The resource can be accessed at:  idtools.org/id/mites/flatmites/

Bugwood Images now has 150,000 images available!

The Bugwood Image Database has officially crossed the 150,000 image mark!  Since coming online in 2001, we've had steady growth thanks to the efforts of the 1,800 photographers that have posted images in the system.  We have also been very fortunate to have great users that let us know what they would like to see in the future and how the system can be improved.  All of us at the Center wish to thank you for your help in building a useful and dynamic resource! 

Pest Tracker image recruitment

Pest Tracker publishes survey maps for pests of agricultural and forest commodities and provides links to pest news and information.  They also use images from the Bugwood Image Database to illustrate different organisms.  There are currently 120 species that have no images available!  There are many more that need more images to better illustrate thier life cycles and management.  The list for the recruitment project can be found on the Bugwood Image Recruitment page for Pest Tracker.  Here are a few of the species that we need images to illustrate and are pretty common:

• sour skin of onion (Burkholderia cepacia)
• dogwood anthracnose (Discula destructiva)
• brown spot of corn (Physoderma maydis)
• glassy-winged sharpshooter (Homalodisca vitripennis)
• soybean stem borer (Dectes texanus)
• tufted apple bud moth (Platynota idaeusalis)
• squash vine borer (Melittia cucurbitae)
• black cutworm (Agrotis ipsilon)

Emerald Ash Borer continues its march into Pennsylvania

Emerald Ash Borer has continued its spread into Pennsylvania and has now been detected in Bedford County.  This pest has been devastating the native ash trees as it has spread from the orignial introduction in Michigan.  The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture is again urging campers not to move firewood since it is the primary way that this pest is spread.  See the PA Department of Agriculture website for the full news release.

Bark Beetles of the Southeastern United States

CPHST is pleased to announce the release of a new identification tool, An Identification Tool for Bark Beetles of the Southeastern United States. Bark Beetles of the Southeastern United States was created through collaboration among USDA/APHIS/PPQ Center for Plant Health Science and Technology (CPHST), North Carolina State University (NCSU), Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES), Southern Plant Diagnostic Network (SPDN), Oregon Department of Agriculture, and Museum Victoria, Australia (PaDIL image library). The internet-based tool separates southeastern United States genera contained within the Curculionidae subfamily Scolytinae, focusing specifically on members of the tribes Hylesinini and Scolytini.

Bark Beetles of the Southeastern United States, developed and released in Lucid version 3.4, was uploaded to the Internet in January 2010 to support easy access by PPQ and our cooperators. Bark Beetles of the Southeastern United States can be accessed at: http://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/bark_beetles.htm

Some of the images from this project are available through the Bugwood Image Database.  Below are the links to some of the image galleries:

•   J.R. Baker & S.B. Bambara 
•  Pest and Diseases Image Library (PaDIL)