Spring pest and disease dontrol
Every day, Arkansas homes, lawns and gardens are under siege by destructive insects, diseases, weeds and wildlife. Follow our monthly checklist to prevent and cope with pests in your home landscape.
Fast Facts
The easiest way to reduce the risk of deer ruining your landscape is to use deer-resistant plants.
• Root rots are preventable by decreasing the length of time garden soil is saturated. Root rots are not curable once your garden plants exhibit decline.
• Identify garden pests before you attempt to control them. If you decide to use chemical control, read the label carefully. Indiscriminate use of pesticides can lead to a major infestation of spider mites.
• Reduce mosquito problems by turning over any pots, lids or saucers that might collect water and create a breeding site. Use Bt dunks in ponds that have no fish in them. The Bt dunks are safe with fish; but when fish are present, they will take care of mosquito larvae.
• Wear light-colored clothing, apply repellent, and get in the habit of checking yourself, your children and pets closely for ticks after spending time outdoors.
• Monitor houseplants kept indoors for mealybugs, spider mites, aphids, whitefly, and scale. If spider mites are a problem consider spraying with a labeled horticultural oil or soap and pyrethrum mix. If possible, move the plants outside before spraying and when dry, move them back indoors.
Here are some gardening tips for the month of May
• If fire blight symptoms (leaves wilted and brown or black at branch tips) are severe in young apple and pear trees, and tree structure is at risk, immediate pruning will be beneficial. Make cuts 6–8 inches below the infection. Sterilize pruners in between cuts. Burn or destroy all diseased tissue.
• Pick off azalea leaf galls as they form. Put these fungus affected leaves in your weekly trash pickup.
• Azaleas often show symptoms of lace bug and spider mite infestations during the hot months of summer. This damage can be prevented by a one-time, early application of the systemic insecticide ‘imidacloprid’. This insecticide should be poured in liquid form around the root system as the flowers fade, spreading the active ingredients throughout the plant tissue where it remains effective through the growing season.
• Treat scale crawlers on infested euonymus shrubs.
• Distorted or discolored new growth is a common sign of aphids. Spraying with insecticidal soap and blasting with a jet of water from the garden hose are two safe and easy controls. The key to keeping their numbers down is persistence. Check plants every few days for signs of reinfestation and treat as soon as possible.
• Begin spraying to control black spot disease. Be on the watch for downy mildew on your roses. We have had ideal weather for this devastating foliar disease.
• Control caterpillars on broccoli and cabbage plants by handpicking or use biological sprays such as Bt.
• Place cutworm collars around young vegetable transplants. Collars are easily made from cardboard strips.
• Slugs will hide during the daytime beneath a board placed over damp ground. Check each morning and destroy any slugs that have gathered on the underside of the board.
• Termites begin swarming. Termites can be distinguished from ants by their thick waists and straight antennae. Ants have slender waists and elbowed antennae. Termites also have two pair of wings which are the same length. Ant’s wings will be two different lengths.
• Spray trunks of peach trees and other stone fruits to prevent the next generation of borers. This insect is one of two reasons we should not plant stone fruits in our region. Organic methods have erratic results. To control peach tree borers in peaches, plums, cherries or nectarines, wet the lower 12 inches of the trunk and the ground around the trunk with a spray of materials containing permethrin or esfenvalerate as the active ingredient. Once is not good enough, do this monthly beginning end of May or early June with the last application in early August.
(EDITORS NOTE: For more information, please contact the St. Francis County Office at 870261-1730 or visit our website at www.uaex.uada.edu/st.francis. Follow us on Facebook at St. Francis County ExtensionUADA.)