MSU Urban IPM Alerts

With the warm and dry winter weather we have had over the past few months, the Schutter Diagnostic Lab has been receiving several samples of evergreen trees and shrubs with symptoms of winter injury. Winter kill or desiccation occurs when the amount of water lost by the foliage exceeds the amount picked up by the roots. Symptoms appear as browning/yellowing needles, sometimes affecting entire branches. 

See the attached fact sheet for more information.

It’s tick season and time to look out for ticks. The Forest Service also released a report about an increase in Colorado tick fever cases (vectored by the Rocky Mountain wood tick) last summer (2020) in the Lolo, Bitterroot, Beaverhead-Deerlodge, and Salmon-Challis National Forests.

See the attached fact sheets for more information on ticks in Montana and the report from the Forest Service.

(revised to include Forest Service report)

Please join the Great Plains Diagnostic Network (GPDN) and the Schutter Diagnostic Lab this Wednesday (March 10th) for a presentation of the 2021 webinar series.

Mrs. Abiya Saeed, Montana State University, will present: "Best management practices for protecting native pollinators in the landscape.”

This year, the series will be hosted via Zoom. The series will feature speakers from universities and government agencies across the country. Topics include invasive pests, modeling, and updates on some diseases. 

Schedule: Wednesdays, January 27 – March 17, 2021 | 8:00 AM WST, 9:00 AM GMT, 10:00 AM CST, 11:00 AM EST.

Registration: Register in advance for these webinars on the GPDN series webpage. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Webinar Webpage: https://www.npdn.org/gpdn/gpdn_webinars

Contact: Eva Grimme at 406-994-5150 or Eva.grimme@montana.edu for more information.

Please join the Great Plains Diagnostic Network (GPDN) and the Schutter Diagnostic Lab this Wednesday (February 3rd) for our second presentation of the 2021 webinar series.

Dr. Daniel Potter, University of Kentucky, will present: "Diagnosing and managing insect damage to lawns".

This year, the series will be hosted via Zoom. The series will feature speakers from universities and government agencies across the country. Topics include invasive pests, modeling, and updates on some diseases. 

Schedule: Wednesdays, January 27 – March 17, 2021 | 8:00 AM WST, 9:00 AM GMT, 10:00 AM CST, 11:00 AM EST.

Registration: Register in advance for these webinars on the GPDN series webpage. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Webinar Webpage: https://www.npdn.org/gpdn/gpdn_webinars

A complete list of the 2021 GPDN webinars can also be found in the attached PDF document.

Contact: Eva Grimme at 406-994-5150 or Eva.grimme@montana.edu for more information.

The invasive brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, was confirmed for the first time in Montana on January 26, 2021 (from inside a home in Billings). We currently don’t know if it is established in Montana and what impact it might have on our crops and specialty crops across the state. Its detection in other states poses problems ranging from a nuisance to a severe agricultural pest. See the alert for further information.