Webworms invading Austin

I've been receiving calls on webworms that are in trees surrounding Ladybird Lake.  we also have webworms in a tree at the Demonstration Garden.  Since it's a demonstration garden, I'm using the webworms as a....you guessed it!....demonstration.

I'm sure that you have been told (even possibly by me) that you can manage webworms by removing webs and knocking them out the tree with a stick.  I decided to see how well it actually works.  So far, it's going pretty well.  I started two weeks ago when we had a pretty good covering of webs on the tree.  I took a metal pole (actually the handle of an insect net which I had in my office) and removed as much of the webbing as I could from the branches.  I made a pile of webbing and caterpillars on the ground while removing the webs and that got taken to the garbage when I was finished.  I also whacked on the tree branches a few times after removing as much of the webbing as I could to dislodge any caterpillars.  I repeated the process every Monday and Friday.  Today when I checked on the webworms, there was only one small new web spun very close to a small branch.  The rest of the area has dead leaves and some loose webbing clinging to the branches, but the webworms aren't actively there anymore.  I removed the small section of webbing I found today and whacked the branch.  I'll check the situation again on Monday.  While I'm not completely done with the demonstration, so far it is looking pretty good.
 

Webworms on 6/13/14

Webworms on 6/20/14

Webworms on 6/27/14



New media coverage and a (taped) FREE webinar!

Media

In case you quite haven't gotten enough from me lately, I thought I would share media that I have been involved with lately.

I did a story with KXAN on juniper budworm- you can find that clip here.  Some of the information that I spoke about was not covered in the piece, so you can get the full skinny here.

I was also recently inteviewed on Central Texas Gardener where I discuss a variety of things- you can find that video here.  You can find the clip on their YouTube channel (which you should subscribe to if you like gardening).  You can find my previous interview that covered succulent pests here (I miss my purple hair....).

Here is a link to the story on mosquitoes that ran on Fox7Austin.

Here is a link on AgriLife Today on juniper budworms.

FREE webinar

For those of you that missed the webinar on fire ant management last Friday, it is now posted for your viewing pleasure at

https://learn.extension.org/events/1372

We are taking next month off because of conflicts with the 4^th of July.  But All Bugs Good and Bad will be back on August 1, with “Minimize Mosquito Problems” presented by Molly Keck: https://learn.extension.org/events/1373

More about the All Bugs Good and Bad Webinar series can be found at: https://learn.extension.org/events/1373

FREE fire ant webinar on Friday (6/6/14)

Free eXtension.org Fire Ant Webinar Friday | June 6, 2014

On June 6 AllBugs Good and Bad Webinar on Fire Ant Management, set for 2 pm EDT. 

The webinar will be presented by Wizzie Brown, an IPM specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and moderated by Mike McQueen.  You will find links below that you can include in Facebook and Twitter posts. If you haven't promoted this month's webinar on social media, please do so! 

 

 

 

 

 

On the day of the webinar, log in at https://connect.extension.iastate.edu/fireant as a guest and enter your name. This will allow you to watch the webinar.

 

For a quick way to add this to your calendar, or more information about this webinar, please visit http://learn.extension.org/events/1372 

 

Look for updates on Imported Fire Ant Social media sites that could easily be shared to your facebook and twitter pages. (Facebook:www.facebook.com/fireantinfo ; Twitter: @fireantinfo ; Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/exfireants/fire-ants/)