What are twig girdler beetles?
QI am finding branches all over my yard … a lot! Some elm, some oak. A Master Gardener told me it was some type of insect. What kind and should I be concerned?
AWhenever we see small branches that look like they have been chewed off, it is a good sign that twig girdler beetles are active. The female beetle girdles small branches, usually a pencil width or smaller in diameter, and then deposits eggs in these twigs. She leaves the twig barely attached, but wind movements knock these small branches down. Girdling usually occurs from late summer into fall. Rake up and destroy the small branches since they can contain the eggs or larvae. No sprays are recommended.
QI transplanted some 20-foot white oak trees this spring. Do we still need to be watering since we had a dry fall even though the weather is cold with temperatures below 30 at night?
AWe most definitely need to still water in the winter months if we don’t get ample rainfall. It is particularly true for newly planted trees. November and early December have been dry, so water to help get the roots established on your recently transplanted trees. Dormant plants don’t need as much water as actively growing plants, but if they are too dry leading up to a hard freeze, they are more prone to winter damage. Your tree needs moisture for the roots to continue to grow. You won’t need to water as frequently as in the summer, but if we go more than two or three weeks without moisture, I would consider watering.
QRosemont Memorial in Benton has a lovely tree near the military tomb stores on the south end of the cemetery. The leaves are shaped like the gingko tree. Will the seed pods, which look like popcorn, germinate if planted? I would love to have this tree in my yard.
AYou nailed the common name in your description of the seeds — it is commonly called a popcorn tree or Chinese tallow tree — Sapium sebiferum. While the tree does have interesting, white, popcorn-like seeds in the fall and pretty fall color, it can be invasive. From central Arkansas north, it is often limited by cold weather, but it can spread rapidly in the southern parts of the state. A mature tree can produce more than 100,000 seeds per year, and the trees also propagate by means of “runners” or “suckers.” Many Southern states have declared the tallow tree a noxious weed.
QI’m sending you two pics of a disease my star jasmine got this summer. It appears these are eggs, and when you mash them it’s kind of milky/ gooey. They are only laid on the branches/stems, not the leaves. We sprayed all summer with Fungicide 3. Only got worse. What is it?
AThis is a classic example of why proper identification is needed for proper control. You are spraying a fungicide on an insect problem. You have a nice case of waxy scale insects. There are more than 150 types of scale insects. They are small, immobile, with no visible legs or antennae, and they press tightly against the plant on which they are feeding. The white outer coating on the waxy scale protects the sucking insect underneath. As they mature, more and more wax is produced until it eventually covers the entire scale in a thick, white, irregular coat. Wax scale is found on a wide variety of plants, including azalea, blueberry, camellia, holly and others. There is one generation per year with crawlers active in early summer. Using a dormant oil now will help to smother the existing scale insects, and using a systemic insecticide in the spring will also work to control them.