If you are in the Austin area today (December 4, 2013) look up in the sky to see if you can see the thousands of butterflies. These are snout nosed butterflies and we have a bunch of them flying around outside our office.
I noticed them on 71 just east of I-35 as I was returning from some fire ant field work. They were everywhere in the sky all the way back to the office. It was amazing and beautiful to see!
Have you seen the small insects that have been gathering on windows, cars, sides of buildings around Central Texas? I've been getting calls and emails about what these "gnat-like" critters are. Well, they are not gnats but hackberry psyllids. We typically get them each fall when the weather grows cooler and they try to move indoors where it is nice and cozy.
They are more of a nuisance than anything else and I would recommend that you work on excluding them from the house. For tips on exclusion, see this post.
You can also find more information on other critters that may try to move indoors at Mike Merchant's blog.
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| Not a millipede found in Texas! This one is from Africa. |
Am I talking about me in the title? I could be but in this case, I am not. One of our Master Gardeners has a daughter who loves insects. I've been out to speak to her class and she is always so eager to learn and had really great questions. She has started a blog- The Girl Who Loves Bugs- about insects and it's AMAZING! I encourage you to follow her blog....I guarantee that you'll learn something!
I think it's fantastic that she is taking a passion and turning it into a learning tool for others. I wish that I was that ambitious when I was her age...instead I was busy throwing spiders at my brother.
For the past couple of weeks when I would go into the bathroom at night and turn on the light I would see tiny cockroaches scurrying about. It also happened one morning when the boy was with me and he was very upset when I rinsed the roach down the bathroom sink.
The boy- "MOMMY! We should have taken it outside and let it go!"
Me- "It's okay, cockroaches commonly live in sewers so it's going to be reunited with other cockroaches."
The boy- "Really? They live in sewers?"
Me- "Yes. When I was in college working on cockroaches I used to trap all my roaches from the sewer. I would get jars full of them overnight."
The boy- "Oh, okay."
So why am I not panicked that cockroaches are taking over my house? Well for one, anyone who knows me knows that I have a fondness for cockroaches so I don't panic when I see them. They rank from being cute to a mild annoyance to me. Secondly, I've identified them as American cockroach nymphs and I know that they are coming in the house looking for water because it has been so dry outside. If I really cared about them being in the house, I could go up in the attic and screen off any vent openings where they might be coming into the house, clean out our gutters (which probably would be a good ideas to do for other reasons as well) and stuff the weep holes with copper mesh. Our screens are already in good shape- hubby fixed that last month and the weather stripping around doors and windows is also good. I could also have the hubby go up and dust the attic or do a foundation spray around the house, but I'd rather not.
What do you do when you find a cockroach in the bathroom late at night?
Anyone who has listened to me rattle on about insects for any amount of time knows of my fondness for cockroaches. I worked with cockroaches for many years while in college and grad school and now have the "pleasure" of being allergic to them. I still love them and know many of you are disgusted by the mere thought of them. Maybe this will change your mind. If not, maybe it will open your mind to the possibility that cockroaches are capable of being beautiful and amazing.
The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State has published their list of the Top 10 new species from 2012. On the list is....you guessed it....a cockroach! Lucihormetica luckae, also known as the Lightning roach, is known from a single specimen collected over 70 years ago. The cockroach was collected from Ecuador and it may now be extinct due to eruption and activty of the Tungurahua volcano.
The really cool part of the whole thing- to me at least- is that the cockroach mimics a poisonous click beetle. Basically when it glows it's pattern is similar to that of a bioluminescent click beetle. Wow...insects are so cool!
If you want to see pictures of the cockroach, you can click here. I think it looks like a Jawa (Utini!) from Star Wars when it glows, but that may just be my somewhat warped mind.
On a side note....there is a FREE webinar on Friday, June 7th on bed bugs. You can find more information on the webinar here.
Texas is fortunate in that the eastern (east of the Rockies) population of Monarchs passes through Texas on the way to and from their overwintering sites in Mexico. It is always a glorious site to see the Monarchs in the spring and late summer/ fall. The butterflies overwinter in areas of mountain tops in Central Mexico. Many people think that the decline (at least for the Monarchs that come and go through Texas) is because of the decline of the overwintering locations in Mexico. While habitat loss in Mexico is certainly a factor, there is another factor that I hope, with help from citizens can be reduced.
The second factor of Monarch decline is loss of milkweed plant populations within the United States. Milkweed is often considered a weed (a weed is a plant that is out of place), especially when it's found in areas where other, more desirable plants are growing. As a weed, the milkweed is destroyed, decreasing the amount of food available for migrating Monarch populations. You can hear more about this from Science Friday here.
