Indiana Department of Natural Resources sent this bulletin at 08/03/2018 08:04 AM EDT
Weekly Review for August 3, 2018
Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Entomology & Plant Pathology Phone: (317) 232-4120 Our Website Inspector Territories
This informal report by the Division of Entomology and Plant Pathology is designed to update the Nursery and Greenhouse industry of insect and disease pests the Division has been encountering on a week to week basis and as a way to give a “heads up” of things to be on the lookout for.
Links can be found at the bottom of the page to manage your subscription to this list. Comments and questions about this report are welcome and can be sent to Eric Biddinger or to your respective
Inspector.
Ken Cote (Nursery Inspector & Compliance Officer) - KCote@dnr.IN.gov
I do not have anything new to report this week regarding pests or
disease.However, I would like to
comment on some plants in my garden.During past weekly reviews I spoke very highly and raved at the
performance of blue mist flower or hardy ageratum.This native perennial has performed very well
in my garden and produced a late summer color display as well as attracting butterflies.However, the performance of
this plant this year has been less than desirable.The dry weather that has been occurring in my
region this year has only allowed the plants to grow to a size of approximately
6 inches.Typically this plant is 18-24
inches by this time of year and getting ready to flower.Stokesia
also seemed to suffer from the dry weather this year and has produced very few
flowers.Rudebeckia and Echinacea
are doing well in my garden this year.Then there are my Shasta daisies.They just grow; no matter how much rain I get.The cultivar I have in my garden is
Becky.I have also grown cultivar
Alaska, but Alaska gets too tall and often falls over after heavy rain.The cultivar Becky is a bit tighter in growth
habit but still reaches a height of 24-30 inches.My only complaint about Shasta daisies is
that their bloom is short compared to Rudebeckia
and Echinacea.
Being a nursery inspector requires a broad range of plant
knowledge. I need to know a little bit about many different things.However, once in a while I come across a new
cultivar or unfamiliar plant.One year
I thought I was seeing a leaf spot on Gaura.However after seeing the same pattern on
multiple plants at multiple locations I soon learned that it was a new cultivar
with a unique red spotting on the leaves.There are also many types of yellow and variegated cultivars of plants
that appear very different from the species form.I have seen variegated Ginkgo, sweet gum and
Zelkova.I also love to see variegated
and yellow forms of evergreens.One
particular plant that threw me for a loop in my younger days was the bristle
cone pine (Pinus arsitata).This plant typically has resin flecks that
can look like scale insects from a distance.But close inspection will reveal that they are not scales at all, merely
resin flecks that are a normal part of the plant.Some gardeners are purists and love the
simple elegance of the natural plant species.I, on the other hand, love to see what crazy new, cultivars are being
introduced into the industry.
Ren
Hall (Nursery Inspector & Compliance Officer) - RHall@dnr.IN.gov
During the last few weeks I have continued to see a lot of
Japanese beetle infestations. At a nursery in Madison County I took this shot
of a wheel bug feeding on an adult Japanese beetle.
I was busy
with inspections and survey work last week.I am seeing some strong hives with lots of capped honey and a few hives
with queen problems.Not much nectar
being brought in right now, but I do see bright yellow pollen coming in.Indiana has a dearth period when little
nectar comes in due to a lack of plants to forage on.This dearth period can last from two weeks to
two months depending on rainfall and what is growing in the area.I hope for a short one!
I am seeing
more adult small hive beetles (SHB) in hives.Strong hives with lots of bee and situated in full sun will have fewer
SHB in them. Hives in too much shade tend to have more SHB.A weak hive in shade can be the ones that get
the most SHB and could have SHB larvae show up.SHB adults do not harm the hive, it is the larvae that destroy honey and
brood. For more information on SHB I recommend beekeepers read the Mississippi
SHB Information Sheet.
As of Jan.
1, 2017, beekeepers need a prescription from a veterinarian to get
antibiotics for treatment of bacterial diseases. This federal law is intended
to help track antibiotic use in animals for food production.Bee hives were included with other livestock
since honey bees are food producers. Some reports of misuse or overuse of
antibiotics in swine, cattle, dairy, ducks and chicken production have been
made.This law allows antibiotic use to
be tracked more closely.The increased
worry about resistant strands of bacterial diseases also increases the need to
track antibiotic use.
I was one of
three presenters at a veterinarian beekeeping workshop on July
27.We had 30 veterinarians in
attendance.This workshop was put
together by Purdue Extension to help educate veterinarians about beekeeping and
their role in prescribing antibiotics.Attendees
learned about honey bees, hive interaction and how to identify diseases in
hives. In the afternoon we were able to get hands-on with the hives and see
good brood patterns, what healthy brood looks like, and much more.
There are
two bacterial diseases that will kill honey bee brood (larvae mostly) that
beekeepers use antibiotic on:American
foulbrood and European foulbrood. It is also recommended to treat hives that
have virus symptoms with one treatment of antibiotics to help boost hive
health.However, the main thing with
viruses is to treat for varroa mites.
American
foulbrood (AFB) is the brood disease that is regulated in Indiana and other
states.Beekeepers are not to move hives
with AFB.They are required to destroy
the bees and burn the hive.Large
commercial beekeepers use antibiotics as a “preventative” for AFB, usually
treating spring and fall.If they find a
hive that did break down with AFB, they burn it on the spot.Before bees can be brought into Indiana and
other states, hives are to be inspected and found free of AFB.If the apiary does have AFB, it will be
quarantined and the beekeeper will not be able to moves bees out of that apiary
until all hives are found free of AFB.
European
Foulbrood (EFB) does not require the beekeeper to destroy the bees and
hive.They will need to treat with
antibiotic to help clear it up.There is
more EFB being found in hives in Indiana and other states nearby.This may be due to varroa mites weakening the
hive enough that they get EFB.
This time of year I’m pretty much seeing the same things over and
over again.A few Japanese beetles are
still around, but most of the damage has been done.I’m seeing a real pop in spider mite
damage.I don’t usually see much damage
on crabapples, but at one nursery the cultivar ‘Firebird’ was showing some
pretty heavy damage.Various maples are
also showing some pretty heavy damage from maple mites.I also found a bit of cyprus twig gall midge
on bald cyprus this week.
