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Author: kennelly

Pruning trees after storm damage

Posted on by kennelly

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The icy weather over the past few days caused a lot of tree damage. Be safe out there!

Here are some pointers from Ward Upham, KSU Horticulture

Pruning Storm Damaged Trees

Winter storms may cause serious tree damage.  Often you will have to decide whether a tree can be saved or not. Here is a checklist on care of a storm‑damaged landscape.

1. Be safe: Check for downed power lines or hanging branches. Don’t venture under the tree until it is safe. If large limbs are hanging precariously, a certified arborist has the tools, training and knowledge to do the work safely.  Also, downed limbs and trees may be under compression.  Cutting through a limb under compression can release that energy causing the limb to whip and possibly injure anyone near.  Again, consider an arborist if safety is a concern.

2. Cleanup: Remove debris so you don’t trip over it.  If there is still ice, it is best to wait until all has melted before beginning work.

3. Decide whether it is feasible to save a tree. If the bark has been split so the cambium is exposed or the main trunk split, the tree probably will not survive and should be removed. If there are so many broken limbs that the tree’s form is destroyed, replacement is the best option.   Topping, where all the main branches are cut and there are only stubs left, is not a recommended pruning procedure. Though new branches will normally arise from the stubs, they are not as firmly attached as the original branches and more likely to break in subsequent storms. Also, the tree must use a lot of energy to develop new branches, leaving less to fight off diseases and insect attacks. Often, the topped tree’s life is shortened.

4. Prune broken branches to the next larger branch or to the trunk. If cutting back to the trunk, do not cut flush with the trunk but rather at the collar area between the branch and the trunk. Cutting flush with the trunk leaves a much larger wound than cutting at the collar and takes longer to heal. Middle‑aged or younger vigorous trees can have up to one‑third of the crown removed and still make a surprisingly swift comeback.

5. Take large limbs off in stages. If you try to take off a large limb in one cut, it will often break before the cut is finished and strip bark from the tree. Instead, first make a cut about 15 inches from the trunk. Start from the bottom and cut one‑third of the way up through the limb. Make the second cut from the top down but start 2 inches further away from the trunk than the first. The branch will break away as you make the second cut. The third cut, made at the collar area, removes the stub that is left.

 

Note: Pruning can be dangerous. Consider hiring a trained arborist to do major work such as this. Also, a good arborist knows how to prune trees so that storm breakage is less likely to occur. Preventing damage is better than trying to fix it once it has happened. The Arbor Day Foundation maintains an excellent Web site that contains detailed information. The URL is: http://www.arborday.org/media/stormindex.cfm

Here Comes The Asian Lady Beetle!

Posted on by kennelly

 

(Photo by

 

ladybeetle-BillRee-TexasAM-bugwood(Article  by Raymond Cloyd, KSU Entomology)

This is the time of year when the Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis adults start entering homes and becoming a nuisance. The Asian lady beetle is a native of Asia and was introduced into the southeastern and southwestern portions of USA to deal with aphids on pecan trees. However, it spread rapidly to other portions of the USA. It is a tree-dwelling lady beetle, more so than the native species of lady beetles, and a very efficient predator of aphids and scales.

During fall and early winter, when the weather is cooler, Asian lady beetle adults start congregating on the south side of buildings and entering homes. The beetle does this because in their homeland of China they inhabit tall cliffs to overwinter. There are very few “tall cliffs” in Kansas—so the next best thing is a building.

The Asian lady beetle can be easily distinguished from other species of lady beetles by the presence of a pair of white, oval markings directly behind the head, which forms a black M-shaped pattern. Adults are 1/4 inch long, 3/16 inch wide and yellow to dark-orange colored. In addition, their body is usually covered with 19 black spots. Adults can live up to 3 years. Female beetles lay yellow, oval-shaped eggs in clusters on the underside of leaves. The eggs hatch into larvae that are red-orange and black in color, and shaped like a miniature alligator. The larvae are primarily found on plants feeding on soft-bodied insects such as aphids and scales. They eventually enter a pupal stage. Pupae can be seen attached to plant leaves. The adults emerge from the pupae and start feeding on aphids. Adults can be found on a wide-variety of trees including apple, maple, oak, pine, and poplar.

Asian lady beetle adults are a nuisance pest because they tend to congregate and overwinter inside buildings in large numbers. The beetles release a pheromone that attracts more beetles to the same area. Although the beetles may bite, they do not physically harm humans nor can they breed or reproduce indoors. Beetles are attracted to lights and light-colored buildings, especially the south side where it is warm. They then work their way into buildings through cracks and crevices. Dark-colored buildings generally have fewer problems with beetles (so now is the time to paint your house). Adult beetles will feed on ripening fruit such as peaches, apples, and grapes creating shallow holes in the fruit. Large numbers of beetles feeding on fruit may cause substantial damage so that the fruit is less appealing for consumption.

Beetles may be prevented from entering homes by caulking or sealing cracks and crevices. Beetles already in homes can be physically removed by sweeping them or vacuuming. Be sure to thoroughly empty the vacuum bags afterward. Do not kill the beetles. Just release them outdoors underneath a shrub or tree away from the house. Commercially available indoor light traps can be used to deal with beetles indoors. The traps need to be placed near the center of a room and they are only effective at night in the absence of competing light. In addition, they work best when room temperatures are 75°F or higher.

If crushed, the beetles will emit a foul odor and leave a stain. The dust produced from an accumulation of dead Asian lady beetle adults behind wall voids may incite allergies or asthma in people. Although there are some sprays available, the use of insecticides is not recommended for indoors.

Homeowners that want to avoid dealing with overwintering beetles entering their homes can hire a pest management professional to treat the points of entry on the building exterior with a pyrethroid insecticide. The treatments need to be made in late September or early October before the beetles enter the building to overwinter. Beetles that are feeding on fruit can be “controlled” with insecticides commonly labeled for use on fruit trees.

Submitted by:

Raymond A. Cloyd

Professor and Extension Specialist in Horticultural Entomology/Plant Protection

Department of Entomology

Kansas State University

123 Waters Hall

Manhattan, KS 66506-4004

Phone: 785-532-4750

Fax: 785-532-6232

Email: rcloyd@ksu.edu

 

 

 

 

anthracnose in putting greens

Posted on by kennelly

(Megan Kennelly, KSU Plant Pathology)

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I just heard from a superintendent in South Central KS who is experiencing some anthracnose, and Dr. Lee Miller recently reported anthracnose activity in Missouri as well. We commonly see anthracnose during summer stress but it can definitely occur all season long.

Over the past few years, Rutgers University has led a multi-university research program to investigate the impact of cultural practices and fungicides on turfgrass anthracnose, including fertility (it’s really important!), mowing height (even a small increase can help!), and more.

We have some more information about anthracnose HERE.

The BMP’s from Rutgers are outlined HERE.

If you just can’t get enough, details from Rutgers are available HERE (you can click through a 54 page pdf with lots of images and data)

Drum roll please …. “Top Ten Tree Planting Mistakes”

Posted on by kennelly

(Megan Kennelly, KSU Plant Pathology)

Boy oh boy, have I seen a lot of tree problems that originated with improper planting. My colleagues Tim McDonnell and Eric Berg from the Kansas Forest Service have just put together a handy new 2-page guide about the Top Ten Tree Planting Mistakes. Below is the summary – You can read the details by clicking HERE.

  1. Poor tree selection
  2. Inadequate root system
  3. Poor planting site
  4. Pot bound or girdling root
  5. Planting hole is too small
  6. Planted too deep
  7. The tree is improperly mulched or not mulched at all
  8. Tree is not staked
  9. Improper watering
  10. Failure to monitor

 

Spring dead spot in bermudagrass

Posted on by kennelly

(Megan Kennelly)

(Photos courtesy Jacob Weber, KSU Extension)

SDS jake weber 3 SDS jake weber 2

Spring dead spot is a severe root disease of bermudagrass. We see symptoms in the spring, as the turf is greening up. Affected areas remain brown, and the turf collapses leaving a sunken area that is prone to weed invasion. It can take a big chunk of the summer for recovery.

In the past, fungicide treatments in Kansas have had inconsistent results. Applications in September have sometimes had good results, but sometimes they have not worked at all.

There is some info about fungicide sprays for spring dead spot HERE (check page 20). Also, Dr. Lee Miller next door in Missouri reports that he has recently seen good results from Velista applied twice (mid September + mid October). Click HERE for Dr. Miller’s comments, paying particular attention to the fact that this usage involves a Section 2(ee) recommendation, not the main label.

Who has oak itch mite bites? I do! :(

Posted on by kennelly

(Megan Kennelly)

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Why am I making a sand-and-grumpy face? I have two itch mite bites on my neck that are driving me bonkers.

As we move into more fall weather, with raking around the corner, here’s one more reminder to be careful about those itch mites, in case you missed Jared’s recent article (https://blogs.k-state.edu/turf/hot-holiday-weekend-didnt-slow-down-the-oak-leak-itch-mite/)

They itch and sting, and are highly annoying, and I think the worst case scenario would be little kids getting into them. Little kids don’t know how to resist scratching, and if they scratch until they break skin they can get secondary infections. Last year around this time we were at the pediatrician with our own son for his checkup, and the doc said he had seen lots of kids with mystery itchy bites. He didn’t know about itch mites, so I gave him some info.

Despite trying to stay away from our pin oak, I’ve got some bites on me from this weekend. I mean, it’s impossible to totally avoid an entire part of our yard, and it’s not practical to change my clothes and shower 3x a day when we are out trying to enjoy the weather. Plus, there are lots of pin oaks in our neighborhood and so on windy days I’m sure they are blowing all over, no matter where we go.

Last year, before we knew what was going on with the itch mites, my poor husband did some raking and playing in the pin oak leaves and ended up with EIGHTY bites. Luckily my son was NOT involved in that process, and he escaped unscathed. We kept him away from pin oak leaves all fall. We raked those spots when he was napping and wasn’t around to “help.”

Here’s one in the crook of my elbow – they often (but not always) have a raised pimply/blister appearance like you see here. On me, the bites last much longer than mosquito bites do.

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You don’t want itch mites. You don’t want to be making grumpy faces. Be careful around those pin oaks!

Disclaimer – I’m not a dermatologist! If you have a mystery rash that is causing problems, you should get it checked out. This post is just a reminder that itch mites are active.

Here’s a reminder of the symptom on the tree:

itch-mites

A little midge does the leaf rolling, and the mite feeds on the midge. But, sometimes the mites fall/blow out of the tree onto US.

If it’s any consolation – we are a “dead end host” and they won’t spread further once they’ve been on us.

Large patch prevention time

Posted on by kennelly

(Megan Kennelly, KSU Plant Pathology)

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It seems like we were just talking about all our summer diseases and summer stress, but now we need to be thinking about fall. September is the time to be thinking about large patch in zoysiagrass.

There is some great info about large patch control at this link, starting on page 14.

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/ppa/ppa1/ppa1.pdf

We’ve done quite a few trials at KSU over the years, and our results match pretty closely with the efficacy data shown at the above link. Regarding timing, we’ve had good control from most application timings in September.

Large patch tends to be in the same areas from one year to the next, so one option is to map out “hot spots” and focus on those.

If you just can’t get enough large patch info, you can check out some short videos here that I made awhile back:

Part 1: (5 min symptoms/biology)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD-dlw9NfLk

Part 2 (14 min – management): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIl0bsLYatI

Root decline, it ain’t benign

Posted on by kennelly

(Megan Kennelly)

In the past 2 weeks we have posted a series of articles related to root health and rootzone management. I’m following up here with a few more photos (click to zoom any of the photos below).

Most of the samples have shown layering, thatch, and a build-up of organic matter.  These can reduce drainage, and roots suffer from lack of oxygen. Furthermore, wet soils hold heat, so the turf gets a double whammy of wet + hot. Steam-cooked turf is not happy turf. I’ve seen some very unhappy roots lately. Some have Pythium root rot as well, some appear to be in serious decline just from the physiological stress.

We already posted a bunch of information about managing rootzones and some tips on what to do in the fall and in the future, so I won’t go into that here. Glance back at our recent posts. You might also like to read pages 6-7 on the following website by Paul Vincelli and Gregg Munshaw which discusses managing summer stress in putting greens:

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/ppa/ppa1/ppa1.pdf

Here is some layering in several recent samples. I know it can be tough to convince golfers to let you aerify, but the consequences of NOT aerifying can be deadly when summer weather strikes.

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This is an older push-up green with drainage issues in all this wet weather:

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Here is a series of photos showing Pythium root rot and root decline symptoms:

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Here is a field shot of the site that goes with the microscope pictures above:

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Here is one more set of photos showing layering and decline. This site had root decline, Pythium root rot, algae, and some anthracnose crown rot. Those factors all like to co-mingle and cause problems. This superintendent said they are working on improving some drainage and rootzone issues that built up over time.

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Turf and ornamentals field day, 2015

Posted on by kennelly

(Megan Kennelly, KSU Plant Pathology)

Thanks to everyone who came out to Field Day last week. Thanks to the vendors for supporting the event. Thanks to the staff of the K-State Research and Extension Center – Olathe for your help.

Here are some photos taken by Linda Parsons and Cortney Nagel. Christy Dipman has also posted these on the Kansas Turfgrass Foundation Facebook page. Thanks to all 3 of you for taking and sharing these images.

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