So how can you help? By planting milkweed! If we can get citizens to plant milkweed in their yards, in community gardens, in school gardens or even cooperate with county and city programs to encourage milkweed in parks and other common areas, then maybe the Monarchs will have islands of milkweed to support their life cycle. While I'm not sure if it will work, I think it's worth a shot.
You can find milkweed at local nurseries or you can buy seeds online. Monarch Watch actually has a seed kit that can be purchased for $10 on their website that contains three species of milkweed- Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa); Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca); Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata). All three species are native to Texas so you don't have to worry about bringing in something weird. The Native Plant Society of Texas has information on milkweed here. The Xerces Society has information on milkweed and their Project Milkweed here and you can link to sellers of milkweed seeds for specific regions of the country (including Texas).
So, have you bought your plants or seeds yet? What are you waiting for? Get out there and get planting.
Pssssstt....spread the word to everyone you know. We need all the help we can get!
Are you interested in strategies that can help reduce your water usage and conserve clean water sources? Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Travis County will
present a Water Wi$e Workshop from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. May 4 at St. Edward’s
University. The workshop is open for adults and kids ages 8-12. Adults can learn how to convert lawns to landscapes that conserve water, irrigation systems, the Earthkind program, rainwater harvesting and integrated pest management. Youth ages 8-12 will have their own water- related activities such as learning about aquifers, rainwater simulators and water conservation strategies.
This
will be an extraordinary event with an emphasis on interactive learning and low
cost do-it-yourself and demonstration activities. We have expanded our
favorite booths from last year, and added many new gardening booths and
activities. New features include a raised-bed veggie garden planting
demo, make your own rain barrel demo, make your own container garden, butterfly
gardening, firewise landscaping, a City of Austin composting class (free
kitchen collection container and 75% reimbursement for compost units), along
with much more. We've also added a focus on nutrition (including cooking
and grilling demonstrations, healthy snacks and produce tastings, SNAP
registration counseling, a farmers market booth, etc.). There will be
tons of activities for kids, and freebies include: seedlings, container
gardens, raffled rain barrels, kitchen compost bins, food and produce tastings,
hula hoopercise, and free classes on a range of subjects. Sound great? Here's the information you need to know to join the fun:The next Don't Bug Me seminar is this Friday- April 5, 2013 at 1PM central time.
This webinar will cover fire ant management in sensitive areas such as vegetable gardens and compost piles, as well as around electrical equipment and ponds.
You can find more information and link to the webinar (or watch past webinars) from this link:
http://www.extension.org/pages/66408/dont-bug-me-webinar-series-2013
Are you interested in citizen science or dragonflies? If so and you have access to a pond or wetland area, then you can sign up for a citizen science project with the Xerces Society. Their Dragonfly Watch Pond Project is a volunteer program to investigate annual movement of five species of migratory dragonflies. The project is open to anyone who has interest in dragonfly ecology and has access to a pond or wetland area. You can sign up by clicking this link.
On another totally unrelated note, there is a new pest in Utah. There might have been some possible sightings of this pest here in central Texas....have you seen these (click video link below)?
http://youtu.be/D0foMKAxCww
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| Acrobat ants tending honeydew producing aphids. |
I know y'all don't have my love of cockroaches, but humor me here. I know I'm always telling you how cockroaches are actually very clean because they groom themselves, but they just happen to sometimes inhabit gross areas. Well, if you didn't believe me, I now have back up!
Science Friday has a video on cockroach grooming from research conducted by Coby Schal. Check it out!
Poor little roaches...wonder if they call it the cone of shame for them as well?
It's been two weeks since my webinar on fire ant home remedies. If you missed it because you had other pressing things to do that day- which I don't know what can be more important than listening to me rattle on about fire ants- the webinar was recorded. You can find a link to the webinar session here:
http://www.extension.org/pages/66408/dont-bug-me-webinar-series-2013
It's right under the February 1st, 2013 Fire Ant Home Remedy section.
I hope it went well. I think webinars are much harder to carry off because you have no audience to react with. I felt like I was droning on and on, but I did give information on all the home remedies I have tested to date. I also talked about naturally derived methods of managing fire ants. Give it a listen!
Flea beetles....part flea, part beetle? Well, not exactly. Flea beetles are a type of beetle that have enlarged hind legs and jump when they are disturbed. The hind legs and jumping motion are similar to that of fleas, hence the name.
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| Flea beetles. |
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| Flea beetle damage. |
So why should you participate in these webinars? You can learn valuable information about avoiding pest problems from experts all over the U.S. I'm kicking things off with the February 1st webinar....hope to "see" you there!
Learn How to Manage Ants and Other Pests Via Don’t
Bug Me Webinars
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will be holding a wonderful
opportunity to obtain a large amount of CEUs in 3 days - 16 HOURS! View
the days listed below and the subject matter to see if any of the classes are
good options for you. If you are interested in one or more of the following
classes, please do the following:
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