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.

Crape Myrtle Bark Scale- watch for this new pest and report sightings

There is a  new insect pest that is spreading to crape myrtle trees throughout Texas.  This insect was first detected in 2004 here in Dallas, but it wasn’t until last year that this scale was positively identified as an exotic scale, Eriococcus lagerstroemiae.  In 2014 Texas A&M AgriLife Extension published information about this scale http://www.agrilifebookstore.org/Crape-Myrtle-Bark-Scale-p/eht-049.htm  and most recently, AgriLife employees have worked with the Southern Region IPM Center to create an information clearinghouse and citizen science database for this pest.  http://www.eddmaps.org/cmbs/

Here’s where we especially need your help.  We are asking people in Texas who think they have encountered this pest to report it. The Early Detection and Distribution Mapping (EDDMaps) site makes this process fairly simple.  A person can register on the site and click on this the REPORT SIGHTINGS tab and report a new location for this pest.  A report is verified by pictures, so we encourage folks to take a digital picture of the suspect infested tree. The site allows the inputter to pinpoint down to the precise block or backyard where the infested tree is located. It’s actually kind of fun.

We know that the scale is already present in Houston and College Station; but we have very few reports from east and Central Texas sites.

BTW, control information for this pest is available both on our Texas fact sheet and on the EDDMaps site.  AgriLife employees are also planning research this summer to screen new treatments for this pest that do not involve neonicotinoid insecticides.