Plants & Pests with Nicole

Bagworms have emerged. It is best to apply chemicals shortly after they have emerged for the year or at least before the bags are over ½ inch in length. Watch out, they may be starting to get too large for insecticide applications to be very effective. Good insecticides would include Tempo or Bt, or most any other general insecticides. Make sure that the entire tree is thoroughly treated for best control effects. If you only see a few new bags on your tree or shrub, you can pull them off and throw them into a bucket of soapy water or smash them.

Japanese beetle is an invasive insect from Japan that is green with bronze colored wing coverings. This is an insect that is a white grub in our lawns as an immature and will feed on over 300 species of plants as an adult. Japanese Beetles are really becoming a problem through the area and will soon be emerging to wreak havoc on your plants. The preferred food choices for adult Japanese Beetles includes lindens, roses, and many other plants in the rose family. For Japanese beetle control, use a general insecticide on the plants you find them on, such as sevin, bifenthrin, neem oil or imidacloprid. Be sure to wait until after Lindens have bloomed before treating them and don’t use any systemic insecticide like imidacloprid on lindens, in accordance with the label. If this is a common issue for you, using grub control on your lawn will help to reduce the population, but will not eliminate them all together. Do not use a Japanese beetle trap sold online and in nurseries as those will just attract more beetles.

Garden Pests to watch out for in your garden include squash bugs, squash vine borers, aphids, Japanese beetles, and others. For aphids, spray them off with a strong spray of water every day or two for a week or so until they are gone. Squash vine borers can be controlled by wrapping aluminum foil around the base of the plant up to the first set of leaves. Squash bugs and Japanese beetles can be sprayed with sevin, eight, or bifenthrin in the garden. Reapply as listed on the label and follow the PHI or pre-harvest interval for how long to wait from application of the insecticide until harvest. Only use products that are labeled for use on your plants in the garden.