ASIAN AMBROSIA BEETLE continues to be a problem for many nurseries this year. The Asian ambrosia beetle, Xylosandrus crassiusculus, was first detected in the U.S. when it infested peaches in Charleston, South Carolina in 1974. Since then it has spread to North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, east Texas, and now Virginia.
Description: Infestations can be identified by toothpick-like spines protruding up to 1.5 inches from the host plant. The spines are strings of boring dust produced by the female beetle as she excavates her gallery. The spines are fragile and are easily broken off by wind or rain. Individual plants may host from one to more that 50 individual beetles. Although adults can be captured most of the year, trap data indicate they are most active during March.
Known Hosts: Dogwood, Pecan, peach, plum, cherry, persimmon, golden rain tree, sweet gum, Shumard oak, Chinese elm, magnolia, fig, Mexican buckeye, and many others are susceptible to attack.
Control: Infested plants or plant parts should be removed and burned. Insecticide applications of Astro, Pounce, or Dursban to the trunks of surrounding plants may help reduce infestations.
For good pictures see:
http://everest.ento.vt.edu/Facilities/OnCampus/IDLab/NewPests/AsianAmbrosiaBeetle/aab.html
EASTERN TENT CATERPILLARS are now finished feeding in southside Virginia locations and the full grown caterpillars are now moving across roads looking for pupation sites. Moths will be out in late summer.
SPRUCE MITES are ACTIVE already on my fraser fir plots in Floyd Co. Other plants attacked by spruce mites include spruce, arborvitae, juniper, hemlock, pine, Douglas-fir, Fraser fir, and larch. Mites suck on the older needles of trees, causing fine stippling that increases in intensity until foliage is chlorotic and bleached in appearance. Severely infested foliage becomes yellowish or brownish and many needles drop. Damage is most severe in lower crowns of large trees. Seedlings and small trees are often killed, and in some cases, large trees are killed. The mites spin a webbing of fine silk around twigs and needles that becomes more abundant as the season progresses.
See the scouting guide in PMG 017, pg. 196-7
See also :
http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/entomology/factsheets/spspmite.html
See my lab homepage: