Make your yard ‘bee-friendly’! It’s everywhere in the news these days. So how can you keep your garden a haven for pollinators of all types? 1. Keep it blooming – all season long Have lots of different blooming plants – annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, even weeds (ahem — wildflowers) for ample pollen and nectar for…Continue Reading Best Bets for Bees
Beware This Beetle: It Is B-A-D
This year New York celebrated its first Invasive Species Awareness Week. Across the state, organizations and communities rallied to educate people about the damage caused by invaders. They gave workshops on pest ID. They even pulled weeds. Awareness Week was a great success, serving as a reminder for year-round vigilance in dealing with invasive species….Continue Reading Beware This Beetle: It Is B-A-D
Tis the Zzzzzzzzzz Season
After a long winter, warm weather is a welcome change. But no season is perfect. The air is abuzz with the zzzzzzzzzzz’ing of mosquitoes, a small insect that more than makes up for its size in its capacity to annoy. But mere annoyance is not the extent of the problem with mosquitoes. Itching and swelling…Continue Reading Tis the Zzzzzzzzzz Season
IPM’s Pest Pinochle Debuts at Empire Farm Days
Empire Farm Days is coming back to Seneca Falls from August 5 – 7 for the umpteenth time. So, of course, is NYS IPM, with a table in the Cornell University barn just off the north parking lot. We’re mixing it up a little this year — building our presence around a couple of pinochle…Continue Reading IPM’s Pest Pinochle Debuts at Empire Farm Days
Bad News for Basil
Planning on pesto? Basil downy mildew can leave you with a pot of pasta and no sauce. Basil downy mildew is a disease that can survive on the seed and infect the plant as soon as it germinates. It can also travel by airborne spores and infect plants that started out clean. It only affects…Continue Reading Bad News for Basil