Vol 4. # 1
OK all you over wintering cluster flies, caterpillars, and dung beetles – wake up and get into the spring season! With winter wheat greening up nicely, we know that the "waking of insects" (Chinese Calendar) can’t be far behind. It’s going to be an interesting year as always in the bug world. I’m excited to see if the preying mantis eggs survived our slightly colder winter. They were all over the alfalfa fields last fall and in towns too.
If there is something you’d like to see in the newsletter, please let me know. I’m always open to suggestions and constructive criticisms.
AGRICULTURE
As far as crops go, be sure to look at our updated green peach aphid/plrv recommendations. We should have them on the website soon. Also, the PNW insect control handbook will be out this month and we made a concerted effort to update it this year. It will also be on the web soon, if all goes well.
Some early season warnings. Alfalfa is starting to break dormancy so be on the lookout for those pesky cutworms that get us early in the year. They seem to have been increasing the past couple of years so watch your hay. Hay coming out later than other fields may have these working it over. Speaking of hay, if you seeded last year, be sure to keep those new fields properly watered and fertilized. New fields are the most susceptible to clover root curculio. You know, those little devils that chew on the roots. If you can get the field past the first year. The problem decreases. Last year we definitely found more of the adults in new fields and just a few in older fields.
Watch for Russian wheat aphids in the winter wheat. They probably won’t do much there but really watch the malt barley as soon as it comes up. It’s really sneaky of them to hide out in other grasses in undetectable numbers and then show up by the shovel full in malt barley as soon as it peeks out of the ground.
Home and Garden
All you homeowners are saying , "WHAT?, not insects already!" I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings but I"ve got overwintering polistes wasps and flies coming into the house already. So, seal up all those places where pipes come into the house from the outside. Don’t forget the heater vents. Also, remember the project to calk around the pipes coming up through the floor? Do that now since you’ve ignored it all winter. That will keep the spiders etc from coming into the house when it warms up this week. Toss the boxelder bugs out on their ears and hope a cold snap makes them miserable before the trees leaf out.
I’ve sent an email to all the county extension educators regarding a new product on the market to control aphids, scales, and other sucking insects on your ornamental trees. It lasts all summer too! I’m talking about a new Bayer product with imidicloprid as the active ingredient. Contact the county office or me if you want more information. I think it will fit well into our situation here in Idaho. There’s also lots of other new products over the past couple of years that are safe to use around the home. Maybe I’ll discuss them in the newsletter as the season progresses.
We are going to be losing Dursban for home use this year and diazinon after another 3-4 years. It’s a good thing these new products are becoming available for us. For the most part, the new ones are safer to us and our animals.
Well, that’s about it for now. I know you don’t want to start "bugging" already but the Chinese calendar never lies and the six legged creatures that vastly outnumber us are just about to get busy for another season! Best of luck and let me know if you want something special included in the newsletter.