Spartan Mowers Releases 2025 Product Lineup
Jessica Schwartz
Free Asian Long-Horned Beetle Webinar From EPA Center Of Integrated Pest Managment
The Asian Long-Horned Beetle is an invasive insect that is harmful to America’s hardwood forests. Boring into hardwoods, this invasive insect weakens the trunks of these trees and can lead to their decline. This beetle has spread throughout the U.S. and can damage natural and recreational resources. The U.S. EPA Center of Integrated Pest Management is hosting a free webinar ” Updates for Managing the Asian Long-Horned Beetle (ALB).” This free webinar will focus on identifying this pest and effective integrated pest management strategies to eradicate it from forested areas. Presenter: Kathryn Bronsky, (USDA/APHIS ) This webinar will provide the attendees an opportunity to obtain continuing education credits from the following state agencies and organizations: * Department of Agriculture for Pest Management Professionals: * State Lead Agencies: AK, DE, FL, GA, HI, ME, RI, SC, UT, WV, WY, CO, CT, IN, MA, MT, NH, NJ, OH, TN, TX, WA * Organizations: Society of American Foresters (SAF) The 90-minute webinar will be presented on Monday, January 23, from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm EST. Register here. For more background on Asian Long-Horned Beetle, see: Progress On Asian Longhorned Beetle Eradication In Ohio “August Declared ‘Tree Check Month’ For Asian Longhorned Beetle”
Native Wasp May Help ALB Eradication Efforts
As Turf recently reported, August is “Tree Check Month” for Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) since adult activity peaks this month for the invasive wood-boring beetle that attacks and kills 12 types of North American hardwood trees. But alongside public education efforts to spot and control ALB, the USDA and its partners may soon have another tool in its arsenal in the 25+ year battle, reported Sharon Lucik in Plant Protection Today, a USDA publication. Scientists from the USDA’s Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) program announced in late July that they are evaluating a stingless parasitoid wasp, or Ontsira mellipes, for its potential to attack and kill ALB larvae. The wasp is native to North America, abundant, and widely distributed across the continent. Ontsira mellipes attacks larvae of native longhorned wood-boring beetles and ALB—a non-native—in laboratory tests. For this reason, scientists are hopeful that the wasp can aid ALB eradication efforts and conducting field studies in the ALB quarantine area in Worcester, MA. The team will conduct an 18-week study on conservation property in woodlots where public usage is limited, and ALB quarantine regulations are in place. “We’re already out in the field setting up our test and control plots,” said PQ’s Science and Technology researcher Juli Gould. If scientists do prove Ontsira mellipes is an effective biocontrol agent for the ALB, it would provide the ALB staff with a new tool to use in sensitive areas where traditional eradication methods may not be suitable, and also in wetlands and rugged ...
Native Wasp May Help ALB Eradication Efforts
As Turf recently reported, August is “Tree Check Month” for Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) since adult activity peaks this month for the invasive wood-boring beetle that attacks and kills 12 types of North American hardwood trees. But alongside public education efforts to spot and control ALB, the USDA and its partners may soon have another tool in its arsenal in the 25+ year battle, reported Sharon Lucik in Plant Protection Today, a USDA publication. Scientists from the USDA’s Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) program announced in late July that they are evaluating a stingless parasitoid wasp, or Ontsira mellipes, for its potential to attack and kill ALB larvae. The wasp is native to North America, abundant, and widely distributed across the continent. Ontsira mellipes attacks larvae of native longhorned wood-boring beetles and ALB—a non-native—in laboratory tests. For this reason, scientists are hopeful that the wasp can aid ALB eradication efforts and conducting field studies in the ALB quarantine area in Worcester, MA. The team will conduct an 18-week study on conservation property in woodlots where public usage is limited, and ALB quarantine regulations are in place. “We’re already out in the field setting up our test and control plots,” said PQ’s Science and Technology researcher Juli Gould. If scientists do prove Ontsira mellipes is an effective biocontrol agent for the ALB, it would provide the ALB staff with a new tool to use in sensitive areas where traditional eradication methods may not be suitable, and also in wetlands and rugged ...
