gardening – Page 4

July 27, 2023Nick Hamilton-Honey

Sustained Catch of Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) in St. Lawrence County

SWD (Drosophila suzukii) is found all over New York state and is a pest to gardeners and fruit growers alike. If you have raspberries, blackberries, or blueberries likely you already have SWD in your bushes. SWD is native to Asia and was discovered in California raspberries in 2008. It gets its name from the spot on the wings of the males.

Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County, with the help of two Master Gardener Volunteers (Ken Kogut and Nancy Alessi), participates in a monitoring program for SWD through the New York State Integrated Pest Management (NYSIPM) Program https://blogs.cornell.edu/swd1/category/swd-info/

This year traps were set on July 6^th with first catch on July 13^th and sustained catches at two locations on July 20^th with all locations trapping SWD by this date too. 2022 saw our first catch on July 28^th with sustained catches in three locations on August 4^th. Researchers suspect that it is because of our mild winter that more adults were able to survive and that is why we are seeing these pests earlier this year.

Photo of an insect trap hanging in a raspberry plant. — Scentry jar trap for SWD set in a raspberry patch. NYSIPM

Photo of an insect trap hanging in a tree. — A Trece red sticky card trap and lure set in a tart cherry tree to monitor for SWD. NYSIPM

July 27, 2023Erica LaFountain

Welcoming kids to the Daun Martin-Poole memorial pollinator garden

Arial view of the pollinator garden at CCE — Arial view of the 740 sq ft garden

It’s been a joy this week to host 50 Farm Day Camp youth (5-12 years old) in our pollinator garden for a scavenger hunt and a lesson about protecting and supporting our native pollinators like this eight-spotted forester moth (Alypia octomaculata) we found… scavenger hunt and the eight-spotted forester moth and this hummingbird clear wing (Hemaris thysbe). hummingbird clear wing (Hemaris thysbe)

A scavenger hunt is a way to guide and motivate each child to closely observe the details of their surroundings. Once they’ve put in a good effort, they can start to help each other find the flowers, leaves, seed pods, and insects. kids doing scavenger hunt in pollinator garden

Being able to use this vibrant garden as an outdoor teaching space is the culmination of nearly two years of work from our dedicated Master Gardener Volunteers to plan the layout, prepare the site, and plant and maintain the garden.Nancy Alessi weeded the garden in April, and several times since! Read more Welcoming kids to the Daun Martin-Poole memorial pollinator garden

May 16, 2023Flip

Festivities at the Learning Farm

On Saturday May 6th, Extension’s Harvest Kitchen and high tunnel were filled with families and friends enjoying the beautiful sunny day during the Grow and Preserve Open House. Visitors learned about numerous food preservation and gardening resources available at Extension through an assortment of activities. We shot some photos of all the happenings, check them out below!