Indiana Department of Natural Resources sent this bulletin at 09/25/2018 07:27 AM EDT
Weekly Review for September 25, 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.
A couple of weeks ago I received a phone call about a scorpion
found on the front door of a residence in northeastern Allen County.I’ve had calls about scorpions before and
they’ve always turned out to be crawdads, but I asked that a photo be sent to
me anyway so I could verify it.This
time it was in fact a scorpion.Indiana
doesn’t have any native scorpions so I immediately began contemplating how one
may have found its way here.After some emails
and research I discovered that scorpions can easily be introduced to new areas
when people travel.They are very
reclusive and can hide in luggage, or other items that unsuspecting travelers
take with them, or take home with them while on vacation.There are also a few species of scorpion
native to the southern and southeastern U.S., with one in particular being
reported from several counties in Kentucky.
The original photo of the scorpion I received didn’t have anything
in it to reference size so I was envisioning a 4” scorpion with a potentially
lethal sting.I arranged to pick up the
specimen and when the homeowner brought it out it was 1¼” long.I took it back to my office and began trying
to identify it and keyed it to the genus Vaejovis.I have no experience with scorpion
identification (and never thought I’d need to) and I wasn’t confident in my
identification so I sought out a second opinion.Gail Ruhl at the Purdue Plant Pest Diagnostic
Lab asked around and recommended I contact Dr. David Sissom, a Professor in the
Department of Life, Earth and Environmental Sciences at West Texas A&M at
Canyon.I emailed Dr. Sissom photos and
he said it looked like Vaejovis
carolinianaus, the southern devil scorpion.This particular scorpion is common in the southern and southeastern U.S.
and is the same species that has been reported in Kentucky.It is not dangerous, but can pack a painful
sting.
I contacted the homeowner to give her the news and after a bit of
discussion found out her family had taken a trip to Georgia over the
summer.With my new knowledge regarding
scorpion habits and distribution it seems likely this one hitched a ride back
to Indiana from there.
Ken Cote (Nursery Inspector & Compliance Officer) - KCote@dnr.IN.gov
During the past 7 weeks I have primarily been working on control of
kudzu which is an invasive vine that is causing serious damage to Indiana’s
forests. Kudzu has been in Indiana for decades but continues to be
problematic. Kudzu has a rapid growth rate and quickly over take an
area. The only good thing about kudzu is that propagation and dispersal
by seed is not as severe compared to other invasive species.
Unfortunately
a new invasive species called mile a minute weed (Persicaria perfoliata)
has been found in Monroe County, IN. It was reported by a diligent INDOT
contractor that is working to control invasive species. This is an
aggressive, annual vine that has perfectly triangular shaped leaves, with
thorns along the stem. A circular structure is also exists along the
stems. The berries of this plant are bluish purple and are quite
attractive. The good news is that mile a minute weed is annual. The
bad news, it that birds love to eat the seeds and can aid in seed dispersal of
this plant. The site has been treated and the area is being closely
monitored for additional populations. If you see this plant, please let
DNR Entomology know. Hedge bind weed, false buck wheat and morning glory
can look somewhat similar before flowering or seed set, but the leaves of mile
a minute are nearly a perfect triangle with thorns on the stem.
I finally smelled goldenrod/aster nectar in hives inspected last
week.This nectar has a very strong
smell to it, best described as “dirty, smelly socks”.Once the bees cap this over and we extract it
the smell is gone.The honey is a dark
in color but has a milder taste than buckwheat honey.This fall honey has a tendency to crystalize
up fast.This is one reason I do not
take off goldenrod honey.
I also like to leave this honey on for winter supplies as this is
the last nectar flow we have in Indiana.After the first frost the goldenrod will be done.Aster plants will take a few harder frosts to
finish up.With the extended warm
weather, the bees will have longer to forage on flowers hopefully storing enough
for winter supplies.
There have been several reports of hives dying off in the last 2
weeks.Some reported the hive died
overnight with lots of dead bees in the bottom of the hive.In one case, we could not find a nearby crop
that may have been sprayed with a pesticide.I took a sample of dead bees and sent them into the Beltsville bee lab
to get a varroa mite count and see if they had Nosema disease.The sample came back negative for both Nosema
and varroa mites.This is strange!There was no brood disease found in the hive,
no varroa mites and no Nosema.So we are
not sure what killed this hive.
Other beekeepers reported the bees disappeared.Late absconding from hives could be due to
virus problems or queen problems.If the
beekeepers sees the bees swarm from the hive, it is most likely a virus
problem.There is slight chance of the
old queen leaving, but it is a little late in the season for that.There have been plenty of queen problems this
year.Hives not making a queen to
replace a failing queen.The new queen
could have been eaten on her mating flight, or did not mate with enough drones,
etc.The queen failed and the beekeepers
did not notice until too late.There are
several things a beekeeper can do to get the hive queen right.That is a book chapter all its own.
I will be finishing up the 2018 Honey Bee Healthy Survey and some
late inspections until the weather gets too cold.Hope everyone has a great fall.
