Mid-year check on bug webinar series watching

Have you been tuning in the first Friday of each month to the All Bugs Good and Bad webinar series? If you have no idea what I'm writing about or you possibly missed one or more along the way, FEAR NOT....we've got you covered!

Each webinar has been taped for your viewing convenience (yes, you can watch in your PJs at home if you want).  All you have to do is click on the link of the webinar you want to view below and then click the green circle with the white arrow button next to "watch recording" in the upper right corner of the webpage that pulls up.

Webinars that have been completed so far in 2017:

Don't Let Tramp Ants Take Over Your Home

Protect Your Veggie Harvest From Hungry Insects

Mosquitoes and Insect Borne Diseases

Ticks

Aphids, Scales and, Whiteflies

We also have more webinars scheduled for the rest of the year beginning August 4th with me talking about various flies.  Webinars are the first Friday of each month at 2 PM Eastern time (that's 1 PM here in Texas).

The rest of 2017's schedule:

Drain flies, house flies, and fungus gnats- August 4th

Meet our native pollinators- September 1st

New invasive ants to know about- October 6th

Pantry pests, carpet beetles, and clothes moths- November 3rd

Don't let bed bugs hamper your vacation plans- December 1st (this one is my hubby speaking!).

The 2017 Webinars are brought to you by the Ant Pests and Urban IPM eXtension Communities of Practice; and by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, the University of Georgia Extension, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and Clemson Cooperative Extension.  Series Coordinators: Dani Carroll and Kathy Flanders, Auburn University.  Marketing: Amanda Tedrow, University of Georgia Extension.  Webinar Text Chat Moderators: Tim Davis, University of Georgia Extension, and Vicky Bertagnolli-Heller, Clemson Cooperative Extension.

Aphids

It seems that the cooler weather and moisture have disappeared and we've moved into sweltering temperatures.  While it will be nice to dry out a bit, expect pest populations to be on the rise.  One to watch for is aphids as their populations can increase rapidly.

Aphids are small, soft-bodied insects with "tailpipes" (better known as cornicles) coming off the tip of the abdomen.  Aphids come in a variety of colors and may or may not have wings.  They have an incomplete life cycle (egg- nymph- adult) with the nymphs looking similar to the adults but smaller.

These insects have piercing-sucking mouthparts and will insert them into the plant to suck up plant juices.  Aphid damage can lead to yellowing, curling and/ or stunting of the plant.  Aphids are often found on the underside of leaves or along the stem of the plant.  Sometimes they can be found on the plant roots.

Aphids are also honeydew producers.  Honeydew is a sticky, sweet substance that may look shiny on the foliage of the plant.  Honeydew can also lead to a secondary plant problem called sooty mold.  Sooty mold is a fungus that grows on honeydew areas and if you see it on your plants, then you need to look for and manage the honeydew producing insect.

If you discover aphids, you can try a jet of high pressure water to dislodge them from the plant.  If that doesn't help, then you can try less toxic pesticides such as insecticidal soap, horticultural oil, pyrethrins or azadirachtin.  They can also be killed with synthetic formulations.  Please be sure to read the label of the product you choose to apply properly.

Honeydew! (not the melon...)

Have you stood under a tree recently and felt "raindrops" falling onto you?  Or maybe you've discovered your car or patio furniture covered in a sticky mess?  Or, maybe similar to my experience....you're walking the dog and walk across a part of the sidewalk that causes your shoes to stick?  This is all from honeydew and it seems to be covering Central Texas at the moment.

Aphids being tended by acrobat ants.

Honeydew is the plant sugars that pass through the digestive track of aphids, so to put it bluntly- aphid poop.  Honeydew is sticky and can look like shiny droplets covering surface.  When you have a large population of aphids, then more honeydew is produced and that's when things get messy.  To make things even messier, honeydew can attract a fungus called sooty mold.  Sooty mold is black and grows on the honeydew covered areas.

So why all the honeydew now?  Just think of it as the perfect storm for aphids.  Remember back in July when we had all the rain and it was pouring every day for almost a week?  Wouldn't that be nice right about now?  I digress...so it's possible that the weather knocked down populations of natural enemies of aphids.  Yes, it would have knocked down the populations of aphids too, but aphids have the capability of reproducing rapidly and they do a much better job and increasing their population than their natural enemies.  When the natural enemies aren't available to keep the population down to a suitable level, the aphid population explodes and goes to town feeding on trees (and other plants) and creating honeydew and causing a huge mess.

If you are dealing with aphids and/ or honeydew right now, I would suggest blasting them with a high pressure water spray.  That suggestion may or may not be feasible for you depending on how tall the tree is that you are dealing with.  Treating the tree with an insecticide to reduce the aphid population is really not recommended, but if you feel that you MUST treat with an insecticide, then please hire a professional that has proper application equipment and BE AWARE OF DRIFT!