MSU Urban IPM Alerts

Green Industry Professionals,

We still have a couple of openings for our Urban IPM workshops on September 10-11, 2019. Continuing education credits will be available.

Topics will include IPM for greenhouses and local food production, biocontrol options, urban landscape related abiotic and biotic tree issues, insect diagnosis and management recommendations, and weed identification. Examples of plant diseases, insect pests, and abiotic issues will be demonstrated and discussed during a tour of the MSU campus.

A registration fee will be charged per participant and workshop. Please find additional information and the registration form in the attached PDF documents.

If you have questions, please contact Dr. Eva Grimme at eva.grimme@montana.edu or 406-994-5150.

During late summer and early fall it is normal for spiders to enter buildings and homes. This includes hobo spiders which have long been prevalent in Montana. Common misconceptions about the hobo spider often cause unnecessary concern.

Aspens and cottonwoods are starting to show white blotches on the undersides of the leaves. The spots on the leaves are due to mining from the aspen blotch leafminer, which is a moth.

Some samples and pictures have come into the Schutter Lab with white pine weevil damage.  It is very common on blue spruce.  The larvae or immatures are still underneath the bark right now in several places in Montana, which is important for management. 

The spotted-wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii (SWD), is a pest of many ripe and overripe small fruits. It is currently established in Lake and Flathead Counties. In 2018, it was collected in Ravalli, Missoula, and Gallatin counties. Its presence in other counties, such as Yellowstone, is also suspected.

Are you interested in Urban IPM Certification or do you want to learn more about plant diseases, insect pests, and weed identification in urban environments in Montana? If the answer is yes, this workshop is for you! Montana State University’s Urban Integrated Pest Management program is hosting an in-depth training for 1.5 days from September 10-11, 2019. Continuing education credits will be available.

Our guest speaker is Dr. Raymond Cloyd from Kansas State University. Dr. Cloyd is a professor and extension specialist in horticultural entomology for the state of Kansas with a major clientele that includes homeowners, master gardeners, and professional and commercial operators. His research and extension program involves plant protection/pest management in greenhouses, nurseries, landscapes, turfgrass, conservatories, interiorscapes, Christmas trees, vegetables and fruits, and pollinators. Additional key speakers will be MSU Extension specialists Dr. Tim Seipel and Dr. Eva Grimme.

Topics will include IPM for greenhouses and local food production, biocontrol options, tree related abiotic and biotic issues, insect diagnosis and management recommendations, and weed identification. Examples of plant diseases, insect pests, and abiotic issues will be demonstrated and discussed during a tour of the MSU campus.

The 35 available spaces will be filled on a first-serve basis. A registration fee will be charged per participant and workshop. Please find additional information and the registration form in the attached PDF documents.

If you have questions, please contact Dr. Eva Grimme at eva.grimme@montana.edu or 406-994-5150.

The Schutter Diagnostic Lab is receiving garden vegetable samples showing symptoms consistent with synthetic auxin, also known as plant growth regulator, herbicide injury. In many of these cases, we suspect carryover of persistent herbicides in garden amendments such as compost, manure, or topsoil. See the attached document for more information. 

The Schutter Diagnostic Lab has received multiple samples and questions concerning lichens growing on the branches of various trees. Lichens are composed of fungi and algae or cyanobacteria that form a mutualistic relationship. Lichens are not pathogenic and do no harm the substrates they are found on. Please open the attached PDF file for more information.

Please contact the Schutter Diagnostic Lab (diagnostics@montana.edu or 406-994-5150) for questions.

Sincerely, Eva Grimme

This spring, we have had many emails and calls about possible poplar borer damage on aspens, poplars, and cottonwoods throughout the state.

With our severe temperature fluctions in April, many deciduous trees and shrubs had their buds damaged and appear to be dead. Deciduous trees should be given time to struggle through and recover. Many have secondary buds that are formed for just such an event, and may yet leaf out. Use a thumbnail to shallowly scrape into the cambium of the branch - if it is green, the branch is alive and needs to be given time to recover. Another test is the suppleness of the branch. Traditionally we recommend folks give their trees until at least the 4th of July to recover from such a winter, and sometimes even longer if the branches still appear to be alive. 

Montana has several home-invading weevils that come into our homes starting in April and all the way through November. They are harmless to humans, are not wood-boring beetles, and are mostly just a nuisance in homes. These invasions are only temporary.

It is tick season in Montana. The common ticks in Montana this time of the year are the Rocky Mountain wood tick, Dermacentor andersoni and the American dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis.