Monthly Archives: August 2019

agriculture, habitat plots, IPM, ornamentals, pollinators

A summer of biocontrol…in pictures

Several types of wildflowers (yellow, white, deep magenta, purple, pink) growing in a field.
Summer isn’t over yet for farmers and extension staff doing field experiments!

Labor Day weekend may be viewed by some as the end of summer, but farmers know that the summer growing (and harvesting!) season is far from over. Similarly, the field projects I’m involved with this summer (read more here and here) are still running. Over the fall and winter I’ll be analyzing data and sharing results (on this blog, and at winter meetings). In the meantime, here’s a pictorial summary of my summer projects (so far).

Plant whose leaves have 3 lobes (like elongated clover leaves) with toothed edges. Flower is an open cluster of tiny yellow flowers, similar to Queen Anne’s Lace.
Golden alexanders (Zizia aurea) was our earliest-blooming wildflower in our beneficial insect habitat plots around the Christmas trees. It was blooming on May 16 in Geneva, NY.
A bee already covered in fine yellow dust looks for nectar and (more) pollen in a dandelion bloom.
Some of us may not like them in our lawns, but starting in the first week of May (Geneva, NY) dandelions were providing food for beneficial insects like this bee.
You can see the rear-end of a lady beetle (red body, with black spots) as it searches for pollen and nectar among small, bright yellow flowers.
This shy lady beetle was finding food in the flowers of this weedy mustard plant in mid-May (Geneva, NY).
Man walking through a field of grass on a cloudy day, swinging a long white net on a long wooden handle just above the ground.
After expert training from Cornell entomologist Jason Dombroskie (pictured here during our training session in late April), we’ve been using a sweep net to catch insects that fly or perch on the wildflowers in the habitat plots we started last summer. We sampled this way once every month.
One blue and one yellow bowl filled with soapy water and rocks set on ground covered with wood chip mulch. Several different types of plants are growing nearby.
Starting the week of May 20th, we set out pan traps (blue and yellow plastic bowls filled with soapy water and weighed down with rocks) approximately every other week. These traps catch insects flying through our plots, especially those that are attracted to the colors blue and yellow. This includes many bee species.
Various types of weeds and other plants grow around a spot where a deli cup is buried up to the rim in the ground. The deli cup is also full of liquid. Suspended over the deli cup on “legs” of thick wire is a clear-plastic dinner plate.
Also during the week of May 20th, we started setting pitfall traps once each month. Insects walking along the ground fall into these deli cups filled with a drowning solution. We put rain covers over them (made out of clear plastic dinner plates and wire from old flags) to prevent a heavy rain from flooding the deli cups during the 3 days the traps are set.
A red lady beetle with 7 spots on its back crawls across a green stem of vetch that is being held by a hand that is dirty (probably from weeding).
We caught and saw so many insects (and non-insects, like spiders) this summer! This seven-spotted lady beetle was a frequent visitor to our plots.
A fly with big eyes and black and yellow stripes on its body perches on a yellow coreopsis flower, probably looking for pollen and nectar.
Many flies are important pollinators, like this one that resembles a bee at first glance. Many flies are also important natural enemies of pests (either as adults, or as worm-like larvae).
Small insect with eyes that bug out to the sides of its head, triangular and diamond-shaped black and white patches on its otherwise brown wings and body.
This minute pirate bug may be tiny (it’s magnified 20X), but it is an important natural enemy of pests.
Looking down into a clear plastic cup that contains eleven different bees and wasps, ranging from a large bumble bee to tiny wasps that you can barely see.
We caught so many different kinds of bees and wasps!
Two black, yellow, and white striped caterpillars feed on the broad green leaves of a milkweed plant.
Plenty of caterpillars (like these monarchs) enjoyed munching on the foliage of our wildflowers.
A black and orange striped butterfly visits a daisy-shaped flower with pink petals and an orange cone-shaped center.
And in late July, we started seeing adult butterflies visiting the flowers like the viceroy butterfly on these purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea).
Eight beetles with eyes that bug out from the sides. They look brown when viewed from the top, but when viewed from underneath they look iridescent blue-green.
I learned that these are tiger beetles. They are fast-moving ground predators, and we caught a lot in our pitfall traps.
Plant stems covered in small purple flowers in the background, and plant stems covered in large white bell-shaped flowers in the foreground.
Different wildflowers bloomed at different times, like these purple catmint (Nepeta faassinii) and tall white beard tongue (Penstemon digitalis) in June.
On left, an open cluster of tiny white, slightly fuzzy flowers. On the right, flowers that look like pale purple puffs at the top of the stems.
White boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) and pale purple wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) were blooming in late July.
In the foreground, daisy-shaped flowers with yellow petals and black centers. In the background, a tall plant with open clusters of deep magenta flowers that look slightly fuzzy. You can see a field and blue sky in the background.
And now the rudbeckia (two different species, but Rudbeckia fulgida var. fulgida is pictured here) and deep magenta NY ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis) are in full bloom. But the asters and goldenrod haven’t started, yet.
Short Christmas trees, planted in rows with grass in between. A pond, several fields, a line of trees, and a cloudy sky are in the background.
And the Christmas trees planted around these beneficial insect habitat plots keep growing!
Three people (two women and a man) wearing work clothes, holding gardening tools, and standing in the middle of a field with some yellow flowers in the foreground and a cloudy sky in the background.
I couldn’t have done this without the help of my great co-workers, Betsy Lamb, Deb Marvin, and Brian Eshenaur! They were still smiling after a morning of weeding the wildflowers by hand!
Smiling young woman holding a sheet with pictures of butterflies, and standing next to blooming purple coneflowers. You can see a field in the background.
A student from a local college helped me a lot with insect collection!
Several rows of cucurbit plants just starting to flower. In the background, you can see a road, a field, and a barn.
Meanwhile, field trials with biofungicides are ongoing, targeting cucurbit powdery mildew on winter squash and white mold on snap beans and tomatoes (not pictured). This project is funded by the New York Farm Viability Institute.
: Two women, both in red shirts, standing in the middle of a field. One holds two weeds. The other holds a clipboard and a water bottle.
Elizabeth Buck (left) and Crystal Stewart (right) are running the trials in western NY and eastern NY, respectively. This project is funded by the New York Farm Viability Institute.
Woman on left is wearing a red shirt, talking, and gesturing with her hands. Woman on right in wearing a green shirt and watching and listening to the woman on the left.
Meg McGrath (left) is running the trial on Long Island, but we all got together at a twilight meeting in eastern NY last week. This project is funded by the New York Farm Viability Institute.
Woman in a blue shirt and baseball cap looking into the camera. In the background you can see white bell-shaped flowers and blue sky with a few puffy clouds.
So far, it’s been a good summer! I’ve really enjoyed working with great colleagues and learning new things!

The field projects I’ve just described will be wrapping up in September. Check back to learn about the results. Better yet, click the green “Subscribe” button towards the top and right of this page, and you’ll receive an email when a new post is available!

 

In the meantime, there will still be at least a few more weeks of pictures posted regularly on Twitter (@AmaraDunn) and Instagram (@biocontrol.nysipm).

Biofungicide project was funded by the New York Farm Viability Institute.

Creating habitat for beneficial arthropods was supported by:

  • Crop Protection and Pest Management -Extension Implementation Program Area grant no. 2017-70006-27142/project accession no. 1014000, from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
  • New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets
  • Towards Sustainability Foundation
agriculture, Announcements, Community IPM, home gardens, IPM, ornamentals

Have you been meaning to learn more about spotted lanternfly? Here’s your chance!

This isn’t biocontrol, but it’s very important! Have you heard about the invasive spotted lanternfly? Do you want to learn where we are in our efforts to keep it out of New York, and to manage it if (and when) it does show up?

New York State Integrated Pest Management is hosting a meeting in Binghamton, NY on Thursday August 15 where you can get answers to these questions.

This conference has been approved for 7.5 Certified Nursery Landscape Professional credits, and 6 NYS Pesticide Recertification credits in the categories of 1a, 2, 3a, 6a, 9, 10, 22 and 25.

Details:
August 15, 2019
8:30 am – 4:30 pm
Broome County Regional Farmers Market
840 Upper Front St., Binghamton NY

Register online.

Get more information here about speakers and registration costs.

5th Annual New York State Integrated Pest Management Conference Spotted Lanternfly: At our doorstep or already in our fields? It's not if but when and where this invasive pest will show up in NYS. Be on the front line of stopping the invasion! Learn where to look and how to correctly identify and report sightings of all spotted lanternfly life stages. Spotted lanternfly is a concern to: growers; foresters; nursery, greenhouse, and Christmas tree operations, landscapers, Master Gardeners and all NYS residents. In fact, anyone whose business or travel takes them through quarantine zones should understand New York State's regulations. Experts from across PA and NY will provide updates on what is b doen to prevent SLF's establishment in New York and tools available to combat this threat to our fields, forests and homes.