No. 2/April 30, 2012

Weekly Issues Begin
The Home, Yard, and Garden Pest Newsletter will be issued weekly from this issue through May and June. In July, we will switch to issues every other week.

Weather & Insect Emergence
Cooler weather over the last two weeks has helped bring the insect activity pattern closer to normal. Based on growing degree days with a base temperature of 50 degrees F, southern Illinois is slightly over two weeks ahead of last year, central Illinois is three weeks early, and northern Illinois is slightly over four weeks early.

Scouting Watch
The most common pests that should be in susceptible treatment stages are discussed. Be sure to scout to verify that the susceptible stages of the insect are present before applying controls.

Emerald Ash Borer
Emerald ash borer should be flying in both central and southern Illinois and will continue to emerge and fly for several weeks. Although insecticide sprays against the adults are effective, applications of systemic insecticides between 50% leaf expansion in spring until approximately six weeks before leaf fall are recommended.

Black Cutworm
There have been large early flights of black cutworm moths throughout Illinois for several weeks. Golf course personnel should be on the lookout for black cutworm larval infestations in bentgrass, ryegrass, and fescue. Cold temperatures have little effect on the survival of eggs and larvae.

A New Disease to the United States, but not yet detected in Illinois: Boxwood Blight
In October of 2011, Boxwood Blight (Cylindrocladium pseudonaviculatum) (syn. C. buxicola), was detected in North Carolina and Connecticut. Later, there were more detections of this disease in the United States.

Brown rot vs. Fire Blight
Brown Rot can cause blossom blight, stem canker, and dieback of peach, cherry and other stone fruit species. The visual symptoms of brown rot have many similarities to symptoms caused by fire blight on apple, pear and many other species in the rose family. The pathogens that cause brown rot and fire blight are very different.

NPDES
On November 1, 2011, the federal requirement for an NPDES permit for certain pesticide applications went into effect.